Students with Disabilities: Three Brief Essays, Differences in Definition of Terms, Comparing Federal Laws IDEA and Section 504 and Specific Criteria in Identifying and Labeling Health Impairments and Disorders

This paper presents three very brief essays on three different topics involving students with disabilities. The first essay examines for differences in the definition of important terms. The second essay compares two federal laws: IDEA and Section 504. The third essay discusses specific criteria used in identifying and labeling students with health impairments and severe sensory disorders.

This essay examines the definitions of the terms: disability, impairment and handicap. Two real-life examples are provided for each term.

Properly defining the terms disability, impairment, and handicap are crucial to ensuring that special needs individuals receive all of the monies, resources, support, and services to which they are entitled under the law (Goren, 2007). This means that all of these terms should be precisely and accurately articulated, both conceptually and legally. In this regard, Colker (2007) notes that, unfortunately, definitions of all three terms vary and are not without controversy. A good deal of this controversy, Colker (2007) states, is centered around the need to make sure that definitions are sufficiently broad so as to include all individuals that properly fit within the category designated by the term and yet sufficiently narrow so as to exclude those that do not properly belong in these categories.

Borman (2004) reports that one of the most widely accepted (although still not without controversy) methods o

to Turnbull, Huerta, and Stowe (2005), is the law outlining the rights and regulations for students with disabilities in the United States who require special education. Rosenfeld (2007) reports that the Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is also a national law. Often referred to as a 'civil rights' law, the legislation seeks to protect qualified individuals from discrimination based on their disability in any federally funded program. In other words, while the two laws are both federal laws, Section 204 is broader in that it can be applied to educational institutions but also to many other non-educational facilities, agencies, and institutions, such as employers that receive financial assistance from any Federal department or agency, e.g., hospitals, nursing homes, mental health centers. It should also be noted that the two laws have different purposes with Section 504 focusing on discrimination and IDEA focusing on education of special students. As noted by Manes, Manes and Reichhardt (2006), in terms of education, the eligibility for Section 504 is restricted to a student who has a (1) physical or mental impairment which (2) substantially limits (3) one or more major life activities. Physical or mental impairme

Category: Misc - S