Legislations on Students with Disabilities

Legislations on Students with Disabilities
Name:
Institution:
Year

legal foundations, litigation, and legislation

Content

1817

The American School for the Deaf

The first school for the deaf was established in Hartford, Connecticut. It was the first school anywhere in the western world

1841

Dorothea Dix’s arrest

Dorothea had been a strong advocate for the rights of the disabled. She used her work to create awareness to the public and to the legislators. She was arrested and put in poorhouses and jail for her efforts (Fta.dot.gov, 2015).

1864

President Abraham Lincoln

The president gave the Columbian institution for the deaf, dumb and blinds the authority to confer degrees to their students. This was the first college in the world to offer college degrees to students with disabilities.

1918

Smith-Sears Veterans Rehabilitation Act

This is an Act that was signed into law to make sure that the disabled students would get employed after their education.

1945

National employ the handicapped week

President Harry Truman signed the legislation that saw the creation of the week to celebrate and sensitize people on employability of the handicapped (Taormina-Weiss, 2014).

1954

Vocational Rehabilitation Act

This was a law that signed by the then president, Dwight Eisenhower. It was one of the first attempts at overhauling the legislations on vocational training especially for the physically disabled students in the country.

1954

The U.S. Supreme Court v. Board of Education of Topeka

The ruling recognized the fact that the separate schools for the whites and the blacks were unequal and unconstitutional. The formed the platform for the amendments that would later be made on the Vocational Rehabilitation with regard to expansion for federal grants for the physically handicapped (Washington.edu, 2013).

1964

The Civil Rights Act

This is s legislation which underlines the right of everyone in the country, even the handicapped students. Although general, it gives the handicapped students a platform to demand their righ...