Legislation on behalf of students with disabilities did not just happen. My mother was a teacher in Rochester, New York, in 1939. She described how elementary schools addressed the needs of these students – they didn’t specifically individualize instruction. The students were in the regular class and the teacher taught the class, not differentiating specific instructional plans but instead teaching to where the students functioned academically.
Specific legislation was the result of a long process involving complex and interwoven historical events. Special education formally began in the United States in 1823 with the establishment of a state school in Kentucky for people who were deaf. The earliest federal roles from the 1820s to the 1870s targeted the mentally ill, the blind, and the deaf. After World Wars I and II, there was a focus on vocational rehabilitation and supportive aid for returning disabled veterans. Additional important legislation included The Social Security Act enacted in 1935 and established a system of Federal old-age benefits, as well as enabling several States to make provisions for blind persons, dependent and crippled children, maternal and child welfare, public health, and unemployment compensation. The Federal government sought to improve elementary and secondary education programs for reasons ranging from alleviating poverty to stimulating the domestic economy to increasing the performance of American students in comparison to those in other industrialized nations.
With the launch of Sputnik 1 by the Russians in 1957, the US gained an inspired interest in improving American education. The omnibus National Defense Education Act of 1958 approved $887 million spread across primary, secondary, vocational, and higher education programs with an emphasis on identifying students gifted in science, mathematics, and foreign languages. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Federal government, with the support and advocacy of family associations, such as The ARC, began to develop and validate practices for children with disabilities and their families.
There are numerous illustrations of key early Federal legislation that supported improved programs and services, including:
- Training of Personnel Act of 1959 (PL86-1580
- Captioned Films Acts of 1958 (PL87-715)
- Teachers of the Deaf Act of 1961 (PL 87-276)
Early Intervention Services and Special Education for Parents and Grandparents 