Disability Services in School

News on Dallas Independent School District (DISD) has surfaced regarding a backlog of 2,000 unprocessed referrals for special education services being addressed and processed for pending evaluation. DISD has stated that there’s room to grow and potentially reform its procedures, however, it’s an alarming number to come across due to its relation to special education services, which depending on the student and their disability could be imperative to their overall wellbeing. How did so many referrals go unaccounted for such a prolonged period? Students referred for services may have been impacted in unimaginable ways without having special education services in place and likely falling further behind. While DISD is offering reparations in the form of ‘make-up’ service hours, is it enough? What harm and damage have been perpetuated during this timeframe and what demographic has it impacted the most? Statistically, research shows that black and brown students are often disproportionately placed in special education within schools. This classification is not singularly rooted in bias and racial segregation, but it is also a reflection of our failed educational system and its implications on the educational excellence of black and brown learners and shows the impact of environmental racism which causes several known health risks and related disabilities. There is a spectrum. On one end we are seeing black and brown children being placed in special education services in excess without any basis and on the other end, we are seeing black and brown children suffer through penalization of behaviors related to undiagnosed or misdiagnosed disabilities. On both ends of this spectrum, black and brown students are disserviced and not receiving accessible education. The current systems aren’t working.