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34. "Your IEP Didn't Fall Out of a Coconut Tree" (feat. Olivia O'Connell)



Show Notes


As the 2024 Presidential Election approaches, Blonde & Blind is amplifying the voices of a group often overlooked—students with disabilities. Olivia O’Connell, a dedicated disability rights activist, joins Marissa to talk about how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Department of Education ensure that students get the accommodations they need. Magnifiers, extended time, and teachers of the visually-impaired (TVIs) don’t come from the kindness of a school district’s heart; they are federally-mandated tools and services that are critical for student success. Olivia shares how her Individualized Education Plan (IEP) supported her and why funding IDEA ensures students have access to a free appropriate public education. With Donald Trump proposing to close the Department of Education, Marissa and Olivia highlight how dissolving the agency responsible for ensuring equal access to education would negatively impact students across the country.


Olivia O’Connell is a senior at the University of Michigan studying Political Science and History. She is currently an At-Large Presidential Fellow with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, where she is conducting research on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, its funding, and its impacts on students with disabilities at the local level. She also has experience working on Capitol Hill, at nonprofit organizations, with government relations firms, and in community-based advocacy groups. She is dedicated to protecting democracy and championing the rights of historically marginalized communities, especially students and young adults with disabilities.


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Key Points:


00:00 - Introduction and Background

05:25 - What sparked your interest in politics and disability advocacy?

06:49 - What is IDEA?

08:15 - How has IDEA impacted your life?

11:15 - What is the concept of "Least Restrictive Environment" and why is it important for students with disabilities?

12:52 - Why does IDEA need funding? Where does that money go?

16:03 - What does "full funding" for IDEA mean and why is it important?

19:21 - Many Republican politicians, including Donald Trump, have explicitly proposed eliminating the Department of Education and redirecting all IDEA funding to states with no strings attached. How do you think this could impact students with disabilities?

23:19 - What should people do if they want to take action?


Resources:



Transcript


Marissa: Let me tell you something, your IEP did not just fall out of a coconut tree. Many students with 504s and IEP plans understand that their accommodations are legally mandated, but oftentimes don't know about the specific laws and agencies that protect them at the federal level. Today, Olivia O'Connell, a senior at the University of Michigan, will be joining me to talk about the importance of the Department of Education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which we'll be referring to as IDEA. Olivia is currently an at-large presidential fellow at the Center for Study of Congress and the Presidency researching IDEA and its funding and how it impacts students with disabilities. With the election less than 30 days away, you won't want to miss this episode. 

But before we get into my interview with Olivia, I wanted to provide some background on what IDEA is, because until college, I had no clue what it was, even though it basically guaranteed all of my accommodations throughout elementary, middle, and high school. 


The three main pieces of legislation we talk about in Disability Rights Land are the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and IDEA. I quickly want to clarify the difference between these. The ADA ensures that disabled people have access to goods and services available to the public, like restaurants, websites, ride sharing services, et cetera. It also prevents discrimination in the workplace, including private businesses. Section 504, what that does is prevents discrimination against disabled people in any programs or institutions that receive federal funding, including public schools. So when people talk about 504 plans, that's where it comes from, though that won't be the focus of today's episode. 


Lastly is IDEA, or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which ensures children have access to a free appropriate public education and that public schools provide individualized education plans, or IEPs, to all qualifying students. This law regulates how states provide early intervention and special education services to over 8 million families. Now, IDEA is a pretty big piece of legislation, but here are some of the most important principles. The first is this idea of a free, appropriate public education. And what that means is students with disabilities have access to an education that meets their needs, that is a public expense under public supervision. So it comes at no additional cost to the parents.


There's also this idea of the least restrictive environment or LRE. And what that means is any placement outside of the general education classroom must be justified and that students who do receive separate pullout services still have opportunities to participate in things like music, art, physical education, and other extracurricular activities. It's the idea that students with disabilities should be integrated into quote-unquote “regular” classrooms as much as possible. 


Now, how do students get services and accommodations they need? Through individualized education plans, which are reviewed and created by parents, teachers, students, and other relevant personnel at least once a year. They not only contain all of the accommodations and services a student needs, but also set goals and highlight their strengths. IDEA also contains a lot of important procedural safeguards that protect students and parents because if you're in the disability community, you'll certainly know that sometimes teachers and school districts violate or ignore IEP plans. For instance, parents have to be given written notice before IEP meetings and written notice if the school plans to change or modify any aspects of the IEP plan. Parents also have the option to file a formal complaint with the Department of Education or go through a rigorous mediation process. 


Olivia and I will also be talking about the Department of Education, which is a federal agency that helps enforce IDEA by monitoring states, providing guidance, and even referring IDEA violations to the Department of Justice. It does a lot of other important things like distributing and managing Pell Grants, federal direct student loans, funding for Title I schools, all of which impact low-income students and families. 


Now that you have some context on IDEA and the Department of Education, stay tuned to hear more about why funding these services is so important for disabled folks like us. I'm stressed.


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Marissa: Welcome back to another episode of Blonde & Blind. This is the first episode I'm recording under a new name, but I'm very happy to be with another Blonde and Blind guest, Olivia. We actually met two summers ago in Washington, DC, and she's doing a ton of amazing things. I'm really excited you're here with me today.


Olivia: Hi, it's so good to be here. Thank you for having me on the podcast. 


Marissa: So to get started, why don't you tell us a bit about what sparked your interest in politics and disability advocacy? 


Olivia: I'm legally blind and have been visually impaired my entire life. I also have albinism. And so my interest in public policy, politics, social justice work, was honestly sparked by my own experiences growing up in the public school system with a disability. I was very lucky that for the majority, if not all of my time in K through 12 education, I had awesome people around me who taught me how to advocate for myself and made sure I had everything I needed to succeed and have the same opportunities as my peers. But there were many times where even with having all those resources around me, I was treated badly by teachers or told I shouldn't be in their classes because I had a disability or denied my accommodations in the classroom. And situations like that sparked my interest in learning more about advocacy and social justice work. And that kind of spiraled into passion for a lot of different issues, but especially disability in particular. 


Marissa: Awesome. I think I can definitely relate to that. I had a really great support system, but not everybody does. Not everyone has parents who can basically become amateur child advocates. It's basically a full-time job making sure you get the accommodations you need and making sure that everyone has access to that is really huge. 


Before we talk a little bit more about IDEA in particular, can you break down the difference between IDEA, 504, ADA, like all of those different acronyms? Because I think we don't learn a lot about disability rights legislation in our public school classrooms.


Olivia: So the ADA is the Americans with Disabilities Act. And that is a law that encompasses a lot of different disability rights. In particular, when it comes to education, Section 504 provides for a type of accommodation plan in schools that can be used. But the more commonly used, at least in my experience, accommodation plan is called an IEP, an Individualized Education Program or plan. And that is administered under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. So we call that IDEA for the acronym. And IDEA essentially helps to govern at the federal level public education for students with disabilities across the country. And it's a super important law that is not talked about much in comparison to the ADA because the ADA does encompass so much more. The ADA gives people with disabilities the right to sue if they're not given access to public accommodations. It provides a lot of rights for people with disabilities that are more broad, but for education in particular, IDEA is one of the most crucial pieces of legislation in US history. 


Marissa: So let's bring it down to a personal level. How has IDEA specifically impacted your life? 


Olivia: Every accommodation that I had growing up in school that was necessary to level the playing field so that I had the same opportunities to achieve as my peers, all of those accommodations came through my individualized education plan through IDEA. So I had access to large font materials, the ability to sit at the front of the classroom and pick my seat, the ability to take breaks when I would get a migraine because my eyes hurt, the ability to have standardized testing, have extended time on that so that it was easier for me to read because it takes a little bit longer for me to read when I'm using my eyes for a long time.  So a lot of different types of accommodations that truly just made it so I had a better chance at succeeding and could at least approach school and the entire schooling process from a bit of a more level playing field alongside my peers. 


Marissa: Right. And another important aspect is not only that these accommodations are put in place, but also that there's mechanisms for enforcement. You mentioned cases where teachers didn't want to follow your accommodations.


Olivia: Yeah, so I mean, I had teachers, I had one teacher who told me in front of my class to stop beating around the system. And essentially what he meant was that he believed that I was taking advantage of this law using accommodations, which he kind of clearly believed to be like perks and favors to like, “get ahead.” And this had been going on for a while. He had been being kind of openly discriminatory towards me in his class for the entire school year up until this point. And I have other examples too of teachers who didn't necessarily come right out and say, like, “I don't think you should be in this class because you have a disability” or “I don't wanna honor these accommodations,” but that clearly indicated through their actions that they didn't have faith in me as a student because I had a disability.


And so the thing about IDEA that is so great is that it is federal legislation and it is law. If I hadn't had the accommodations I had, I would not have been able to go through any of my education. I certainly would not have graduated high school. And because I had those accommodations, I was able to thrive. I really like school. I love learning. And without those accommodations, I wouldn't have been able to take AP classes or honors classes or get into college.


So it's not just about allowing students with disabilities to go to school and graduate, but allowing them to also thrive just like their peers have the opportunity to thrive. And so the good thing is that it is enforceable. It is federal law. Luckily, I never had to sue anybody. I had, like I said, a great support system that would back me up and make sure that everything was accommodated the way it should be. But it's really important that students across the country have those rights protected by the federal government.


Marissa: Right, and that there's a formal complaint process that you can go through if you need to escalate things.


I think another great point you brought up too, you were talking about the ability to thrive like other students in the classroom. There's this concept of the least restrictive environment. Can you talk a bit about that and how it relates to IDEA?


Olivia: The concept of least restrictive environment is really important because it essentially is saying that students with disabilities deserve the opportunity to be as integrated into the general education environment as possible. And of course, it's important that students get the support that they need, the accommodations that they need. And a lot of times that does look like having special education as a part of that student's curriculum. But that's what's great about the individualized education plans is that they are individualized. So the idea is that students should be able to be integrated into environments with their peers to learn alongside them. And accommodations can help make that process easier and more inclusive for everybody. 


Marissa: And I think a lot of times our success is framed as an individual effort, us just lacing up the bootstraps and working really hard. And that's certainly part of it. But without the systems in place to make sure that we got the things we needed, I don't think either of us would be where we are today. 


Olivia: Yeah. I mean, you can't work hard if there isn't an environment that is suitable for you to work in in the first place. So approaching things without that equity, without those accommodations makes it really hard for someone to quote unquote, “hold themselves up by their bootstraps” in school because it's not like I can just make my eyes see better in the classroom. 


Marissa: Not even if you worked really hard? 


Olivia: No, sadly not. 


Marissa: One thing that you're really passionate about is funding for the IDEA. And in 2023, the total federal funding for IDEA Part B state grants was about $14.2 billion. That's a lot of money. Where does this money go? Why do we need funding for this?


Olivia: So Part B is the largest section of IDEA. And that is where grants are appropriated for K through 12 education. There are other aspects of IDEA that appropriate money for early intervention services, preschool, other things that have to do with special education. But Part B is largely focused on K through 12 education services, and it is the largest chunk of the money in the bill. So that money goes to providing special education teachers, teachers in specialized fields such as orientation and mobility, or a teacher of the visually impaired, which is what I had growing up. And also to provide resources to students so that they can have the accommodations that they need. 


For example, when I was in elementary school, we would have reading groups and we would be reading books together in our groups. I needed that book in an electronic format so that I could zoom in, so I could have high contrast. So it was easier for me to see and easier on my eyes. And my teacher, the visually impaired, through my county and my school district, provided me with a Kindle and then later an iPad so that I could access reading materials in schools. All of these things are essential for the education of children with disabilities. And they are things that guarantee those children human rights in the classroom. So it only makes sense that every child, no matter where they're from or their socioeconomic background, should have access to those needs. And that's what IDA Part B funding does. And that's where that money goes.


Marissa: You're right. not every family can afford to get their kid an iPad or Kindle. Assistive technology, especially for the blind and visually impaired is very expensive. 


Olivia: Yeah, I had a CCTV, which is like a screen with a camera on top of it that you can use to like in a classroom, zoom in on the whiteboard. When I was growing up, I had one of these that was provided through IDEA by my school district, my county, and my teacher of the visually impaired. If I hadn't had that, I wouldn't have been able to see anything on the whiteboard. And those go upwards of $3,000.


Marissa: Mine was super clunky when I was a kid. It took up an entire desk. 


Olivia: Yeah. Now, technology has improved so much, especially following the pandemic when everything went online. Now there's like tiny cameras and there's other things. But yeah, there are still many students around the country who need and use bigger pieces of technology like that that cost upwards of $3,000. 


Marissa: And I think some people have this impression that schools are just going to provide these things out of the goodness of their heart. But I know when I was a child, my mom had to fight tooth and nail for pretty much any piece of assistive technology that I got because school districts a lot of times have very limited budgets and just don't want to spend the money. 


Olivia: Yeah, that's why these funds from Part B from IDEA are so important, because there are places where they just don't have the resources to be able to provide that kind of assistive technology. 


Marissa: Exactly. And so I know one issue you're really passionate about is full funding of IDEA. So what exactly does that mean? 


Olivia: We talked about Part B, but the entirety of IDEA is a piece of legislation that originally started as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. But when it evolved into IDEA, around that time, Congress pledged that they would provide up to 40% of excess costs related to states funding special education each year. Since then, Congress has never funded 40%. There have been a few years here and there where they've gotten close, but most of the time they've come not even close at all. They've funded less than half of that 40%, which leaves states struggling to make up for that excess cost. I think I read somewhere that it costs about double what it costs to educate a general education student, to educate a special education student. 


Of course we want full funding because we need that funding. We need more money to go to, or the correct amount of money, I should say, to go to students in states, especially states where they don't have a big education budget, where they don't have the resources. And the issue is that it's not just about full funding. It's also about how we appropriate the money. And the current grant formula for Part B grants to states for special education funding uses a base sum of money from the year 1999. And then the rest of the money that the states get comes from their share of children and their share of children living in poverty or the country's poverty share, which we could get into the methodology of this. I'm not an expert on this. But what we do know is that despite the best intentions of the Department of Education and Congress with this funding plan, there are increasing disparities amongst states in the amount of money per child that they're getting every year to fund special education programming and education. So I think the Brookings Institution found a few years ago that Wyoming was getting like a thousand dollars more or something like that than Nevada per child, despite the fact that Wyoming has far less children receiving special education than Nevada does. So these disparities are only growing and it's especially hurting children in states where the states already aren't funding special education a lot. 


There's tons of examples that you can find online of really awful situations where state governments and legislatures either put illegal caps on funding that happened in Texas or just haven't appropriated the kind of money that they need for this. And that's hurting kids. And the Department of Education needs to be able to make up those disparities and enforce that education programming for the states. 


Marissa: And I think we often see stories in the news about schools cutting things like art and music or teachers having to buy their own school supplies. I think that highlights the lack of funding in general. And then we don't realize that, you know, kids with disabilities are often the first ones left behind. 


Olivia: For sure. And there's definitely requirements for states to provide special education. But just because the requirement is there doesn't mean that they're meeting those requirements. And that's why it's important that they're enforced. 


Marissa: So we are recording this podcast right before a very important election. As you know, Donald Trump and many of the Project 2025 architects have explicitly talked about eliminating the Department of Education. And their proposal is to move all IDEA funding to parents and states directly through block grants. So what do you kind of see could be the potential impacts of this?


Olivia: Yeah, so that proposal in Project 2025 essentially eliminates all regulations for special education funding in the United States. If there is no regulation attached to the money that they're giving to states, which that's what that means. They're just going to give states a sum of money. It actually, I believe, would go to communities or I'm not it's very unclear. It's not exactly a well thought out plan. 


But if that money goes to states without any regulations for how to spend it, there are going to be states in this country which already are being irresponsible with special education funding that are not going to have any requirements to use this money from the federal government, assuming they even give the money. And I'm assuming based on everything else in Project 2025 and Donald Trump saying that he wants to cut the Department of Education, that this funding, if it does happen or exists, will be far less than what they're getting right now.


But those states aren't going to have any requirements to use it for the right reasons. And like I said, in Texas, there was an illegal cap placed on the funding or amount of special education funding that could be given to students a few years ago. And there's a lot of, frankly, Republican legislatures in this country right now that aren't spending any money on special education or nearly as close to as much as they should.


And just giving them sums of money without any requirement to spend it on special education staff, services, assistive technology, whatever it is, early intervention programs and preschool is really scary for students with disabilities because there's nothing to safeguard them from having their rights taken away. 


Marissa: And especially when we talk about school choice too. I mean, private schools, especially religious institutions, are pretty notorious for pushing out students that are too hard to accommodate. Even if you move outside of the public school system, it's even harder to make sure your needs get met. 


Olivia: Yes. And that's why our public school system has to be there for students with disabilities. 


Marissa: I think what's really frustrating is when we talk about the Department of Education, it's often in the context of culture war issues. And I think a lot of people don't understand what the Department of Education actually does and how deeply it impacts students like us who needed accommodations and systems in place to make sure that we had the opportunities that all of our other classmates did. 


Olivia: Yeah, for sure. The Department of Education focuses largely on regulation of public schooling in the United States. And that includes one of the biggest, if not the biggest, areas that they are working on is education for children with disabilities. It's very frustrating when people assume that the Department of Education is telling schools what to teach. In fact, the reality is that the Department of Education has regulations to ensure that no matter what a school chooses to teach as curriculum, that all students across the country have access to quality education, whether they're in special education or accommodation services or not. 


And that's really good because clearly there are problems within our public school system. There is a lack of funding broadly. There are issues where in states like Florida, the governor is changing curriculum, the college boards pulling out AP classes. There are a lot of issues around education, broadly speaking, in our country. And the Department of Education certainly isn't hurting, exacerbating those issues. In fact, I would argue that they should have more power to make sure that education is consistent across the country, at least broadly speaking. 


Marissa: So for anyone listening to this podcast, what should they do if they want to take action and help make meaningful change in this realm of education? I wrote in all caps, “VOTE!”


Olivia: People need to vote. There is an election coming up in a few weeks. It is so important that you vote, not just at the top of the ticket, all the way down ballot for people who are going to protect education, protect the things that you and your family and your friends care about, protect others' rights and freedoms, not just your own, but yours and others. And make sure you flip over your ballots too. I know in Michigan, we have a nonpartisan section on the back of our ballot. It's really important that Michiganders flip it over and vote for the Michigan Supreme Court. Vote, vote for your values and for protecting things like access to education, education for kids with disabilities. And there's so many other issues at stake in this election. 


Marissa: Well, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate hearing your perspective and I'm sure my listeners will too. So beyond voting, if anyone wants to get into politics and do something similar to what you're doing in college or beyond, what advice do you have for them? 


Olivia: In communities across the country, there are so many ways to get involved. There are local and national advocacy organizations. There are political party organizations on your campuses, in your communities, in your neighborhoods, in your states. There are so many ways to get involved. Ask around, ask your community, ask people. If you're a college student, find the political party club on campus that you align with. Find an advocacy group on campus that you align with. That is such a great way to get involved and put the thoughts and beliefs and feelings you have about issues in our world into action and concrete change.


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Marissa: Well everyone, that was the amazing Olivia O'Connell. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and if anything, I hope it encouraged you to go out and vote! I'll put some links in the show notes to resources about accessible voting options, but I think it's really important that we as blind young adults make our voices heard. And while I'm out of the school system and IDEA no longer impacts me personally, my goal in life is to make things easier for the next generation of blind students, not harder. 


Anyways, if you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe to Blonde & Blind on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, and anywhere else you get your shows. You can also stay up to date by following my social media pages on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, even though that's kind of no man's land at this point, and Threads. You can also go on my website, blondeblind.com—I got a new domain—to get more information, as well as the transcript and show notes for this episode. Thank you all for listening and I hope to SEE you soon!



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