An IDEA about a Firm Foundation for your Future

Friday, November 20, 2020

By Wendy Vance

There are many things that I have forgotten about my childhood, but there are also those memories that are written on the pages of my mind with indelible ink. One of those is a statement that my grandmother made repeatedly, “Get an education – your education is the one thing that no one can take from you. Everything else can be stolen, but not your education.” I did not understand at the time why education was so important—at least not in those early years.

I learned how education could change the course of a life by observing my mother and my older brother. No, neither of them had a disability, but watching their lives helped me to understand the difference between the opportunities that were available with and without an education. Despite how hard my mother worked she could not get ahead. She worked in factories, bars, diners, and grocery stores. She worked hard, long hours for little pay, little hope for retirement, and there was really nothing left for luxuries like savings, vacations, and name-brand anything.

We lived from paycheck to paycheck, until the day she got hurt at work, and then we lost even that. My mother and I drifted from couch to couch as relatives took us in until she was able to get a bit of government assistance so that we could get our own place. And the places that we were able to get left much to be desired, like not feeling the cold come up through the floors in the winter, or drug dealers and prostitutes conducting business in the neighboring units. But mom did the best with the opportunities available to a person with only a high school education.

My brother showed me that there was another way. He worked hard to achieve academically. He earned scholarships and worked four part-time jobs throughout his time in college. Through his hard work, he obtained a degree in civil engineering. He started at the bottom as an intern and diligently worked his way up and has now owned his own successful business for over 20 years. From him, I learned that the education my grandmother motivated me to get and cherish is the firm foundation to a successful and independent future, the path out of poverty.

But it would not only be these two that would teach me the value of education as a person with a disability. No, I had the (mis)fortune to have a “friend” enter my life who felt it was his duty to remind me that I was “worthless” because I did not work (at the time I was in junior college). He never missed an opportunity to remind me that everything I had—the roof over my head, food, school supplies, everything belonged to him because he worked and paid into the system so that I could have benefits. I felt lower than a bug.

Every time I wanted to give up, to stop fighting for my education, when it seemed too hard, when the bullying in school was more than I could bear, I would remember my grandmother’s words, my mother’s struggle, my brother’s success, and the words of that so-called friend, and I would find renewed strength and determination to continue to move forward. Why? Because not only can your education not be taken from you once you have it, it is the firm foundation on which to build a future filled with success and independence.

For individuals with disabilities, having access to that foundation was denied until the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142), later known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), was signed by President Ford in 1975. By signing this bill, all children were given access to the public school system to receive a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. From that time forward, students with disabilities had the right to receive an education with their non-disabled peers with all the same resources, teachers, and classrooms. Children with disabilities no longer had to be shut away in special schools or institutions like Willowbrook, or to be educated by parents who were not prepared to teach any child, much less a child that needed intense instruction in order to learn. For the first time, we too would have access to the foundation on which the American Dream is built: education!

Education unlocks doors to employment, which in turn leads to an income independent of what the government says you need to survive or what someone chooses to give you from the kindness of their heart. In other words, that independent income makes you free—free to live where you want, buy what you want, travel where you want, and participate in the activities you enjoy. Your survival is no longer dependent on pleasing others to stay in their favor. You are free. Truly free. Let that sink in a minute. Let it seep into the core of your being: you are free! And you have access to that freedom because you were educated. And the more education you get, the more freedom you gain.

Don’t believe me? Look at these statistics[1] regarding employment among people with disabilities based on their level of education:

• 9.8% of people with a disability with less than a high school diploma are employed
• 15.6% of people with a disability with a high school diploma are employed
• 21.8% of people with a disability with some college or an Associate degree are employed
• 28.5% of individuals with a disability with an undergraduate degree are employed

Clearly, education makes a difference in whether an individual is able to become employed, and that the higher the education attained, the smaller the gap becomes between those who are employed and those who are not.

So, I would ask you, if employment leads to financial and personal independence and freedom, where does the lack of employment lead? Is that the life you want for yourself? If the answer is no, that you do not wish to walk the road to where unemployment leads, then pursue your education. Cherish your education and give thanks for those who came before you and led the way to that fateful day in 1975 when the stroke of pen laid the firm foundation for the future in which your education cannot be stolen from you through the signing of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.