The following screenshots and information are from The Boston Globe.
According to the Boston Globe, 504 plans – which protect individuals with disabilities from discrimination may be at risk.
This federal civil rights law provides accommodations for students with disabilities such as ADHD and dyslexia. For example, they may e given extra additional classroom support and extra time to take exams.
My own son who is on the autism spectrum with the commonly co-diagnoses of anxiety, ADHD, depression and sensory processing challenges benefitted from a 504. He did not qualify for an IEP because his grades were good, mostly because he and I worked so hard to survive school demands.
According to the Boston Globe:
According to this article, a rule made gender dysphoria included as a protected disability in the 504 in May 2024.
Gender dysphoria is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM5) as “psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity. The lawsuit argues that the Biden rule unlawfully changes the terms of the 504.
The lawsuit also asks that the 504 be declared unconstitutional.
According to the Boston Globe:
According to the Boston Globe, attorney generals in the states listed below are taking the lead in this lawsuit.
According to the Boston Globe, the lawsuit calls 504 plans unconstitutional.
I’m sharing this information because as a retired occupational therapist, parent to an adult son with disabilities and because I am a caring person.
The culture wars will never go away, but the impact on individual lives is huge and changes according to who is in power. I don’t actually understand why “gender dysphoria” is considered a learning issue that merits the student having a 504. Given that, every student… deserves respect, safety and to live free of discrimination….maybe students with gender dysphoria do have special needs… I don’t know….
However, it saddens me that students, all students with 504 plans are now at risk and parents have the added stress of watching events unfold. As a special needs parent, myself, I know that we don’t more stress…
