Civil Rights Legislation That Seeks to Safeguard

¶ … civil rights legislation that seeks to safeguard individuals with disabilities from discrimination and guarantees that disabled children have equal access to an education. However, every child may be entitled for special education and associated services under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). One of the major issues with the two legislations is that entitlement to special education and associated services under IDEA and entitlement for protection under Section 504 are not disability-specific. This contributes to concern on who is entitled for protections under Section 504 but not within IDEA.

The determinations of eligibility for special education and associated services and for protection from discrimination are specific to every disabled child. The knowledge of IDEA and Section 504, especially their execution regulations, is usually necessary for obtaining suitable education for children with disabilities. Every child eligible for special education services under the IDEA statute is safeguarded under Section 504. This implies that a child with disability that significantly affects educational performance is eligible for protection under Section 504. However, a child with disability that does not significantly impact academic performance is entitled to Section 504 protections but not entitled to special education services under IDEA statute ("Who is Eligible for Protections?" 2011).

IDEA, Section 504, NCLB, and ADA are important statutes for children with disabilities since they provide some special services and protections to these children. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was enacted to promote the eligibility of children with disability for special education and related services. On the contrary, Section 504 is a civil right statute that seeks to protect people with disabilities from discrimination and ensures equal access to an education for children with disabilities.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is based on the assumption that establishing high standards and measurable goals can enhance a person's educational outcomes. Generally, NCLB seeks to accomplish this through supporting and fostering standards-based education reform. In contrast, Americans with Disabilities Act is a wide-ranging civil rights legislation that forbids disability-based discrimination.

There are significant differences in these statutes since each of them was enacted to accomplish specific purposes. Section 504 was adopted to provide a level playing field by removing hindrances to total involvement by people with disabilities. From a legal perspective, the statute was geared towards preventing intentional or unintentional discrimination against individuals with disabilities and their families. On the contrary, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was enacted as a remedial approach since it requires the provision of programs and services in addition to existing ones for such people. The statute not only requires additional schools for children with disabilities but also provides the schools with extra funding (Rosenfeld, n.d.). While IDEA provides the additional and even insignificant funding to schools, Section 504 provides no extra financial support.

NCLB is an important legislation since it was enacted to necessitate states to design basic skills assessment to be granted to all students in specific grades in order to the states to be eligible for federal funding. In contrast, ADA provides a wide-ranging approach for prohibiting with discrimination based on disability.