A White House Roundtable With Young Black Leaders With Disabilities

Roundtable participants speak to attendees. Left to right: Tara Murray, Amber Greene, Taryn Mackenzie Williams, Valerie C. Williams, Sherman Gillums Jr., Shawn Aleong, Elijah Armstrong, Jalyn Radziminski, Neli Latson, and Raven Sutton.

Roundtable participants speak to attendees. Left to right: Tara Murray, Amber Greene, Taryn Mackenzie Williams, Valerie C. Williams, Sherman Gillums Jr., Shawn Aleong, Elijah Armstrong, Jalyn Radziminski, Neli Latson, and Raven Sutton.


Valerie C. Williams Director, Office of Special Education Programs Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

Valerie C. Williams Director, Office of Special Education Programs

By Valerie C. Williams Director, Office of Special Education Programs

On Feb. 23, 2023, I participated in a Black History Month roundtable hosted by the White House and the Biden-Harris Administration.

During the roundtable, I had the opportunity to meet with five representatives of the next generation of young Black disability leaders and advocates.

The purpose of the event was to not only reiterate the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility and disability inclusion, but to also hear from young Black leaders about their experiences and challenges.

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How I Realized I was Disabled

October is Learning Disabilities / Dyslexia / Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Awareness Month.
Eliza Young

By: Eliza Young

Disability is a broad term that may seem hard to define. There are the medical definitions and the legal definitions, but what matters to me is how my disabled community defines disability.

Who can be included in the disabled community? What unites all disabled people? The answer, like for most communities, is a set of shared experiences of the world.

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Dyslexia Awareness Month: An Interview with a Parent

Note: October is Learning Disabilities / Dyslexia / Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Awareness Month.

Kristin Kane

Kristin Kane

Resha Conroy

Resha Conroy

By Kristin Kane

October is a great month for awareness, some impressive groups come together this month to share information about a specific issue. At the heart of it is a goal that helps others understand why the issue is important and why we should pay attention. Raising awareness can take different forms, but it is the connection of people that brings meaning to why a community raises awareness.

This month is Dyslexia/LD/ADHD Awareness Month, and I had the honor of sitting down with Resha Conroy, a parent of a child with Dyslexia. She is also a member of the National Center on Improving Literacy Family Engagement Advisory Board and has started her own non-profit, Dyslexia Alliance for Black Children

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OSEP Releases Fast Facts on Educational Environments of School Aged Children with Disabilities

OSEP Fast Facts: Educational Environments of Children with Disabilities, Ages 5 (in kindergarten) through 21, Served under IDEA Part B. Percentage of Students with Disabilities, Ages 5 - 21, Receiving Services Inside a Regular Class 80% or More of the Day, in the US, Outlying Areas, and Freely Associated States: SY 2020-21. The map demonstrates the ranges of the percent of Students with Disabilities, Ages 5 through 21, Receiving Services Inside a Regular Class 80% or More of the Day in 2020-21 by State. Educational environments are defined in the IDEA Part B Child Count and Educational Environments for School Year 2020-2021, OSEP Data Documentation.

By the Office of Special Education Programs

OSEP released a new OSEP Fast Facts: Educational Environments of School Aged Children with Disabilities, which explores our IDEA, Section 618 data.

This OSEP Fast Facts takes a closer look at the environments where children with disabilities are receiving special education and related services.

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OSEP Releases Fast Facts on Students with Disabilities who are English Learners (ELs) Served under IDEA Part B

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Office of Special Education Programs. OSEP Fast Facts: Students with Disabilities who are English Learners (Els) Served under IDEA Part B. Approximately 1.6% of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools are dually identified as a student with a disability under IDEA Part B and an English Learner. 13.74% = national percentage of school aged children served under IDEA, Part B. Pie Chart Shows 11.85% of students served under IDEA, Part B are English Learners while 88.2% of students served under IDEA, Part B are non-English Learners. Source: U.S. Department of Education, EDFacts Data Warehouse (EDW): “IDEA Part B Child Count and Educational Environments Collection,” 2020-21. Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Statistics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Systems, 1980-81; Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education," 1985-86 through 2019-20 and 2020-21 Preliminary; and National Elementary and Secondary Enrollment Projection Model, through 2030.

By the Office of Special Education Programs

OSEP is excited to release a new OSEP Fast Facts: Students with Disabilities who are English Learners (ELs) Served under IDEA Part B, which explore our IDEA, Section 618 data with the specific lens on one of the fastest-growing populations of students with disabilities served under IDEA.

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Welcome to New OSEP Director, Valerie C. Williams

Valerie C. Williams  Director, Office of Special Education Programs  Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

Valerie C. Williams
Director, Office of Special Education Programs
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

Valerie C. Williams joins the Department as director in the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) within the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the administration of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

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Ella

NOTE: October is Blindness Awareness Month as well as Learning Disabilities / Dyslexia / Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Awareness Month.

Ella and Beth Johnson

Ella and Beth Johnson

My name is Ella, and I’m a junior at Irondale High School in Minnesota. This school year, I’m busy studying for advanced placement courses, playing percussion and coordinating audio equipment in my school’s band, and making time to read book recommendations from friends. I was diagnosed with dyslexia in fifth grade, and reading print books has always been challenging for me compared with most of my classmates. However, accessible digital books from Bookshare give me the same opportunities to learn, engage, and show what I know.

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Forming a Disability Identity as a Dyslexic

NOTE: October is Learning Disabilities / Dyslexia / Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Awareness Month.

By Rachelle Johnson, a member of the Young Adult Leadership Council of the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

As a child I was diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Adults told me I was “differently abled” and to not categorize myself negatively, as in “disabled.” This introduced me to a societal view of “the disabled” and how to navigate an ableist society by distancing from the term disabled. The adults wanted this so I would not be treated in the negative ways people with disabilities often were.

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IRIS Center Resources Take Educators Back to Basics

IRIS Center Logo - landscape

If 20 years of serving educators has taught us anything, it’s that a return to the fundamentals of sound practice is always a worthwhile pursuit. As schools and teachers enter into a new school year marked by uncertainty and the ever-present possibility of sudden change, this foundational approach feels especially relevant.

In this spirit, the IRIS Center has just posted one new module and completed significant updates to two others that personnel in schools and districts can use for professional development and personalized learning. And, yes, these resources emphasize a back-to-basics method.

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Voices From the Field: Interview With Rebecca Vitelli

Rebecca Vitelli is a preschool special education teacher at the Colonial Early Education Program in New Castle, Delaware. Rebecca earned a Bachelor of Science in early childhood education with minors in human development and family studies and disabilities studies and a Master of Education in exceptional children and youth with a concentration in autism and severe disabilities from the University of Delaware. Most recently, she was named the 2020 Delaware Teacher of the Year.

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