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To the editor:
When Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act was signed by HEW Secretary Califano last Spring, discrimination against the handicapped was suddenly ruled “out”. As quoted in the May 4, 1977, Federal Register, Part IV: “Section 504 provides that no otherwise qualified hand* icapped individual...shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from ' the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance...As providers of services, recipients (of federal funds) are required to make programs operated in existing facilities accessible to handicapped persons...and to operate their programs in a nondiscriminatory manner.”
It was stated that the subpart relating to education had been “closely coordinated with the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975”.
We have yet to learn in what specific ways this will relate to the deaf and the hearing impaired. For over 150 years, nearly every state has been providing what they consider to be an equal educational opportunity for deaf children at the state residential schools for the deaf.
Local education agencies have not found it possible to employ one specially trained teacher or one special aide with needed special equipment and materials for one deaf child in one given community.
Under the law, an equal educational opportunity is required to be provided for all handicapped children. To receive an equal educational opportunity, the deaf child must be able to understand the teacher and be able to receive instruction.
The rules do not require that the deaf child be placed in a classroom with normal hearing children, but the law does require that the child be appropriately placed.
The contributions of residential schools to the education of deaf children can be studied from over a century’s perspective. It is imperative that states maintain and update the residential schools as a very important alternative in the education of the deaf. Residential schools have been the “golden gate” between the deaf child and the community, and he needs the alternative of going to the residential school if his community has no appropriate program for his education.
It will be perfectly legal for local educational agencies to join together and contract for services for deaf children
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