School-to-Prison Pipeline Edition: The History & Unlearning Of Disability Stigmas & Biases

Answer these questions for me: When you see a person with a disability, what goes through your head? Do you pity them? Do you isolate yourself from them? If you do, why do you think that way? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then check your way of thinking and continue reading. According to American Bar Association, "76 percent of respondents showed an implicit preference for people without disabilities, compared to nine percent for people with disabilities. Even test takers with disabilities showed a preference for people without disabilities." Now I ask you, are you in that 76% or the 9%? If you answered, the 76%, why are you part of the 76% and not 9%? Is it because of the bias or stigma associated with people who are disabled? If so, then please unlearn that way of thinking. Your way of thinking is killing students with disabilities today and thrusting them into the school-to-prison pipeline at alarming rates. The Center for Popular Democracy says that, in NYC, "students with disabilities are only 18.7% of the student population but account for 42.7% of students receiving long-term suspensions." Unlearn the stigmas and biases you have been taught is associated with people with disabilities in the first episode of Finish The Sentence so that we do better for the youth of tomorrow's future. *Note: This is the first episode/part 1 of a 3-episode series on the school-to-prison pipeline. The first 3 episodes may be different than how future episodes will be but welcome.