disabilityequalityeducation.org · Web viewFor support with this lesson [email protected] Disability Equality in Education 112 North 8th Street Suite 600 Philadelphia

[Image description] A movie poster shows stairs and projected onto the stairs is a pink and black wheelchair and disability activist. Text at the top says Defiant Lives and text at the bottom says the Rise and Triumph of the Disability Rights Movement.

Defiant Lives and the Meaning of the Disability Rights Movement: Unit

Grades: 11-12th Time: 7 class periods (the timing can be adjusted)

Subject Focus: History, Social Studies and Government

PA Core Standards:

Standard - CC.1.5.11-12.AInitiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions on grade-level topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Standard - CC.1.5.11-12.G

For support with this lesson [email protected]

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English when speaking based on grade 11-12 level and content.

Standard - CC.8.6.11-12.CProduce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Standard - 8.3.12.AEvaluate the role groups and individuals from the U.S. played in the social, political, cultural, and economic development of the world.

Standard - 5.2.W.BAnalyze strategies used to resolve conflicts in society and government.

Standard - 5.2.U.BAnalyze strategies used to resolve conflicts in society and government.

Overview: Students will watch Defiant Lives: The Rise and Triumph of the Disability Rights Movement in the United States, England and Australia. It covers important milestones in disability activism from breaking people out of nursing homes to advocating for equal rights. The discussion topics in the film vary from institutionalization to passing legislation. The film highlights in particular the vast differences between the medical model of disability and the social model of disability. For 5 days students will watch a segment of the film and record their own thoughts and then discuss their thoughts with a partner and the full group. The last two days students will work together to create their own plan to address an issue in their own community.

Pre-Unit Preparation: Depending on your school policy, you may have to send a letter home with students letting parents know you will be showing the film in class.

Disability Equality in Education112 North 8th Street Suite 600 Philadelphia PA 19107

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Please watch the film ahead of time and really pay attention to all the themes. Included with this lesson plan is a quiz based on the film. You are welcome to use it during class or as a take-home quiz. Supplemental educator reading materials will be attached to the end of this lesson.

Print out quiz or send as an email to students

Test all A/V equipment

Facilitator Characteristics

Knowledge of facilitating discussion in large groupsFamiliar with the Disability Rights Movement (resources located in appendix a.)

Materials:A computer and internet accessDefiant Lives DVD supplied by DEECardboard boxes-marker-colored pencils-glitter-glueA projector or TVHandouts of the quiz (pg.13-17)

Goals:

Students will be able to:

Reflect and describe their emotional reactions to the film and how it might affect their views and attitudes on disability.

Illustrate the overall goals of the Disability Rights Movement

Name and describe specific laws mentioned in the film.

Define the medical and social model of disability


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List how they can positively impact the disability rights movement in their own lives.

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to:

Define and describe the role of Ed Roberts, Wade Blank, Judy Heumann, and Justin Dart in the Disability Rights Movement by participating in a quiz and discussion on Defiant Lives.

Describe, in detail, the role of protests in the fight for disability rights by watching Defiant Lives and actively participating in a discussion and quiz.

Discriminate and interpret the Medical Model of Disability from the Social Model of Disability by watching Defiant Lives and actively participating in discussion and a quiz.

Observe and define issues in their own lives/communities and strategize plans to address them by participating in the activity on Day 5.

Differentiate and define outdated and contemporary disability terms and language by watching Defiant Lives and participating in subsequent discussion.

Procedure Day 1

Short Discussion: Have any of you heard about the Disability Rights Movement?

Most likely students will say no, but in the news, there has been a lot of coverage of the fight for Medicaid. There is the potential for a student to bring this news up.


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You can affirm their answer and say “Yes, that is a great example of the Disability Rights Movement happening today.”

Introduce: “Defiant Lives” and say “This is a documentary about the rise and Triumph of the Disability Rights Movement in the United States, Australia and the UK”Now let’s watch some of the film and we will have a discussion afterwards.

Show film until 00:00-20:24

Ask students to jot down their initial reactions on paper. (2 minutes)

Have students pair up and discuss these questions (10 minutes):

● How did you feel about reclaiming disabled power? Are disability and

power mutually exclusive?

● There are a lot of terms used in this segment: disabled people, cripples,

people with disabilities and able-bodied people. Can you describe those terms? What kind of meaning do you think they hold?

● What is the medical model of disability? What is the primary focus and what

are the issues with it?

● How and why did disabled people/pwd protest the telethons?

Large class discussion (15 minutes). Ask each group to share what they discussed. Make sure to highlight the issues with the medical model and disability, language, identity and power.

Procedure Day 2

Show film from 20:24-39:21


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Ask students to jot down their initial reactions on paper. This is won’t be graded, it is just for students to collect their thoughts. (2 minutes)


● What was the societal shift mentioned in the film and why was it important?

● Discuss Annie’s story. What is so remarkable and frustrating about her

story?

● Who was Ed Roberts and why is he important?

Large class discussion (15 minutes). Ask each group to share what they discussed. Make sure to highlight listening to disabled people and independent living movement.

Procedure Day 3

Show film 39:21-1:00:15

Ask students to jot down their initial reactions on paper. This is just for students to collect their thoughts. (2 minutes)


● What is the Social Model of Disability and why is it important?

● What are the differences between the USA, Australia and English Disability

Rights Movements? (think ADAPT and DAN)

● What is the section 504 sit in?


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Facilitate Large class discussion (15 minutes). Ask each group to share what they discussed briefly.

Procedure Day 4

Show film 1:00:15- 1:19:22

Ask students to jot down their initial reactions on paper. This is just for students to collect their thoughts. (2 minutes)


● How does separate but equal relate to people with disabilities?

● What does this really mean “To boldly go where everyone has gone before”

● What is unique about the ADA in terms of enforcement? Who enforces the

ADA and why is that the case?

Facilitate Large class discussion (15 minutes). Ask each group to share what they discussed briefly. Highlight points about the ADA, access, living in the community as freedom vs. the nursing home paradigm.

Procedure Day 5

Show film 1:19:22- 1:24:22 End credits

Ask students to jot down a couple reactions on paper. This is just for students to collect their thoughts. (2 minutes)


● Did this film show you a new perspective on disability?


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● What was the most powerful part of the film, if any?

Large class discussion (20 minutes)Ask each pair to share their discussion Discuss institutions vs. community livingDisability= powerThe importance of the ADA and enforcementSo, what next? Next class we will talk about peaceful protest and advocacy!

Procedure Day 6

Group Project/in class activity:

After watching the whole film. Discussion: Ask students to reflect on the disability activists they saw in action. What were their strategies in working as a group?

Students will reflect on their own school and neighborhood. Are there any glaring challenges/barriers students face as a result of going to school every day? How do they decide what is a worthy cause? Once each group decides on a cause, ask students to create their own pieces of beautiful and peaceful protest art. They could be physical signs or computer-generated art.

1. Break students up into groups of 4. (3 minutes)2. First, they will brainstorm potential problems (wheelchair in-accessibility,

too short time to pass in hallways, lunch is not nutritious/delicious enough, school administration punishes too many students, too many suspensions, apathetic teachers.) (20 minutes)

3. Once the group unifies and decides on a cause ask them to brainstorm how they would strategize fixing the problem. Who would they talk to first? Ask


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them to create a plan. If they need to protest they will need protest signs. Next class students will design their own signs (22 minutes)

Procedure Day 7

Continue with these steps:

Indicate that they may have to protest as part of the plan. Have groups create their own protest signs corresponding with the issue they discussed. Have each group showcase their signs around the room. (25 minutes)

Closing activity Large Class Discussion: Ask students to take out a sheet of paper and reflect on these questions: How did this activity go for you? Was it challenging? Did anything surprise you? (20 minutes)

a. From what we saw in Defiant Lives: Why is it important to strategize a protest? Why is it important to pay attention and monitor problems? So, they can get solved? What will you take away from this week?

Defiant Lives Quiz/Questionnaire Answer Key

What protest techniques were used in Defiant Lives? Please list at least 3 types of protesting.Signs, breaking through police barriers, blocking buses, doorways, trains and other forms of transit (trolleys, etc.), Handcuffing/chaining to transportation, chanting/yelling, blocking roads, sit ins

From what you saw in the film and your own opinion please describe the purpose of protesting in 4 sentences of more:

In a few sentences, please describe the Medical Model of Disability:


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The person with a disability is the problem and their disability should be cured. The problem is with the individual. Generally, doctors and the medical establishment are the authority. Institutions are the answer for disabled care.

When the disabled people and allies were interviewed about institutions, how did they describe these institutions? What were they like?Disabled people were treated with no respect. Very inhumane conditions (no pain relief, locked in dark rooms, sometimes no clothes, trauma/abuse, no activities, bedtime at 5pm, white walls and floors). Disabled people in institutions had little to no contact with the outside world.

True or False. Some disabled people still live in institutions today.

What kind of institutions exist today? Nursing homes, special schools, group homes, etc.

Who were Jerry’s Kids? They were poster children for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. These kids were paraded around to appear very tragic and sad in order to get rich people to donate money.

Why did disabled people protest Jerry’s kids? Disabled people protested Jerry’s kids because the idea of these kids is tragic and sad, but that’s not really how disabled people see themselves in society. Disabled people demanded respect.

None of the money raised for Jerry’s kids actually went directly to people living with Muscular Dystrophy for living independently in their community, the money went to research.

Who was Reverend Wade Blank? A) He founded ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible public Transit). B) Famous disabled writerC) A disabled person who led the movement in the UKD) An Attendant to Annie

Who was Ed Roberts?Disability Equality in Education

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A) Inventor of the iron lungB) Father of the Independent Living Movement. C) Organizer of a telethonD) Famous Australian Activist

Who was Judy Heumann?a) A famous doctor who cured poliob) A research scientist in the field of disabilityc) A disability Rights activist that led the Section 504-sit in at the San

Francisco Department of Health.d) Founded the ADA

In a few sentences, please describe the Social Model of Disability…The social model of disability looks at society as the problem as opposed to the medical model which puts blame on the individual. The social model focuses on barriers in society (lack of supportive services and medical care, lack of access to lucrative work, unsafe sidewalks, limited access to businesses, etc.) to people with disabilities living fully independent lives.

What kind of descriptive language did the news reporters use to describe disabled people? Reporters were often discussing disability in a negative manner. They used words like retarded, victims, sufferers and mindless vegetable.

Building off the last question, in your opinion, why did reporters use that language?

In your opinion, from what you now know about disability, why is it so important for not just disabled people, but for everyone to speak up in the political process?

In your opinion, before watching the film to after, did your attitudes of disabled people change? Did anything you thought about disabled people change? Did anything shock you or surprise you? If so, please describe why.


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If you think about independence in your own life, what makes you feel independent? Or what keeps you from being independent? What does independence mean to you?


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Name: Date:Defiant Lives Quiz/Questionnaire

What protest techniques were used in Defiant Lives? Please list at least 3 types of protesting.

From what you saw in the film and your own opinion please describe the purpose of protesting in 4 sentences of more:

In a few sentences, please describe the Medical Model of Disability:

When the disabled people and allies were interviewed about institutions, how did they describe these institutions? What were they like?

True or False. Some disabled people still live in institutions today.

What kind of institutions exist today?


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Who were Jerry’s Kids?

Why did disabled people protest Jerry’s kids?

Who was Reverend Wade Blank? E) He founded ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible public Transit). F) Famous disabled writerG) A disabled person who led the movement in the UKH) An Attendant to Annie

Who was Ed Roberts?E) Inventor of the iron lungF) Father of the Independent Living Movement. G) Organizer of a telethonH) Famous Australian Activist

Who was Judy Heumann?e) A famous doctor who cured polio


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f) A research scientist in the field of disabilityg) A disability Rights activist that led the Section 504-sit in at the San

Francisco Department of Health.h) Founded the ADA

In a few sentences, please describe the Social Model of Disability…

What kind of descriptive language did the news reporters use to describe disabled people?

Building off the last question, in your opinion, why did reporters use that kind of language?


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In your opinion, from what you now know about disability, why is it so important for not just disabled people, but for everyone to speak up in the political process?

In your opinion, before watching the film to after, did your attitudes of disabled people change? Did anything you thought about disabled people change? Did anything shock you or surprise you? If so, please describe why in a few sentences.

If you think about independence in your own life, what makes you feel independent? Or what keeps you from being independent? What does independence mean to you?


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Appendix A .

Defiant Lives Time Codes:

Day 1: 00:00-20:24

Day 2: 20:24-39:21

Day 3: 39:21-1:00:15

Day 4: 1:00:15- 1:19:22

Day 5: 1:19:22- 1:24:22

Additional Reading and Resources

The Independent Living Movement (National Council on Independent Living)

When the process of deinstitutionalization began in the 1960’s, some people with significant disabilities were released from inevitable life sentences in nursing homes and other institutions, which created for the first time in history an opportunity, an imperative, for people with disabilities to live free and independent lives. From this, a community and a culture with history, values, and an objective were born.

Our first taste of emancipation came amidst massive civil rights movements nationally and abroad. Leaders of the disability community began to realize that our human rights and civil liberties would come only as we fought for them. With most state-run institutions closed, people with significant disabilities became more visible, and more audible, too. But society’s unwelcoming attitude did not change. The private medical industry quickly appropriated the responsibilities of formerly state-run institutions.


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Centers for Independent Living were created to be run by and for people with disabilities, and offer support, advocacy, and information on empowerment in the attainment of independence from a peer viewpoint, a perspective that was hitherto excluded from participation in the discussion and execution of “services for the disabled.”

Independent Living activists carried out some of the most daring protests in American civil rights history, including the longest occupation of a Federal building in history, which led to the release of the regulations banning discrimination against people with disabilities in federally funded programs. As Independent Living philosophy took hold nationally and the Disability Rights Movement gained acceptance and political influence, a grassroots movement for a comprehensive disability rights law (the ADA) was implemented.

Today, Centers for Independent Living fight similar battles to ensure that the rights of people with disabilities are protected. Even with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, people with disabilities often find that advocacy and support from the disability community and the Disability Rights Movement is an essential element in enforcement of the civil rights law.

Many of the issues we fight for have strong opposition and powerful lobbyists in the for-profit sector. NCIL remains dedicated to the community values, objectives, and unity that we were founded on.

The Independent Living Philosophy & Culture

The Independent Living Movement is founded in the belief that people with disabilities, regardless of the form, have a common history and a shared struggle, that we are a community and a culture that will advance further banded together politically.

Independent Living philosophy emphasizes consumer control, the idea that people with disabilities are the best experts on their own needs, having crucial and valuable perspective to contribute and deserving of equal opportunity to decide how to live, work, and take part in their communities, particularly in reference to services that powerfully affect their day-to-day lives and access to independence.


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According to traditional thought, disabilities are impairments to be cured through medical intervention. In practice, people with significant disabilities are treated at best by the medical industry as diseases to be cured, and more often, since most disabilities cannot be cured, as incapable and undeserving of optimal and self-directed care. The significant underestimation of the abilities and life quality of people with disabilities has led to a state in which the evaluation of people with disabilities by medical professionals, so highly valued by society, has come to infringe on basic human and civil rights.

The Independent Living Model sees the problem differently and understands disability as a construct of society. In this model, the problem lies in the environment, not the individual. Though many people have physical, intellectual, or mental attributes that deviate from the ‘norm,’ disability is manifested in society through purposefully created and maintained physical, programmatic, and attitudinal barriers.

People with disabilities do not see themselves as problems to be solved, and ask only for the same human and civil rights enjoyed by others. Remarkably, this viewpoint is not generally accepted in society today and the Medical Model is still so deeply ingrained in us as a society that people with disabilities may spend their entire lives in nursing facilities often described as “tortuous” or even be refused treatment at a hospital, and at a professional’s discretion, denied life-saving “futile care”.

Our Journey (ADAPT) There is a place we go to every time we go to a National Action. It is not a physical place, but rather a place within ourselves where the candle of human dignity burns at its brightest and the pursuit of choice drives us to remarkable outcomes. We access this place all across the country where justice has been denied, and it is within this place where we the people demonstrate our power.When we arrive at this place, we are fueled in equal parts by love and rage.The rage is for the inequities in our society. The love is for ourselves, the person next to us, those we left behind, our communities now, those who come after us, and even the people who have no idea (yet) about the struggle for independence that people with disabilities face daily.Many might think it is a tragedy to acquire or be diagnosed with a disability; it


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isn’t. The tragedy is when we are denied our civil rights, our dignity and our right to choice. This is what fuels our righteous efforts.

In ADAPT, we strive to promote this energy and this love. Finding the imperfect balance between love and rage is not easy. Making sure that space is accessible for everyone (in all senses of the word) isn’t easy. Challenging ourselves to be so radically inclusive isn’t always easy. It takes work to make space for people who we don’t yet know or for people whose experiences we might not yet think of clearly identifying as disabled. It is, however, necessary.

In ADAPT, we strive to advance beyond “mere tolerance”, where tolerance might be defined as a mere acknowledgement of someone’s right to exist but may not require more effort than that.Indeed, we dismiss tolerance – it is lacking, it is empty, it is not enough. Instead we argue for embrace. We advocate for embracing disability, demonstrating a willingness to open up, literally and figuratively – to share space with others in intimate ways, allowing for the real experiences of friction, conflict and even hurt with the hope it will result in healing, joy and love. To recognize that disability may be identifiable or not, may be different today than tomorrow, and may have been different yesterday than it is today, and to stretch the embrace to accompany these multiple, varied, fluid experiences of disability.

In ADAPT, we respect people’s right to wear any type of clothing associated with a person’s religious, ethnic or cultural background. We don’t assign gender and we honor the ways in which people present and identify themselves. We condemn speech or ideas that are meant to incite or invite violence. We don’t condone language that denies rights to others, especially the rights to self-determination.Rather, ADAPT strives to promote an embrace of the differences among us, our similar struggles and our shared efforts to shake free those institutions that bind us physically, socially and mentally. An injury to one is an injury to all. As such, while ADAPT hopes all people will join us at the place of rage and love, we don’t support those who do not acknowledge each other through love for one another and rage against the systems that oppress us at many different levels and intersections of identity. We know our struggle includes and requires the power of all of our friends of all religions and beliefs, gender identities, sexual orientations, skin colors, ethnicities, spoken languages and nationalities. After all, none of us are free


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while even one of us is chained.

In ADAPT, we recognize that the limited writing about our Disability Rights Movement has focused almost exclusively on the work of white men, ignoring the coalitional realities of this work and taking credit away from women, people of color, queer people, and those whose disabilities might not be readily identifiable who have put their bodies on the line and those who provided leadership to a young movement.This must change.We strive to recognize the labor and sacrifice of diverse siblings from across the spectrum of the human experience in our movement. There is room in our Movement for abilities and disabilities, apparent and hidden, of all types. We’re unafraid to look in the mirror and reflect on what we need to do better, always, and that our efforts are part of a process of growing, emerging, becoming more just – but that justice requires listening, growing, learning together.

In ADAPT, we remember our fallen heroes and honor the ADAPT gods who bring us back home from an action safely and with success so we can do it again in six months.In ADAPT, we’re pissed off and passionate. We’re also conscious of a need to do better, always, and that our efforts will not always result in what we strive for but yet we will always persist toward perfection anyway.In ADAPT, we begin our journey at the place of rage and love and we’re really glad you’re here with us.

With Love and Rage in Our Hearts,

The Nation of ADAPT Community

Introduction to Section 504

An important responsibility of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability against students with disabilities. OCR receives numerous complaints and inquiries in the area of elementary and secondary education involving Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (Section 504). Most of these concern identification of


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students who are protected by Section 504 and the means to obtain an appropriate education for such students.

Section 504 is a federal law designed to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities in programs and activities that receive Federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Section 504 provides: "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States . . . shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, 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 . . . ."

OCR enforces Section 504 in programs and activities that receive Federal financial assistance from ED. Recipients of this Federal financial assistance include public school districts, institutions of higher education, and other state and local education agencies. The regulations implementing Section 504 in the context of educational institutions appear at 34 C.F.R. Part 104.

The Section 504 regulations require a school district to provide a "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) to each qualified student with a disability who is in the school district's jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability. Under Section 504, FAPE consists of the provision of regular or special education and related aids and services designed to meet the student's individual educational needs as adequately as the needs of nondisabled students are met.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. The ADA is divided into five titles (or sections) that relate to different areas of public life.

In 2008, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) was signed into law and became effective on January 1, 2009. The ADAAA made a number of significant changes to the definition of “disability.” The changes in the


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definition of disability in the ADAAA apply to all titles of the ADA, including Title I (employment practices of private employers with 15 or more employees, state and local governments, employment agencies, labor unions, agents of the employer and joint management labor committees); Title II (programs and activities of state and local government entities); and Title III (private entities that are considered places of public accommodation).

Non-violent Resistance Wiki

Defiant Lives Film

[Image description] A black chalkboard with Thank You written in white on top of a worn wooden table. A salmon telephone sits partially off screen on the bottom left.

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Documents

disabilityequalityeducation.org · Web viewFor support with this lesson [email protected] Disability Equality in Education 112 North 8th Street Suite 600 Philadelphia