By Sarah Jama
We all know what it feels like to sit in class with an
uncontrollable urge to pee. Most of us would raise a hand, get granted a hall
pass, and go relieve ourselves in the nearest bathroom or tree. For others, the
process is more complicated. Picture wearing a catheter, or needing help to
transfer from a wheelchair to a toilet. Not so simple in a school setting.
Educational assistants (EAs) are individuals who help
students with disabilities gain access to the accommodations required in order
for them to benefit from receiving an education. Simply put, EAs are meant to
assist students with disabilities in closing the gap between able-bodied
individuals and themselves, or to ‘even the playing field’. They scribe notes
for students who can’t move their fingers, or assist in monitoring students
with severe anxiety in testing situations. Yes, they even help students in the
bathroom.
On March 27th 2014, Ontario’s Ministry of Education passed a
budget for Special Needs Departments in the Toronto District School Board
(TDSB) that leaves them 7.3 million dollars under budget, with additional
unspecified reductions to be made between 2015 and 2017. Not only that, but a
specific fund dedicated toward the funding of Special Education Departments at
the TDSB has been cut, with the reasoning that less students are enrolled in
high school as a whole than in the past. While this may be true, the number of
students making it to high school who have severe disabilities is at an
all-time high, no doubt thanks to the support of educational assistants. There
are more students who have more complicated needs and need support, making it
to higher levels of education. This means that more EAs are needed, not less.
With the budget for this September being 25% less than what
has been anticipated, more EAs will inevitably be laid off, despite labour
contracts having been negotiated prior to this new budget. The Special
Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) of the TDSB has issued a letter to the
Ministry of Education outlining the harmful effects these cuts will have on
students, and has sent out the letter to parents. These cuts are sadly
affecting more boards than the TDSB. They are occurring in school boards across
Ontario, since it has to do with the reduction and redistribution of a fund
called the High Needs Amount (HNA), cuts specifically targeting Special
Education Departments. The Ministry of Education argues that these cuts will
not cause any harmful effects to the education of students in schools,
blatantly ignoring the numbers and facts that say otherwise.
With these cuts, along with the 3 million that was already
cut in 2012, the TDSB will have no choice but to— as voiced by SEAC—shut down
special education classrooms, reduce the number of special education teaching
assistant staff and educational assistants, and to reduce diagnostic services,
such as in-school Psychologists. EAs have at times been forced to neglect the
needs of some students, because they have been left to supervise others. This
leaves some without the proper tools needed in order to learn effectively.
Again, we see the education system place the vulnerable at an even greater
disadvantage. An example of this was
written all over the Toronto Star, when in April of 2014, parents of students
with Autism were asked to keep their children at home, because of lack of staff
available in local schools. The fact is, that many students will fail at school
without the presence of EAs. Not because of any fault of their own, but because
our education system first and foremost caters to the able-bodied. Independence is already more difficult for
people with disabilities, and by stripping them of their ability to
successfully receive an education, we have made this nearly impossible.
Ontario's Minister in charge of gutting education: Liz Sandals |
As the Toronto District School Board estimates, these cuts
will affect one in five students in the coming year. This summer, a great amount of worthy effort
has gone into organizing around solidarity with people’s struggles
internationally, for example in Gaza. With that being said, we should not allow
ourselves to miss the injustices happening in our own backyards. This is another
example of how capitalist governments promote ableist policies, and we should
not let continue.
****
This article is published in Issue 17 of the new Rebel Youth!
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