OCDE Newsroom

Fifty years ago this month, a landmark law changed how schools support students with disabilities.  On Nov. 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act — the first version of what is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. Influenced by preceding legal cases like Brown v. Board of Education and PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the new law guaranteed that children with disabilities would have access to a free and appropriate public education alongside their peers. Before the law was enacted, millions of children with disabilities across the U.S. had been excluded from public schools. Some were denied enrollment altogether, while others were placed in separate facilities with few opportunities to learn.