Giving Compass' Take:

• Parents offer advice about how you can become the best advocate for your child if they have a disability. 

• The author relays information that CPS cut special education funding making it that more difficult for students with disabilities to receive services from schools. How are parents supposed to know what the next steps are for their children in schools that do not receive adequate funding? 

• Read about how some schools are trying to prepare students with disabilities for specific career paths. 

The dozen or so mothers, grandmothers and aunts came from different neighborhoods of the city. But they shared something in common: a child they cared about had a disability and required a tailored schooling plan, and they wanted to learn how to be an advocate. This was the topic of a Chalkbeat Chicago listening tour event Monday at Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI) on the Near West Side.

This was our fifth stop in a series of summer events in which we’re traveling to communities across the city and partnering with local groups to hear about their experiences in schools.

At COFI, we listened as parents counseled each other on how to help their children navigate a maze of specialists, doctors, acronyms, and public school choice. This maze has been especially difficult to navigate in recent years, as CPS cut special education funding and systematically delayed and denied special education services.

Morton and other parents shared these pieces of advice with each other:

  • Speak up and be persistent, even when the answer is “no.”
  • Document, document, document. 
  • Ask for translation if you need it.
  • Don’t go to meetings alone. 
  • Compare notes with other parents.
  • Overcome the stigma of the label that comes with “diverse learning,” aka special education. 
  • Volunteer — you learn much more about how your school works when you are regularly in it. 

Read the full article about advocating for students with disabilities by Adeshina Emmanuel, Cassie Walker Burke, and Elaine Chen  at Chalkbeat