Arc of Oregon celebrates 50 years of advocacy work.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

The state's oldest advocacy group for people with developmental disabilities and their families - The Arc of Oregon - celebrated 50 years of hard-won progress and rallied to carry on the struggle for inclusion in all aspects of society at its annual convention this weekend in Eugene.

Seminars focused on an array of disability issues ranging from lobbying and financial planning to accessible voting technology, residential design and transportation. And, of course, special education.

"It was The Arc that brought about special education law 30 years ago," Michael Remus, director of special education for Portland Public Schools, told more than 100 in attendance for his luncheon address Saturday.

A group of parents in Pennsylvania - the first association for retarded citizens - prepared a lawsuit that eventually led to legislation recognizing the right of disabled children to a free public education in 1975.

Special education advocates and activists must work continually from the highest levels of government to local schools to make the law work for each individual child, said Remus, who has two children with developmental disabilities.

It's a big job for parents, school officials and the government, he said.

In Oregon, 12 percent of schoolchildren - about 78,000 - are enrolled in special education programs that cover them from birth to age 21.

The Eugene School District, which has 2,400 special education students, spends about $12 million annually on special education.

Growing class sizes and tight budgets are constant obstacles. While the federal government for decades has pledged to cover 40 percent of the cost of special education, it currently funds only 15 percent, Remus said.

But public and private attitudes toward children with special needs may be the larger obstacle in the quest for inclusion, Remus said. Advocates can find hope in that arena in the evolving federal legislation supporting special education, he said.

In 1997, for example, the law started requiring school officials to begin planning each special education student's program with the assumption that the child will be in a regular classroom, with the necessary service and support. From there, planners are supposed to move the child out for special programs only as needed.

Too often, special education students are isolated from their peers unnecessarily, just because they need intensive support in reading or math, he said.

The better approach is to develop the expertise of teachers and provide specialized support to help them through the regular classroom curriculum.

"If they aren't learning what the other kids are learning, they're never going to be included," Remus said.

Advocates can find yet more hope in the growing effort by lawmakers to hold school officials accountable for academic progress by special education students, just as they must demonstrate improvement among regular students, he said.

"Look how far we've come," Remus told the group. "We have to work full-fledged to make sure we don't lose (the gains of) these last 28 years."