The Texas Coordinating Board for Higher Education defines Special Populations as:
This definition is important because thousands of people who fit into one or several of the above categories attend community colleges in Texas. According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in Texas, 6,910 special population students in Texas received associate degrees in technical fields during academic year 1998-99, while 9,016 received certificates. The numbers rise and dip slightly each year but have stayed consistently high for the last several years. However, these numbers indicate that a significant portion of community college students have special needs. The goal of this module is to give community college workforce faculty the necessary tools to address these needs. Specifically, this module will focus on two categories of Special Populations: Americans with Disabilities and individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP).
Which one of these individuals does not have a disability?
The truth is we all have abilities and disabilities. But sometimes it's not apparent. Let's see what the law has to say about the definition of a disabled person and the rights they have under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
The law behind the ADA is Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The wording and content of the law are not complicated:
The portion bolded above needs a bit of definition. A person with a disability is an individual with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. An individual is considered to be a person with a disability if he or she has a disability, has a history of a disability, or is perceived by others as having a disability. A qualified person with a disability is defined as a person who meets the requisite academic and technical standards required for admission to or participation in the postsecondary institution’s programs and activities.
Some examples of documented disabilities are:
Most of us are aware of the above examples of disabilities, but what is less often known is that individuals with chronic illnesses are also protected. Examples of chronic illnesses are AIDS, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), arthritis, cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, and various psychological disorders.
The following statistics came from the National Center on Education Statistics. They address disability and education for all students under 21 years of age.
Determined and persistent individuals with disabilities have
always been contributors to society when those around them saw
past their disabilities and focused on their talents. In fact,
many Texans whose lives you studied in your history books were
disabled. The following individuals are only a few of the outstanding
Texans with disabilities that we know of.
Thomas Ward lost a leg in the Texas Revolution and an arm when a cannon misfired during a San Jacinto Day celebration. He served as mayor of Austin and Commissioner of the General Land Office.
Source: Famous Texans with Disabilities Other well-known Americans with disabilities were: Harriet Tubman, born on a slave plantation, developed epilepsy
after being struck on the head by her overseer. After escaping
slavery, she dedicated her life to freeing other slaves and to
women's suffrage. John Wesley Powell, a 19th century explorer, lost his right arm in the Civil War. Lacking even moral support from his parents, he became a science professor and explorer who founded the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of Ethnology. Judi Chamberlain was hospitalized in a state institution due to depression. The horrifying conditions and lack of legal rights she experienced as a psychiatric patient prompted her to found a Mental Patients Liberation Front and publish an important book on the topic. |
Other
interesting statistics can be found at the Texas Governor’s
web site, specifically under the topic of the 
Of
those disabled people who are a part of the workforce, a much
higher percentage have college degrees than have less than a high
school degree. Sixteen percent had less than a high school degree,
but 50.4% possessed a college degree. Educational attainment is
as much a key to success for a disabled person as it is for a
non-disabled person. The percentage of severely disabled who have
no high school diploma and are active in the labor force is 17.3%;
31.2% of those with a high school diploma are active in the labor
force, and 52.4% of those with a college degree are active in
the labor force.The statistics above are more than just numbers
pulled together through research. They reveal much about a large
part of the American public school population. For example,
the number of students receiving federal aid for some type of
disability has increased since 1977 by several million.
It is worth noting that the number of students reporting disabilities
has increased markedly, but too many still hesitate to report.
And, like most other Americans, disabled students must have an
education to participate in the workforce.Therefore, it is clear
that these individuals must be accorded the same rights as those
without disabilities, including the right to acquire an education.
In order to accord them those rights, some special services should
be available to all disabled persons who qualify.
Most
of us are aware of one of our country's most famous disabled Americans:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Because of childhood polio, Roosevelt
could not walk without assistance. However, he successfully served
three terms as a US President (elected 4 times and died in office).
Unfortunately, the lack of disability awareness forced him to
hide his disability. Photos of him in a wheelchair were never
published during his presidency. 
