Nearly half of civil rights complaints to the U.S. Department of Education last year involved disability discrimination

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, tasked with prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability and age in education programs, fielded a record-high 10,392 complaints last year, with over 4,800 (46%) involving disability discrimination.  While the greatest number of complaints involved access to a free, appropriate public education (FAPE), retaliation, or exclusion/different treatment, complaints about inappropriate restraint and seclusion and web accessibility issues increased from previous years.  An article in Disability Scoop provides more information about these recent statistics, and can be found here:  https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2016/05/05/complaints-education-disability/22271/

 

For information on how to contact the Office of Civil Rights, click here:  https://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/OCR/contactus.cfm

 

For the Office of Civil Rights list of frequently asked questions (FAQ), click here:  http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/faqs.html?src=go