from the desk of Pamela Bisceglia, Executive Director
November 29, 2025, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Public Law 94-142 Education for all Handicapped Children Act and reauthorized in 1990 and 2004 as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. May 12, 2025, ADVOCACYDENVER celebrated our 71st anniversary. The Denver County Chapter was established in 1954, by parents to address the lack of access for children with disabilities to public education.
We stand on the shoulders of the parents before us.
My journey: I am the parent of a child who was identified as having a disability at birth. My daughter was premature; her health was fragile. I took life one day at a time, I did not think about or plan for her future because I wasn’t sure if she would be with me tomorrow.
When my daughter was about two years old, a friend invited me to have lunch at her home. For the first time I left my daughter under the care of a grandparent. When I arrived for lunch, there were several other guests, but my friend said, “I want you to meet June. You and her have a lot in common.” I looked at this woman, many years my senior, but soon learned what we had in common was we were both parents of children with disabilities.
As we talked, I had reason to wonder out loud what school would look like for my child. She said your child will have every opportunity because of parents like me. She remembered when her son was young, he attended kindergarten at a Denver Public School. The next year, on the first day of school he insisted that he walk to school with the other children in the neighborhood. She watched as he walked down the path of their house, pencil box in one hand and writing tablet in the other. Each day at the evening meal he would talk about school; the teacher said this, a boy did this, a girl did that; today we learned… He was excited about his learning.
About two weeks into the school year his mom saw him walk up the path to the house. He had his writing tablet in one hand, but she noticed he had his pencil box in his other hand. This puzzled her because the pencil box always remained in his desk at school. When he walked through the door, she noticed a note pinned to the collar of his shirt. The note said “We have determined that your child cannot be educated. You will need to make other arrangements for him.” The note was signed by the principal. She was outraged.
She and her husband went to the school the next day and met with the principal. The principal said it is obvious that your child is an “imbecile” and as principal of this school, I have the authority to refuse enrollment. The parents reached out to district leadership, the Colorado Department of Education and everyone stood firm supporting the principal and the school district’s decision. The year was 1954, and in 1954, children with disabilities did not have a right to a public education.
June joined the movement and lobbied first at a local level and then at a national level for policy that would afford her child, and all children with disabilities, a public education. In today’s history classes educators teach our children the important history of the Civil Rights movement/demonstrations in the 50s and in particular the 60s. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. were leaders who led the community forwarding change. Because parents saw these leaders discussing civil rights, they recognized their own permission to talk about the human rights of their children with disabilities.
Public Law 94-142 Education for all Handicapped Children Act was passed in 1975. For the parents who stood firm in the 50s and 60s, their children were too old to go to school, but nevertheless they took pride in the fact that they had opened the door to public education for future generations of children with disabilities.
We stand on the shoulders of the parents who advocated, lobbied and brought litigation to demand that all children be provided a public education.
We stand on the shoulders of the generation of parents and educators who brought our children out of separate classrooms in the basements of public schools and into mainstream classrooms.
We stand with the parents, teachers and educational leaders who refuse to compromise the promise made to our children 5 decades ago, the promise of a free appropriate public education.