When the Political becomes Personal.
To many people, politics feels like a game played by others for the benefit of others. It is not unreasonable to wonder why you should care about any single piece of legislation, a conflict over the debt ceiling, or the appointment of a Supreme Court Justice. It feels foreign. It can feel irrelevant. While I have always disagreed with that sentiment, I understand it. After all, how often does the federal budget have a direct, imminent and immediate impact on the ability to put food on the table and pay the mortgage.
Obviously, if you are reading this blog, you know that is not a mentality I share. If you're reading this blog, I imagine that you, as well, have never been able to ignore the politics of our country. For me, the political world has always felt personal. But a lot of that feeling was, admittedly, perception and a product of my own interests. Today though, our politics really are personal to me. That is not a statement of perception. Right now, there are moves afoot in 17 states and the Federal Government that, if successful, will have an immediate and direct impact on my life, my wife's life, and more importantly than anything else, the lives of my children and specifically my youngest.
In 2019 we were blessed with the birth of our third son. Because of him, my wife and I have learned the true depths of the love a parent can hold for their child. Of course, through the births of our first two sons and in the learning curve of raising them, we learned abundant lessons in love. With each we saw our hearts expand in ways that we did not know were possible. But, love is easy when life is easy. Our love for our first two children has no limits, it has no bounds. Yet, that knowledge is almost academic or intellectual in nature, because raising them has not required us to rearrange our lives and reexamine our priorities (other than the ordinary ways that parenthood always requires). It's easy when it's easy. There is no way to know what you can endure, what you are willing to sacrifice or how far you will go for the benefit or your child when life doesn’t require you to find out.
We found out. We knew before he was born that Julian’s road through life would be hard, but it wasn’t until he arrived that we fully understood how hard it would be for him, for us and for his brothers. He was born with physical abnormalities that impacted (and continue to impact) how he functions: a recessed jaw that required craniofacial plastic surgery at two weeks old just so he could breathe safely[1]; a cleft soft palette that prevented him from bottle or breast feeding until he was old enough for the cleft to be surgically repaired; an absent right thumb; hypotonia (low muscle tone) and a number of brain abnormalities. He needed an NG tube (feeding tube that runs through the nose to the stomach) and later a G-Tube (surgically placed stomach port) just to eat during his first two years. Finally, he was diagnosed with a congenital marrow failure syndrome known as Diamond Blackfan Anemia that is treated with periodic blood transfusions. He has been in physical, occupational and speech therapy since birth.
Julian has overcome more challenges in his five years than I have encountered in my 41 years. He has persevered through more than most people will in their entire lifetime. He does not yet fully understand the hand he has been dealt, which means he believes he is limitless and knocks down the barriers as they appear. He gets the most credit for his success. After him, my wife deserves credit for her tireless efforts to push him farther (I’ll take a bit of credit too, but not as much as her). However, the combined efforts of my wife and I could never be enough. We need the team of top notch medical professionals at the hospital. We also need the services he has received through government sponsored programs and, more specifically, at school. Since he turned three he has received physical, occupational and speech therapies through the public school system. Currently, he has an IEP (Individualized Education Program) and in the future he may require a 504 plan. Through IEPs and 504 Plans children with physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities, chronic illnesses and mental illnesses are able to receive the services and education they deserve. These children, like Julian, are entitled to receive the services and accommodations due to federal legislation, including the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and, to a lesser extent, the Americans with Disabilities Act. Those services are only available to kids like Julian because of the federal mandates and the federal fund distributed to states to enable implementation of the mandates.
Does anyone remember what the world was like for kids with special needs before the 1970s? It was ugly. Parents had little guidance and few resources on how to care for their children and set them up for success. Our schools, our communities and our country failed to build spaces (literally and figuratively) that were designed to include those with special needs. Countless lives were lived and lost in bleak darkness. But through legislation and federal funding a light was shown upon these kids. Because of laws and appropriation of funds, millions of special needs children had and have the opportunity to live better lives. Of course, it is not perfect, nothing ever can be. But the world we live in today is better because children and adults with disabilities are considered, supported and included.
This better world was built on the idea that everyone… everyone… has intrinsic value and potential but those virtues can only be realized when the necessary support is available.
It seems like a pretty non-controversial idea. I might even say it sounds entirely apolitical.
And yet… these support services and the values they represent are under a full frontal assault.
Seventeen states, led by the great State of Texas, have filed lawsuits to declare Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 unconstitutional. Section 504 states that “No otherwise qualified individual” can be, simply because of their disability “denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination” in any program or activity that received federal funds. The purported basis of the lawsuits is the Biden Administration’s expansion of the definition of “disability” to include gender dysphoria. In other words, the Biden Administration wanted to ensure that Trans kids had rights and received appropriate benefits and services in schools.
On the one hand, these lawsuits are another attempt by conservatives to attack and erase the LGBTQ+ community. It continues to boggle my mind that Trump and the GOP have made one of the most vulnerable populations of people in the United States into one of their most important political enemies. Have you ever read about the suicide and homelessness rates amount Trans kids?[2] The data suggests that reduction of services will only exacerbate an existing crisis. It is heartbreakingly tragic.
The politicians and state attorneys general pursuing these lawsuits utilize talking points singularly focused on the Trans issue because they believe that attacks on Trans communities are politically safe. Presumably, they believe that attacking the benefits and services provided to a vulnerable and marginalized group of people is minimally risky and only mildly controversial.
On the other hand - they are lying. Yes, the lawsuits focus, in part, on the Biden expansion of “disability” but the truth is these lawsuits are seeking to tear down Section 504 in its entirety.
A civil lawsuit is commenced with the filing of a complaint or petition (the name depends on the jurisdiction and issue). The complaint contains counts which describe the facts and law that form the basis of the cause of action. In these lawsuits, the initial counts attack Section 504 and the disability definition as it pertains to gender dysphoria. However, in the third count, the argument expands, and asserts that Section 504 is “coercive, untethered to the federal interest in disability and unfairly retroactive” and as a result, unconstitutional. That is an assault on the entirety of Section 504.[3]
It gets worse though. At the end of each count in a complaint is a “Prayer for relief” or “Demand for relief” (again, the names are based on the jurisdiction) which states the specific relief, award or action the Plaintiff/Petitioner is seeking from the Court. In other words, the Prayer or Demand states what the Plaintiff/Petitioner wants.
In the lawsuits attacking Section 504 the “Demand for Relief” states: “Declare Section 504 U.S.C. § 794 unconstitutional…. Issue permanent injunctive relief against Defendants enjoining them from enforcing Section 504.”
To suggest the success of these lawsuits would change only the definition of “disability” and eliminate services for Trans kids is a bald-faced lie. These lawsuits could tear down the entire structure around Section 504. Section 504 requires states to provide certain services and programming to students with a wide range of special needs. Section 504 exists to ensure that kids with special needs are not discriminated against in schools. Seventeen states want to destroy that.
Frankly, I can think of no reasonable or rational explanation for why anyone would want Section 504 to be declared unconstitutional. However, I honestly do not care what the rationales or motivations are because the damage it would cause is obvious. Look, services and programming for special needs students are expensive, complicated and difficult to administer but those are the reasons why federally mandated protections and federal funding are necessary. States, local governments and local school districts will reduce, restrict or eliminate services and programs if they are no longer required to do so. Section 504 is coercive because governments and school boards (just like individuals and corporations) will not offer specialized services otherwise. A local school board with $100 to spend on 100 students will pursue two possible courses action. 1) It will distribute the funds in a manner which results in $1 per student, which looks and sounds fair, but fails to account for the different needs among students; or 2) It will use distribute those funds to initiatives that are designed as marketing tools to attract more students to the district (i.e. upgrading its computer labs to show it’s state-of-the-art technology or improving athletic facilities to attract top athletes). However, those plans fail to account for the different needs of different students. A child with an intellectual disability requires more help than the valedictorian. “More help” means more money. School districts, already strapped for cash, are unlikely to voluntarily devote those funds to that very small subset of students. Which is why they must be required (read: coerced) to provide those services and incentivized (read: provided federal funds) to implement them equitably and fairly. This is how government works – sticks and carrots, coercion and incentives.
All families with specials needs children could be impacted by this. Declaring the law unconstitutional, renders it unconstitutional throughout the country, not just in those 17 states pursing the lawsuits. In other words, Texas is trying to dictate the rights of special needs children for everyone. Julian has an IEP not a 504, but that just means his particular set of needs are addressed by different laws, for now. The particular law that supports a child’s services can change over time due to changing circumstances. Someday he may need 504. That said, Section 504 serves as a standing requirement that Julian and similarly situated students receive a free and appropriate public education. What’s more, is Section 504 is applied broadly and ensure that children with a all manner of special needs receive appropriate accommodations (i.e. diabetes, ADHD, depression, anxiety and chronic asthma etc.)
All families and students with special needs would be harmed by the loss of Section 504. Low income families would be hit the hardest. Some people are lucky enough to have incomes large enough to find the support their kids require in the private sector. However, the expense of such services far outstrips the means of the majority of families. Paying for private education, tutors or therapies out-of-pocket is more than most families can endure. As a consequence, middle- and low-income households are pushed further down the socioeconomic ladder and the specials needs kids are relegated to the margins of society just as they were before laws like Section 504 were put in place.
Let’s not forget that these lawsuits are occurring at the same time that Trump, Musk, DOGE and the soon-to-be Secretary of Education Linday McMahon are diligently working to dismantle the Department of Education – the agency which oversees, enforces and distributes funds for the services rendered to specials needs children throughout the country. Once the DoE ceases to exist there will be no guardrails in place to ensure federal funds earmarked for special needs children are in fact used for that purpose.
I have always believed that we owe a collective duty to our most vulnerable citizens. Government should exist to support the vulnerable and institute systems and programs that seek to account for, equalize, and diminish the impact of those vulnerabilities. It is a moral and ethical imperative of any government that claims to serve its people.
These lawsuits demonstrate the moral and ethical rot that has infected our political systems. We have entered an era where naked self-interest is the highest virtue. Help yourself and everyone else be damned. Texas and the sixteen other Republican states seeking to burn down Section 504 have said that supporting special needs children is not in their own narrow self-interest, or the narrow-self interest of the majority of their constituents. In other words, supporting special needs kids won’t secure votes or campaign donations – so those kids simply do not matter. I used to think that we, as Americans, were better than that. Whether its Texans or Illinoisans I thought we all believed that specials needs children should, as an moral and ethical imperative, be supported. I used to believe that whether democrat or republican, liberal or conservative, we all understood that specials needs children and disabled adults have intrinsic and inalienable value. I was wrong.
Now, the political is personal for me. This lawsuit implicitly states that specials needs children have less value. These 17 states have said my child has less value because of his special needs. Those states want to take away my son’s rights. That is personal. I must now imagine a future in which my son will not receive the services he needs from his school district because they are not required to or provided the necessary funds. I must now imagine how we, on our own dime, can make up for such losses. He is my son, and I will do anything and everything in my power to ensure that he succeeds and flourishes in school and in life but I’ll have fewer tools and resources to work with.
Please forgive spelling and grammar errors. I am a terrible editor.
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[1] Mandibular Distraction – his jaw was cut completely through on each side and distractors installed that prevented the cuts from immediately and fully healing in order to encourage new bone growth to lengthen the jaw.
[2] https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/09/25/nx-s1-5127347/more-trans-teens-attempted-suicide-after-states-passed-anti-trans-laws-a-study-shows
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10027312/
https://lesley.edu/article/the-cost-of-coming-out-lgbt-youth-homelessness
[3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2025/02/13/17-states-sue-to-end-protections-for-students-with-special-needs/
https://decaturish.com/2025/02/georgias-involvement-in-section-504-lawsuit-sparks-community-outrage-from-parents/
