project story: IDEA Inclusion Project

Barbara Dyer

Disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society. Improving educational results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.

Findings of the U.S. Congress
Individuals with Disabilities Act, 20 U.S.C. 1400(C)

In my search for a new course schedule at the end of my second year of law school, I happened upon the fall curriculum listing of something called “Community Legal Education.” Late in the spring I stopped by Professor Ansley’s office to learn more about the course, and I was amazed when she told me about projects that other students had done in the past that sounded like a perfect correlation to my interests. She explained that she was interested in finding ways for students to help underserved communities learn more about the law and about their rights. She also said that she expected most students in the class that semester would be working closely with Knoxville’s American Festival Project, a local community arts collaborative. So she was especially interested in finding students who were intrigued with the possibility of using the arts and creative expression to communicate about law and the legal system.

My husband and I have three wonderful children, each with a different kind of educational disability, and making sure that each of them got what they needed in school has been quite a challenge. With our daughter India, who has Down syndrome, we ran into the most resistant barriers. Our efforts on her behalf eventually propelled us into many years of lay advocacy for the educational rights of children with disabilities. So I already had “my issue” firmly in mind, as far as a focus for doing “community legal education.” It also happens that my husband Wayne Dyer is a visual artist and graphic designer who had already been thinking about creating a visual installation of some kind that would focus on these themes.

So as I talked with Professor Ansley and heard from her about plans for the fall and about projects that students in the past had done, I began to see more and more possibilities for a project of my own. Soon we were brainstorming about how I might integrate not only my concerns about the rights of children with disabilities, but also the members of my own family, into an event designed to reach the public through performance art and a visual installation. I was truly excited to think that all these people and ideas might come together in a project that I could do for law school credit. (teacher comment on enabling contagion)

Over the summer, my husband and I developed some concrete plans for an installation and performance. Wayne and my basic idea was to join a children’s dance performance with a multi-media installation that would educate the public and celebrate diversity and inclusion, with a special focus on persons with disabilities. In particular we wanted to publicize the mandates of an important federal statute, theIndividuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA, which guarantees that all children with disabilities have a right to a“free and appropriate public education” ; in the“least restrictive environment” ; appropriate for their learning.

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