Many students in the education system today have a disability. This can range from having autism or being in a wheelchair. There are protections for children, but without proper enforcement, there is room for bullying or even hate to happen in an education system. We know children don’t know any better. We can give them a little room for forgiveness in some cases, but it is up to the adults in the children’s lives to teach them principles in a diverse environment. It’s usually easy for some to be respectful to others, but there are always those cases where we love to give a side eye to those who are awfully disrespectful, blatantly or passively.

We establish rules. It’s a policy. If you don’t follow this rule, we will penalize/punish you. But, we all know it is very easy to get away with things in a crowded environment like a public school (all schools are different, but I am speaking from my experience). How do we enforce rules when broken rules are missed? We don’t. We leave it up to those around them to have to courage to go and tell an adult. This can be difficult for some children, especially when there are so many factors that come into play. A child can know something is wrong, but feels socially unable to tell their teacher when they run the risk of getting shamed by their peers.

This happens out in the real world. “Snitches get stitches.” We’ve all heard this phrase. It’s used from the smallest things to elaborate criminal organizations. Sometimes we feel as if the negative consequences will always outweigh the positives when it comes to speaking up. We can see this when we second-guess asking for a re-mark on an exam to asking for help when we cannot make ends meet. In Crip Camp, they demanded that their rights actually be enforced. This shows the importance of actually saying something about what is wrong with the laws in place. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is a federal law that prohibits discrimination, not a policy that we can miss with the consequence being well-being. The things that they protest for are rights that have been passed by legislation and signed by the executive. Although policy is still enforced by regulation, like consequences, a law is something that we should, by no means, have to be compliant with being ignored.