School mask fight goes beyond Texas
Parents of disabled children together with Disability Rights Texas won a ruling in November that could have ramifications well beyond the state of Texas. The dispute arose in July, when Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order prohibiting schools from instituting a mask mandate, insisting that whether to wear a mask should be decided by a child’s parents.
But a federal judge ruled last month that Abbott’s order violated the the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act because it put students with disabilities at risk.
This decision was immediately seen as a win for disabled students in Texas, who, like their cohorts elsewhere, have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, the ensuing school closures and breakdowns in the provision of needed services.
Children with disabilities are especially vulnerable to COVID-19. They catch the virus more easily and have a greater likelihood of serious illness or death.
It was also a win for parents of disabled children in other states across the nation who would have a playbook to follow to help protect the rights of their children to safely attend school.
Unfortunately, the victory did not last long. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed, and was granted an emergency stay of the judge’s ruling, which means for now the governor’s order remains in effect. Now it is the parents and Disability Rights Texas who must appeal — but there is great hope that they will win on the merits of the case.
A successful appeal would be a win for all students in Texas, disabled or not.
COVID-19 variants such as delta and now omicron are a significant threat. Since the start of the 2021-22 school year, at least 45 districts have been temporarily shut down due to COVID-19 outbreaks among the student body and staff. The impact has been felt by about 42,000 students and their families
Children everywhere would benefit. Even as children would mask up to protect those unable to do so, they would also be gaining powerful protection themselves.
Mask mandates have proved successful in keeping schools safe and open. The CDC reported in September that three studies of counties without masking requirements saw the number of pediatric COVID-19 cases increase two to three times more than those that had mandates in place during the same period. With more pediatric cases, we have more children ill and hospitalized, and even die.
Studies confirm that localities without mask mandates have suffered more losses in the number of school days open. Children out of school also result in parents forfeiting workdays.
It is worth stepping back to see why the rights of disabled children can potentially have such a long reach.
Without the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, by which children with disabilities were integrated into the school system, the rebuke to Abbott’s order would not have been imaginable. Similarly, it would not have been possible without legislation such as the ADA, which protects the rights of people with disabilities to needed services and accommodations.
It is equally important to understand how the world already has been made better, in small as well as large ways, when people with disabilities are included and their rights and needs recognized. Curb cuts and ramps are everyday examples. Intended for wheelchair users, they also answered a need for the parent with a stroller, for the traveler with wheeled luggage, for the elderly woman with a shopping cart. These turned out to meet needs many had never realized were unmet.
The Texas decision can be such a benefit — if the stay is lifted and the parents and Disability Rights Texas prevail.
Too often people with disabilities have been viewed as only a burden for families, the community and the nation. The decision on this lawsuit, if upheld, directly challenges such a view. Making an environment safer and more suitable for people with disabilities continues to have crucial positive benefits for all of us.