Disability Rights & Identity

Three-round, 35-minute protocol for paras working with students with disabilities. Round 1 — Law-Frame Map (12 min): participants build a three-column reference card distinguishing IDEA, Section 504, and the ADA by drawing on the civil-rights framework in "Introduction to the Americans with Disabilities Act" (ADA.gov) and the "ADA Foundations Webcourse" (ADA National Network) to specify who each law protects, what obligation it creates for the school, and one signal a para can recognize and surface to the case manager — countering the failure mode of treating all three frameworks as interchangeable or viewing disability purely through a medical rather than a civil-rights lens. Round 2 — Language Audit (12 min): given eight student descriptions written in deficit or medical-only framing, participants rewrite each using either person-first or identity-first language and annotate their choice with the core principle that the student and family determine which convention applies — building the habit of asking before assuming, rather than universally imposing one style. Round 3 — Rights-in-Action Card (11 min): given three brief vignettes — a parent uses identity-first language the para hadn't heard before, a student is excluded from an activity without documented IEP justification, and a colleague frames a student's disability as a burden — participants write one observation sentence and one response sentence for each, practicing the para's role as observer, supporter, and appropriate escalation point rather than decision-maker on rights questions.