Oklahoma lawmakers on Tuesday rejected a bill that, if passed, would have ended the use of corporal punishment on students with disabilities.
Corporal punishment is defined in the bill as “the intentional infliction of physical pain by striking, paddling, striking, slapping, or any other physical force used as a means of discipline.” The legislation would have prohibited the use of this form of punishment for students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
The vote on the bill was 45-43 in favor of its passage, according to the report KFOR extension. But the bill ultimately failed as it needed a majority of 51 MPs to pass.
Representative. John Talley (R) authored the bill, saying corporal punishment of students with disabilities “doesn’t belong in the classroom” and that “responsibility and forgiveness go hand in hand,” KFOR reports. But other Republicans voted against the bill, some citing Scripture as justification.
“Proverbs 29: ‘The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left alone brings shame to its mother,'” Rep. Jim Olsen (R) She saidadding that the biblical line seems to “endorse the use of corporal punishment”.
Even him provided an example by a constituent who said his disabled son “didn’t respond to positive encouragement” but “responded very well to corporal punishment.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Cyndi Munson (D), who voted for the bill, spoke about her experiences with childhood abuse and why corporal punishment should be banned.
“My mother would use sticks to beat me on the back… she would pull my hair to make me listen, to behave,” she. She saidadding that he has spent over a decade working with psychologists and therapists to resolve childhood trauma.
She said her father used positive reinforcement and gentle words to encourage her and her siblings to behave. But she added that the amount of love he gave her was not enough, through no fault of his own, to overcome the way her mother treated them.
“So imagine a child who goes to school and doesn’t ‘behave,'” she said. “Whether they have a disability or not, a child needs a safe place to go.”
Second The Hechinger Report19 states, including Oklahoma, allow corporal punishment of public school students. Nationally, more than 69,000 students he almost received corporal punishment 97,000 times during the 2017-18 school year.
A recent study found that from is estimated at 291 million children and adolescents with disabilities in the world, almost a third of them have experienced violence, NPR reports. Also the second American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)Students with disabilities face disproportionately high rates of corporal punishment nationally, often being subjected to it as a means of discipline for behaviors related to their disabilities and conditions, such as Tourette syndrome and autism.
For example, in Tennessee, students with disabilities die at more than twice the rate of the general student population. Other than said the ACLU that these statistics are likely an underestimate of the violence experienced by students with disabilities because there is no mandatory reporting of the many types of corporal punishment that occur.
The use of force and abusive punishment is not a new or unusual experience for people with disabilities, advocates note. For example, the author Smith pointed out in a Tweets responding to support for the failed Oklahoma bill despite the fact that the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Massachusetts used electric shock devices on students with autism decades of attempts from I beg you to close it.
Second Disability Rights and Education Fund (DREDF), children use behavior to communicate needs. As a result, they risk losing their educational benefits, being disciplined, suspended, or placed in inappropriately restrictive conditions.
Instead, US schools have adopted Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), A evidence-based tiered structure used to support the behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of students e greatly benefits students with disabilities.
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