How might we re-imagine Special Education Services in NYC public schools to be more equitable and inclusive for students with disabilities and their caretakers?
Spec work
Special Education Services | NYC Department of Education
The Challenge
All students with disabilities who require special education services have an Individualized Education Program (IEPs). The IEP is a legal document that contains information about a child's interests, strengths, needs, goals, and educational program. How can we design the IEP service to be more inclusive?
What does the current education system look like for disabled students?
19% of NYC students have an IEP. Within those numbers, the most prevalent classifications are Learning Disabilities and Speech or Language Impairments. Click the image to explore this map in detail.
What does the experience of the IEP service feel like for diverse stakeholders?
We interviewed a community expert, a parent advocate, a school social worker and an employee from the Department of Education to create a journey map of the IEP service capturing influential experiences. Click the image to explore this map in detail.
“I realized I wasn’t as advanced as my classmates and my friends. I was falling behind.
It was dehumanizing, like you’re not as good as everyone else.”
— Student with a Learning Disability, Source
How might inclusive language influence the experience of a service?
After these interviews and research, we found that an emerging theme was the language used in these systems. We used data scraping methods to identify words that were prevalent on the Department of Education website to create a Language Map. This was designed using the different models of disability to identify words that were community-friendly versus those that were harmful. The goal of this map was to introduce cultural models of disability in education systems to ensure inclusivity in service delivery. Click the image to explore this map in detail.
Recommendations
Personal Reflection
Navigating the complexities of parenthood and childhood can be an emotional journey. However, when systems of power fail to acknowledge diverse experiences, tensions can arise that harm individuals and communities. How might we center disabled students in the design of their own education?
Role
Design Researcher
Team
Sophia Geanacopoulos, Shashank Sharma, Krutika Galgalikar