Disability Rights Montana Prepares Disabled Students for Adulthood

David Carlson, Disability Rights Montana's Executive Director, speaks during a planning meeting for the upcoming high school monitoring. Photo credit Kona Franks-Ongoy Disability Rights Montana seeks input from students with disabilities through in-person visits to schools and an online survey. Starting this week, Disability Rights Montana is monitoring public high schools to ensure students with disabilities are receiving the services required by federal law. Specifically, Disability Rights Montana is looking at how well schools facilitate students’ transition from school to life after graduation. "When I was in high school the adults in my life had low expectations for what I would become as an adult, and over the years I have heard from lots of other people with disabilities that they had similar high school experiences,” says David Carlson, Executive Director of Disability Rights Montana. “I’ve also heard from people with the exact opposite experience. They had great teachers and counselors who really believed in them and helped them become the adults they are today. I want all students to have that experience. Everystudent deserves to attend a school that is fully invested in helping them live their best lives after graduation." To begin this monitoring, Disability Rights Montana is requesting all high school students with disabilities and their parents, guardians, teachers, and other professionals in the lives of students with disabilities fill out a survey about their experience with local school and state agency transition services. The survey can be found here: https://disabilityrightsmt.org/student-transition-monitoring. Survey responses will help identify strengths and areas for improvement in the current system and shape the next step of monitoring as Disability Rights Montana visits several schools in person to speak with students, parents, and administrators. “This initiative comes at a crucial time as education rights are in the spotlight.” explains Michelle Weltman, Disability Rights Montana’s Supervising Attorney for Education. “Transition services play a vital role in the trajectory of a student’s life well beyond the day they leave high school. Disability Rights Montana is committed to ensuring that the rights of students with disabilities are enforced and properly implemented, with individualized and thorough transition plans that will support life after high school.” For more information and to participate in the survey, please visit disabilityrightsmt.org Disability Rights Montana is a non-profit organization that aims to protect and advocate for the civil, legal, and human rights of all disabled Montanans. People with disabilities have a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and should never have to experience any mistreatment, exploitation, abuse, or neglect.