Rights on a Rubber Band: Accountability Elasticity, Executive Power, and Disability Civil Rights
Abstract
In this article, I analyze how federal executive actions across United States presidential administrations have shaped the elasticity of educational equity accountability in relation to federal civil rights law, particularly in special education. Using Thorius and Artiles’s Accountability Elasticity framework, I analyze these actions under the Trump administrations and to a lesser extent, under the Obama and Biden administrations, to demonstrate how civil rights protections for students at the intersection of race and disability have been alternately expanded and contracted without legislative change. I found that overwhelmingly, the Trump administrations have redefined who is prioritized by federal civil rights law, narrowed investigatory scope, and limited public access to equity data. I conclude with concrete recommendations for advocates, educators, and scholars working to resist retrenchment and restore civil rights protections within and beyond government structures.
Contributor Notes
Author Bio
Kathleen King Thorius is professor and director of Learning Futures Collaboratives in Teachers College. She is editor of Exceptional Children, the flagship special journal of the Council for Exceptional Children. Thorius is a critical special education scholar who develops and facilitates cultural historical approaches to teacher learning, largely with white/non-disabled educators, toward the goal of inclusive education as an intersectional education justice movement.
