Diana MTK Autin, parent advocacy leader, describes how distance learning fails to meet the needs of many students and exacerbates inequities. She leads several organizations that help parents advocate effectively for their own families and also for systemic change. The pandemic’s impacts are likely to be felt by students for a long time, and unless students’ rights are defended, long-standing legal protections may be weakened with devastating effects.
References
- Center for Parent Information and Resources: parentcenterhub.org/coronavirus-resources
- Multilingual resources on COVID 19: parentcenterhub.org/buzz-march2020-issue1
- RAISE National Transition TA Center for youth with disabilities, their families, and the professionals who support them (special newsletter on youth with disabilities and COVID 19): myemail.constantcontact.com/RAISE-The-Standard-Newsletter—March-2020.html?soid=1115638112245&aid=mDii4ExNoJo
- National Center for Leadership in Family Professional Partnerships: familyvoices.org/coronavirus
- National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health: ffcmh.org/crisis-hotlines
- National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement: nafsce.org/general/custom.asp?page=coronavirus
- National Center for Parent Leadership, Advocacy, and Community Empowerment: www.parentsatthetable.org
- Resources for parents and educators: schoolvirtually.org
Overview
00:00-00:42 Intros
00:43-01:45 How parent advocacy groups help vulnerable children and families
01:46-03:33 How the pandemic and distance learning is impacting these children
03:34-06:49 What communities, districts and schools can do to lessen negative impacts
06:50-11:08 What parents and advocates can do; resources
11:09-24:41 How Federal Covid-19-related actions have affected vulnerable children/families positively and negatively; ways to affect the government’s response
24:42-29:32 Specific issues affecting transitions of students with disabilities in last year of school
29:33-34:27 Long-term impacts of crisis and responses
34:28-36:00 Outro
Transcription
Click here to see the full transcription of the episode.
Credits
Photo by Annie Spratt / Unsplash
Soundtrack by Podington Bear