Digital Segregation: Education in the Era of Coronavirus

As students returned to school this fall, besides the usual stresses of finding their classrooms and getting to know their new teachers, they were hit with a new major challenge: learning during a global pandemic. Many questions were asked about how students in K-12 settings could spread the virus, whether it was safe for students to be in in-person classes, or if they should continue to stay at home for virtual video conferencing.

Nearly 66 percent of all school districts in Massachusetts have adopted a hybrid model alternating between in person classes and virtual learning. For students with disabilities, long before the coronavirus pandemic, there has always been the lingering problem of classroom segregation (having classes away from their able-bodied peers), which disproportionately affect students of color, especially Black students with disabilities.

Given the complexities of the pandemic and how it has affected families in many ways, we anticipate more segregation – including students with disabilities being “digitally segregated” from their able-bodied peers. This problem has already affected communities of color, who have less access to broadband internet in Massachusetts.

In communities like Chelsea, which has gone fully remote, there are many families who may not have access to broadband internet and are at risk of being disproportionately affected by health disparities due to the pandemic. In Chelsea, 88% of students are Hispanic and 6% are White, while across the entire Commonwealth, 70% of all White students live in communities that are using a hybrid model, and not doing fully remote learning.

With the classroom segregation, lack of access to special education, and the complexities of the pandemic worsening, it’s imperative for education advocates to create awareness of these problems in order to send a message to educators that students with disabilities must have the proper resources and tools to succeed as much as any other student, whether they are learning under a hybrid model or by remote learning.

Below I am providing further reading about how the pandemic has affected people with developmental disabilities as well as a report from IDEA about segregation of students with disabilities:

COVID affecting people with developmental disabilities

Segregation Disparities (IDEA Series: The Segregation of Students with Disabilities, 2018, Page 23 and Page 49)

Evan Gabovitch is a disability rights advocate on the autism spectrum who has previously volunteered working alongside many disability- related nonprofit organizations, such as the Institute for Human Centered Design, Partners for Youth with Disabilities, and Massachusetts Advocates for Children. He has also had Massachusetts state government experience as an Advocate at the Massachusetts Office on Disability working alongside his colleagues to provide information and referral on disability related issues.