DeVos and the Disability Community

In The Politics of Autism, I write about special education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Although the HELP Committee narrowly approved the DeVos nomination, opposition mounted in the disability and civil rights communities. Vice President Pence cast the tie-breaking vote to confirm her.

Much of the opposition to DeVos came from the disability community, which is large. Data from the Department on how many students receive services under IDEA (in thousands):

Type of disability	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
All disabilities	6,481	6,436	6,401	6,429	6,464	6,555
Autism	378	417	455	498	538	576
Deaf-blindness	2	2	2	1	1	1
Developmental delay	368	382	393	402	410	419
Emotional disturbance	407	390	373	362	354	349
Hearing impairment	79	78	78	77	77	76
Intellectual disability	463	448	435	430	425	423
Multiple disabilities	131	130	132	133	132	132
Orthopedic impairment	65	63	61	59	56	52
Other health impairment2	689	716	743	779	817	862
Preschool disabled3	†	†	†	†	†	†
Specific learning disability	2,431	2,361	2,303	2,277	2,264	2,278
Speech or language impair.	1,416	1,396	1,373	1,356	1,334	1,332
Traumatic brain injury	25	26	26	26	26	26
Visual impairment	29	28	28	28	28	28