Disabled Students of Color

Writer: Madison Hayden

A new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center and The Center for Civil Rights Remedies finds that black children, boys, and students with disabilities are disproportionately subjected to corporal punishment, usually with a wooden paddle or a teacher’s hand.

Corporal punishment, defined as paddling, spanking or any other form of physical punishment, is legal at public schools in 19 states which are mainly located in the southern United States. However, corporal punishment is allowed at private schools in almost all states.

Spanking, paddling, slapping, or any other kind of physical punishment is allowed in 19 states, mainly in the southern part of the United States. Corporal punishment is legal in private schools in forty-eight states.

The report finds that kids with disabilities were being physically punished at an elevated rate than non-disabled children in about eighty percent of the state’s public schools. Students with disabilities can be up to five times more likely to experience corporal punishment than students without disabilities in certain states. Disabled students were physically abused for behavior related to their disabilities; for example, students with Tourette syndrome were punished for exhibiting involuntary tics, such as screaming and shrugging shoulders. Students with disabilities, don’t just face an increased risk of corporal punishment, they also make up twenty-six percent of out-of-school suspensions, even though they only account for twelve percent of students.

Black children were also overrepresented by about twenty-two percentage points among students receiving corporal punishment. African-American students were found to be twice as likely to be struck as white students in North Carolina and Georgia, seventy percent more likely in Mississippi, and forty percent more likely in Louisiana. Black male students were nearly twice as likely as to be struck as white male students, a rate of fourteen percent compared to 7.5 percent.

And finally, black boys with disabilities are the most likely to face corporal punishment, with sixteen percent already subjected to it.

Corporal punishment often makes children more aggressive, worsens disabilities, causes mental health problems, and higher drop-out rates. This outdated punishment is disproportionately used on children based on the lines of race, gender, and disability. The government should ban the use of corporal punishment and follow in the footsteps of many other developed countries.

Sources: https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/com_corporal_punishment_final_web.pdf