TASH RESOLUTION ON CULTURAL SENSITIVITY

Statement of Purpose

Individuals with significant disabilities who are also culturally and linguistically diverse may be disadvantaged in educational assessment, placement and instruction processes because of the potentially discriminatory effects of language and culturally biased testing procedures and instruments.

Rationale

The unique linguistic and cultural backgrounds of individuals with significant disabilities and their families are not well recognized and utilized in education and habilitation programs designed to serve individuals with significant disabilities.

The recognition of unique linguistic and cultural characteristics is fundamental to good school/home cooperation and to the design of programs that promote the maximum individual development and learning.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, THAT TASH, an international advocacy association of people with disabilities, their family members, other advocates and people who work in the disability field, encourages all service providers to implement culturally and linguistically nondiscriminatory procedures in their work with individuals who have significant disabilities. Because of the central role familial/cultural factors play in development, planning for individual programs must take into account familial preferences and the original language of individuals with significant disabilities.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, THAT the Association urges Congress to repeal laws which permit exclusion of persons seeking non-immigrant or immigrant status in the United States on the sole basis of their having a developmental disability.

Adopted October 1987
Revised March 2000