Raising Voices, Changing Systems: Expanding Educational Opportunity with the Georgia Coalition for Equity in Education

When it comes to inclusive education in Georgia, the Georgia Coalition for Equity and Education (GCEE) is changing how families advocate for children with disabilities in schools. This organization is making sure their voices are heard. Led by longtime disability rights attorney Leslie Lipson, founder of Lipson Advocacy, GCEE was launched in 2015. The launch came in the wake of a major civil rights investigation into Georgia’s segregated school program known as GNETS, or Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Supports. The U.S. Department of Justice found that the program violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a historic first for the country.The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) is driven by its Five Year Strategic Plan goals to improve services and supports for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (I/DD). The Council, charged with creating systems change for individuals with developmental disabilities and family members, will work through various advocacy and capacity building activities to build a more interdependent, self-sufficient, and integrated and included disability community across Georgia.This project was supported, in part by grant number 2001GASCDD-03, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.