"My dream is to be able to pick up a book and read it by myself."Darryl Lester, lead plaintiff in landmark special education lawsuit in California
"The letter delivered good news: Lester would be getting
disability benefits after blowing out his back in a sheet metal
accident. But he crumpled it up and threw it in the trash.
Why? Because he couldn’t read it. From first through seventh grades,
Lester had attended three public schools in San Francisco. At each, he
struggled with reading and didn’t get the help he needed for it."
"Whether Lester has dyslexia is unclear. What is clear is that
instead of getting help with his reading, he got teased, into fights and
suspended.
“I would get frustrated, agitated, upset, and then I’d get sent to the principal's office,” he said.
"Lester’s mom, Lucille Lester, didn’t learn that the school
district had labeled her son “mentally retarded” until one of the black
psychologists visited their home to evaluate Darryl and go through some
tests.
“After he talked to Darryl, he turns to me and says, ‘Well, there is
nothing wrong with this child,” she testified in court in 1977."
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