On May 21, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Winkelman v. Parma and held that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, granted parents of disabled children independent and enforceable rights, which included their entitlement to a free appropriate public education for their child. The landmark and compassionate judgment expanded the scopes of parents in representing their disabled children’s interests in person before the courts and without an attorney.

Previously, parents could appear in person before the courts only in matters related to reimbursement and procedure of their disabled children’s education. And most federal appeals courts denied parents the right to proceed without an attorney against schools until now.

The disabilities of children translate into financial handicaps for their parents. In their personal battles to secure a better world for their disabled children, middle class parents end up becoming drained of financial resources. Often, they are not left with sufficient means to afford a lawyer. Errant school districts used to take regular advantage of this fact by barring the parents from appearing without an attorney – something they knew to be financially impossible or devastating to such families.

It was the same with the Winklemans. The Winkelmans had disagreed with the plans of Parma school for their disabled son Jacob. This was in 2003. Since then they have spent almost $30,000 exclusively in lawyer’s fees. To tackle the debilitating costs, Jeff Winkelman took a second job, while wife Sandee studied the case law to prepare the court filings. When their money to hire a lawyer ran out, they proceeded by themselves with their case against the Parma City School District in the Federal District Court in Cleveland and lost. During appeal, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held in another case that parents cannot be allowed to represent such cases without a lawyer. For the Winkelmans, the Court ruled that their case would be dismissed if they didn’t
hire a lawyer within 30 days. The Winkelmans went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Parents trying to handle the cases of their own children personally were charged for "unauthorized practice of law" and forced to give up, or face financial ruin under the burdens of lawyer’s fees. Though the Judiciary Act of 1789 clearly enunciated that "in all courts of the United States the parties may plead and conduct their own cases personally or by counsel," parents were denied the rights to represent their own children as the right to a free appropriate education was seen as a right of the children and not their parents.

But, all that is now going to change. The Supreme Court’s ruling makes it clear that parents possess independent rights to their children’s education, rights for which they can now seek enforcement in court without an attorney.