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We celebrate Margaret E. Montoya’s Máscaras, Trenzas, y Greñas as a canonical article in critical race theory because its deft interweaving and unbraiding of stories helps us consider the marginalizing assumptions of the legal world, the way normativity translates into authority, and the means by which the mainstream is disguised as unbiased. She does these things effectively through an exercise of courageous candor that lays bare the kind of feelings and thoughts that we usually keep to ourselves or only share with intimates.

We celebrate Margaret E. Montoya’s Máscaras, Trenzas, y Greñas as a canonical article in critical race theory because its deft interweaving and unbraiding of stories helps us consider the marginalizing assumptions of the legal world, the way normativity translates into authority, and the means by which the mainstream is disguised as unbiased. She does these things effectively through an exercise of courageous candor that lays bare the kind of feelings and thoughts that we usually keep to ourselves or only share with intimates.

In 1975, the U.S Federal government enacted legislation, Education for All Handicapped Children Act (amended in 1990 to be called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), that granted free and equal access to education for all children regardless of any cognitive or physical disabilities. As a result of this legislation, many students with intellectual disabilities benefited from early intervention and integration into the regular classroom which enabled them to attain greater levels of achievement. As these students are now reaching the post-secondary education level, colleges and universities are creating programs to further advance the level of education available to individuals with disabilities. In order to meet the growing demand, post-secondary schools will need to build facilities that accommodate this increasingly diverse population of students. This thesis imagines an integrated learning environment that will be able to meet the growing, varying needs of those with intellectual disabilities, and in turn, discover an environment that fosters learning for all students, intellectually disabled or not.

Len Nichols PhD is Professor of Health Policy and the Director of the Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics at George Mason University. Prior to this, he spent 5 years as Director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan policy research institute based in Washington, D.C. Dr. Nichol’s work bridges the worlds of health economics and health services research for health system stakeholders and clinical leaders, elected and appointed policy officials and journalists. He has been intimately involved in health reform debates, policy development, and communication for the past 2 decades, and is one of the few analysts in Washington that maintains the respect and engagement of elected officials from both sides of the aisle. Len has published widely in a variety of health journals, frequently testifies before Congress, and is actively involved in providing technical expertise to members of Congress, governors, state legislators, and other policy officials around the country. He has consistently sought to add moral arguments to the health policy debate, which can become so technical – and distorted – that it is easy to lose sight of why this issue is so important to real people and to our country. Because of his reputation as an honest and knowledgeable health reform analyst, he is frequently interviewed and quoted by major media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Journal, the Wall Street Journal, Time and Newsweek magazines, National Public Radio, Lerher News Hour, the British Broadcasting Service, NBC Nightly News, ABC News Tonight, and CBS Evening News. Prior to his work at the New America Foundation, Len was Vice President of the Center for Studying Health System Change, and a Principal Research Associate at the Urban Institute. During the first two years of the Clinton Administration, he served as Senior Advisor for Health Policy at the Office of Management and Budget (OM