Oscar-Winning Actress Marlee Matlin and Howard A. Rosenblum Share Their Perspective on the SCOTUS Ruling for Deaf Students: “We’re Raising Our Voices for You to Understand”

On March 21st, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Miguel Luna Perez. It’s critical to understand the impact of this ruling. Schools across the country routinely fail in the education of deaf students like Miguel Luna Perez. Too many schools have low expectations for deaf students, which become self-fulfilling failures to teach and inspire.

Deaf students deserve high expectations and rigorous quality education, as we were both lucky to receive from the schools we attended. Through our teachers’ dedication and expectations in the classes we shared, the two of us have defied assumptions and broken through barriers imposed upon us by a misguided society. Our stories reflect what is possible with belief in our abilities.

Schools across the country need to understand that deaf children can and will succeed to become impactful, successful, critical members of society—just as we have. We want our stories to serve as two of the countless examples: Marlee is both the youngest and first deaf actor to win an Academy Award. Her career continues to include starring roles in numerous shows and films including the Oscar-winning movie CODA. And Howard is an attorney and the CEO of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD). He was instrumental in putting together the legal team that won the Supreme Court decision in Perez. Our stories prove that deaf children can grow to become actors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, inventors, directors, doctors, and much more—and they deserve the education to underscore and nourish their possibilities.

Every deaf child needs to acquire language, and this requires intensive language instruction from birth or the onset of becoming deaf with the ideal being visual learning such as through sign language. There is no reason to force parents or schools to choose between sign language and other modes of education, such as learning to hear or speak, as that is a false dichotomy. The real solution is to provide deaf children with every option to learn language, especially sign language. While the Perez Supreme Court case focuses on the esoteric principle of being able to sue under two separate laws, Miguel’s story reflects the unfortunate reality of tens of thousands of deaf students across the country being deprived of language acquisition and language access.

From the time that Miguel enrolled in school, Sturgis Public Schools refused to provide him with any meaningful education and instead placed him in their classrooms with an aide that did not even know sign language. As a result, Miguel did not really learn any language—English, Spanish, or American Sign Language (ASL). Moreover, Sturgis deliberately misled Miguel and his family by giving him high passing grades for his classes even though Miguel could barely read and write. The family was horrified to learn that after years of passing his classes, Miguel would not be able to graduate high school but would only receive a certificate.

To rectify this injustice, Disability Rights Michigan (DRM) and the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) filed an administrative special education complaint on behalf of the Perez family against Sturgis under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This is a federal law that guarantees every child with a disability with a “free and appropriate public education.” It was clear that Miguel did not get any sort of meaningful education from Sturgis.

Sturgis and the Perez family reached a settlement to resolve the IDEA complaint, including compensatory education for Miguel at the Michigan School for the Deaf as well as funds for post-secondary training. However, this was not enough to address the egregious harm that Sturgis caused Miguel who was completely deprived of an education and a promising future. This was not only a failure under special education law but also under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which bars disability discrimination and mandates access to people with disabilities.

On behalf of Miguel, DRM and NAD brought an ADA complaint in federal court against Sturgis, but the federal court dismissed it saying that ADA claims had to be exhausted within the IDEA proceeding. While the IDEA has language in it requiring exhaustion through the administrative process, the ADA does not. Despite this, the federal district court and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals both ruled against Miguel. A team of lawyers including those from the NAD, DRM, and Latham & Watkins, as well as special education Ellen Saideman, put together a masterful case and appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court recognized the error and overruled these decisions in favor of Miguel.

As a result of this decision, Miguel now gets a chance to pursue his ADA complaint against Sturgis. Even though both the IDEA and ADA have been efforting this for decades, schools across the country are now on notice that they must provide students with disabilities their rights under both laws—or they will be liable for both violations.

Unfortunately, Miguel’s story is not uncommon. There are so many deaf students across the country deprived of any meaningful education. Hopefully, the impact of this case will go beyond the legal principles and raise awareness to the point where schools begin to ensure that every deaf child actually gets an education—an education they unequivocally deserve.

Howard A. Rosenblum is CEO of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD). He also serves as the Legal Director, and works closely with the NAD lawyers on policy advocacy and litigation work. He has been instrumental in significant legal victories such as: NAD v. Netflix, NAD v. Harvard, NAD v. MIT, NAD v. Trump, and Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools. Mr. Rosenblum has been a lawyer for over thirty years; he currently serves as the legal advisor to the World Federation of the Deaf. In 2010 and again in 2014, he was appointed by President Obama to serve on the U.S. Access Board.

Marlee Matlin is an actor and advocate. Her first film, Children of a Lesser God, garnered her the Academy Award for Best Actress. At 21, she became the youngest recipient. In 2020, she was nominated again as Executive Producer of the live action short film, Feeling Through. In 2022, she returned to the Oscar stage for the film CODA which won Best Picture. Matlin has been twice nominated for a Golden Globe Award and nominated for four Emmys. In 2023, she made her debut as the first Deaf director of a network television series for Accused. Matlin has been an outspoken supporter of inclusivity, equity, diversity, and accessibility particularly on behalf of the millions of Americans and people worldwide who are Deaf and hard of hearing.