Screen bans spread fast, risking lost disability access

screen bans – As more U.S. states move to ban cellphones and limit screens in classrooms—and the federal government warns of screen-related harms—parents and disability advocates say students who rely on assistive technology are being left out. For some, the classroom shift

On a school morning in northern California, Soraya’s phone isn’t gone—it’s locked away. For the first time this school year, students at her high school have spent the entire school day with their phones stored in pouches, a setup now common across the country.

Soraya says she hates the pouches. “I hate them. ” she tells her mother’s conversation with the outside world—because for her. the device is not just a distraction. It’s a safety net she can use to call her parents if she has a panic attack. She also feels singled out. she says. when she has to ask to get her phone out of its locked pouch for note-taking.

Heather Martin, Soraya’s mom, knows that tension. She says screens have a particular promise for students with disabilities—students she worries are getting forgotten in the nationwide backlash against screens in schools.

“Never once in the conversation has there been a discussion, except for me bringing it up with the other parents, about kids with disabilities,” Martin says, describing what she hears in her community in Concord, 30 miles northeast of San Francisco.

The pushback against screens has accelerated quickly. More than 30 states have banned cellphones in school. Some states have gone further with proposals or policies to remove screens such as laptops and tablets from classrooms. In late May, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a surgeon general’s advisory warning of the “harms of screen use. ” citing effects on children’s health and educational outcomes.

For Martin, the disagreement is not about whether screens can be distracting. It’s about the difference between “screen-free” classrooms and disability access. “A completely screen-free environment feels like it’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” she says. “It’s not looking at ‘screen free’ versus ‘accessibility free.’ And for some kids, the screen is their accessibility tool.”.

That “accessibility” question is at the center of the concern from advocates who say disability students are being treated like an afterthought as policies move forward.

Students with disabilities are a rapidly growing part of the classroom. There are more than 8 million of them in the country. Many rely on assistive technology to get through the school day, including for note-taking, reading and writing.

Blind and low-vision students may use screen reading or magnifying software to read. Others, like Soraya, use speech-to-text and audiobooks.

Some of the laws are already written. States including Alabama, Tennessee and Utah have laws limiting screens that take effect as early as July.

Lindsay Jones, CEO of the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), cautions that the speed of change is part of the danger. CAST is an education research nonprofit that focuses on making learning environments accessible.

Jones says some laws do include exceptions for students with disabilities—often with lines in the text that mention assistive technology. But she argues that those carve-outs are too narrow for what many students need. “My concern is that that’s a really fast period of time for this to happen,” Jones says.

“They’ve moved so fast that we’ve really left our educators and our communities of people with disabilities this summer to figure it out,” she adds.

Jones describes screen-time policy proposals as “a blunt instrument.” She worries that without more time and input from disabled people, the safeguards in place may not fully protect students’ rights and practical access in classrooms that are already busy figuring out implementation.

For some students, those rights are not abstract. They are tied to civil protections that govern access to assistive technology. Disability advocates argue the current federal posture makes enforcement harder. They point to what they describe as a shrunken U.S. Department of Education that is far less equipped to enforce civil rights. including access to assistive technology for students with disabilities. They also note that the Trump administration delayed a long-expected digital accessibility rule for public institutions, including schools.

At Soraya’s school, the policy shift is already colliding with the reality of accommodations.

Soraya’s individualized education program (IEP)—a legal document that outlines the accommodations and modifications she is supposed to receive at school—states she can use her phone for note-taking. along with other assistive technology. But because the cellphone ban is new, she says her teachers are still adjusting. With several different classes and teachers throughout the day. she says it becomes easy for some teachers to be unfamiliar with her accommodations.

Jones calls the kind of breakdown Soraya describes an “unintended consequence.” In her view. technology can do something important when it is used intentionally: it can support flexible learning environments tailored to how different students learn. “For some kids. the screen is their accessibility tool. ” Martin says. and Jones argues that flexible access is especially needed for students with disabilities.

CAST, her organization, invented an educational framework called Universal Design for Learning. It encourages educators to design classrooms to account for different ways students learn. For example. Jones describes teachers giving a math lesson using blocks. a diagram and a video to help diverse learners grasp the same lesson. She also describes providing class reading as an e-book so students with low-vision can magnify the text. while students with dyslexia can listen.

As screen limits ripple through schools nationwide. Jones says she hopes people with disabilities are not left behind in the policy conversation. “We need educators. we need people with disabilities. we need assistive technology providers. ” Jones says. urging them to weigh in on how policies are implemented in classrooms. “That is going to be the best way forward for everyone to achieve their goals without trampling on people’s rights.”.

For Soraya. the tools she depends on have already changed what school feels like—and what she can do in it. She says she recently finished researching and writing a series of essays exploring how people with dyslexia learn. She has straight As for the first time in her life. but she adds that the more meaningful change is confidence and voice.

“I have so much more to say … It made me feel more confident in myself.”

Her mother echoes that promise. “I started getting really good grades,” Soraya says. “It made me feel like … I’m not stupid, I have so much to say and it just made me like ‘I can do this, I can be good at it.”

In a moment when screens are being pulled out of classrooms at speed, the question for many parents and advocates is not whether learning should improve. It’s whether the students who need access the most are being protected while the rules change.

education news screen bans classroom technology cell phone restrictions students with disabilities assistive technology IEP Universal Design for Learning CAST Universal Design for Learning framework dyslexia speech-to-text e-books surgeon general advisory U.S. Department of Health and Human Services