Discord over the Disabled

"There is no injustice in the universe," wrote Educator Eileen Marie Gardner in a 1983 paper for the right-wing Heritage Foundation criticizing federal aid for ill-advantaged students. "Those of the handicapped constituency who seek to have others bear their burdens and eliminate their challenges are seeking to avoid the central issues of their lives." Gardner's views might have gone unnoticed but for the fact that she began work last week as a special assistant to Secretary of Education William Bennett. Connecticut Republican Senator Lowell Weicker Jr., the father of a five-year-old son born with Down's syndrome, said last week of her statements, "I've never seen such a callousness as long as I have been here in Washington."

Weicker, chairman of the subcommittee that appropriates education funds, criticized another newly appointed Bennett aide, Lawrence Uzzell, who wants to abolish the department's National Institute of Education, which conducts and funds research. Arguing that Gardner and Uzzell held views contrary to the department's purpose, the Senator suggested that no money be approved for their salaries. Bennett at first contended that Gardner's views were her personal religious beliefs and denied that either her or Uzzell's opinions on these matters would affect their official roles. But after two days of increasing public outcry, Bennett accepted the resignations of both aides.