According to the democratic theory postulated by Amy Gutmann, citizens should have the right to establish rules that govern educational policies at the national level. These policies should reflect continued consideration of the liberal principles of non-repression (education cannot prohibit deliberation regarding a particular set of rational ideas) and non-discrimination (parents nor educators may adopt practices likely to dissuade children from participating in democratic education). It is important to note that the discretionary power of these citizens should be limited by the fundamental principles of non-discrimination and non-repression. The field of special education and its historical context, in conjunction with the many facets of nondiscrimination, should be the focus. I therefore hope that this article will give students, parents and educators the knowledge and understanding of the issues, i.e. legal cases, that surround non-discrimination and its key ideologies in the field of special education reform. Understanding how special education reform emerged, we must remember some of the first federal laws in the United States designed to help people with disabilities. Specifically, a federal law was passed by the Fifth Congress dating back to 1798. This law authorized a hospital department in Maine, later known as the Public Health Service, to provide medical services to disabled sailors (Braddock, 1987 ). Unfortunately, until World War II, there were only a handful of federal laws capable of helping people with disabilities. Only veterans with service-related disabilities were eligible for assistance (NICHY, 1997). This claimed that for almost the entire history of the United States, institutions, i.e. schools, were allowed to...... middle of paper ...... ruled in his decision that all students, including those with disabilities, should receive a publicly funded education. . The court also ordered that the school board allocate its funds equitably so that all children receive a free and appropriate education. Finally, the court ordered the school board to provide due process safeguards in the event the school attempts to change a child's educational status, i.e., reassignment, transfer, suspension and an expulsion. In response to the foundational cases explained above, particularly PARC and Mills and the impending litigation, Congress began passing new laws to further expand the rights of students with disabilities. These new laws, notably, used many of the legal principles incorporated in the previous lawsuits in that students would be entitled to a free and appropriate public education..