An Unsung Hero of Special Education Law: Judge Patricia Ann McGowan Wald

President Barack Obama awards Judge Patricia Wald the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. (Evan Vucci/AP)

We all know about Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Ketanji Brown Jackson as pioneering women in the legal field. But have you heard of Patricia Ann McGowan Wald? This trailblazer not only became the first woman to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit—often called the second most powerful court in the nation—she also helped lay the groundwork for special education law as we know it today.

From Humble Beginnings to Legal Pioneer

Born in 1928 and raised by her single mother, a Connecticut factory worker, Wald defied the odds of her humble beginnings. She graduated first in her class from Connecticut College for Women and went on to Yale Law School on a scholarship. After graduating at the top of her class in 1951, she began a remarkable legal journey that would ultimately change the lives of countless children with disabilities.

The Shocking Reality Before Special Education Laws

Prior to the 1970’s many children with disabilities faced a grim educational reality. They were routinely:

– Banned from public schools entirely

– Warehoused in segregated, dead-end classrooms

– Arbitrarily labeled as “uneducable” or “disruptive”

– Denied their constitutional right to a public education

Even though their parents paid taxes that funded public schools, families were simply told that schools had no duty to educate their children with disabilities. Parents of children with developmental disabilities were routinely advised to leave them in institutions and “get on with their lives”. The burden fell particularly hard on families without money to pay for private schools or teachers.

Mills v. Board of Education: A Landmark Case

In the early 1970s, while working at the Mental Health Law Project (now the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law), Wald played a crucial role in Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia (1972). This class action lawsuit challenged the exclusion of seven children with various disabilities from D.C. public schools.

The case uncovered stunning statistics.  For example, over 12,000 children with disabilities were excluded from D.C. public schools in the 1971-72 school year alone. Wald later revealed that even some school district defendants were embarrassed by these revelations and refused to appeal Judge Joseph Cornelius Waddy’s landmark decision in the Mills case.

Influenced by Wald’s advocacy, Mills established that:

– Children with disabilities have an equal right to public education

– Financial constraints cannot be used as an excuse to exclude them

– Due process protections must be provided before changing a child’s placement

Wald’s work on Mills, alongside Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1971), directly influenced Congress to pass the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975, later renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

From Advocate to Judge: Continuing the Fight

When President Carter appointed Wald to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1979, she brought her deep understanding of educational equity to the federal bench. Her judicial opinions consistently upheld the rights of the underserved and reflected her view of the law as an effective means of solving human and social problems. After retiring from the bench, she went to The Hague to preside over the trials of war criminals.  On November 20, 2013, President Barack Obama awarded Wald the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, for her years of service.

Throughout her distinguished career, Wald never forgot the families who fought for these rights. According to her oral history, she understood that behind every case was a child whose future depended on access to appropriate education.

Honoring Wald’s Vision This Women’s History Month

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, let’s remember Judge Patricia Ann McGowan Wald’s extraordinary contributions to special education law. Her work helped transform our national policy from one of exclusion to inclusion.

Today, approximately 8 million students with disabilities attend public schools with legal protections because of Wald’s advocacy. Her legacy reminds us that true equality requires not just laws on the books, but champions willing to fight for their enforcement.

Patricia Ann McGowan Wald passed away in 2019, but her impact lives on in every classroom where a child with a disability learns alongside their peers—a testament to what one determined woman from modest beginnings can achieve when she refuses to accept injustice.

Article prepared with verified contribution from Claude AI.  Watch Judge Wald recount her oral history as part of the ABA Women Trailblazer’s Project in conjunction with Stanford University: Transcript of Interview with Patricia M. Wald (June 5, 2006; June 19, 2006; June 23, 2006), https://purl.stanford.edu/zj195yf5579