"EBD is the only category of special education that doesn't require a diagnosis from a medical or psychological specialist. The criteria are subjective... students labeled EBD are kids whom teachers and school administrators have deemed too disruptive to remain in regular classrooms."It's definitely true that the white kids are ending up with OHD [other health disabilities] and autism instead of EBD," said Braden Schmitt, a school psychologist for a special education school district adjacent to the Twin Cities, "while the Black and brown kids are getting EBD."In his book The Unteachables, historian Keith Mayes, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, wrote that educators and psychologists have systematically pathologized Black behavior since states mandated compulsory education early in the 20th century.Mayes told me that this pattern is why so many students of color have been labeled EBD. Sure, IDEA mandated access to education for all students, but, Mayes argued, it also codified systemic racism "by sorting and removing Black and brown students from regular classrooms."https://www.npr.org/2026/04/26/g-s1-117447/school-disability-emotional-behavioral-disorder-special-education#Education #Racism
