Why Not Include Everyone?
An outsider is a person who does not belong to a particular group. Have you ever been an outsider? Have you ever wanted to be included but you were just different? Whether it is you, me or the mentally handicapped student passing you in the hall, who labels us as excluded? Mentally disabled students are not seen compared to the non disabled student in an educational environment because of their incapability to improve and comprehend challenges and their needs of special accommodations.
Blind, deaf, crippled and mentally slow people were known to be easily forgotten or abused in the early seventeenth century. The immobility and mental disadvantages of a handicapped individual resulted in a common agreement that they
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In addition to The Education For All Handicapped Children Act, the Inclusion Movement was started in the year of 1995. This movement involved reversing the failures public schools have made regarding the education of the disabled youth. Under law, public schools have the obligation to provide individualized help for the disabled student so that they can reach their highest …show more content…
All educators are responsible for the education of both normal and subnormal children. In public schools, through the school year of 2014 and 2015 thirteen percent of all public schools is consumed by disabled students (Children and Youth With Disabilities). Knowing that more uneducable students are becoming enrolled in the public school system, there needs to be equality between the disabled and the non disabled student. Disabled students are subjected to a classroom that is isolated away from the other classrooms; but does the segregation of the uneducable and the educable degrade their form of education (Public Schools and the Mentally Retarded)? Meaning, if these students with disabilities were to be placed in a classroom consisted of non disabled students they would learn better even if it was for a couple hours a day. A favorable argument that can be made is if the disabled students are placed in a regular curriculum classroom they would hold back the other students that are capable. Although the subnormal students may hold back the normal student, they can learn off of one another. With the segregated classrooms, disabled students are only introduced to a more specialized curriculum whereas they would see how other students interact in a way they may not be able to. Also, the normal student can gain perspective on
This means that children with all different types of a disability are accessible to public education and learning through professional educators and through their peers. Another important legislation that has been established in 1975 is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that includes all ages of children and their rights to learn. Both of these movements helped shape what special education is today and assisted in bringing inclusion into the classroom. They both made it possible for students with disabilities to be integrated into general education classrooms, while getting the assistance they need as well. These acts are what made it possible into what my field of study is and I intend to push the boundaries of getting my future students in these general education classrooms and making them feel apart of something
During the 1920's, separate schools were established for the blind, deaf, and more severely retarded (Reddy, p5). However, students that were considered mildly disabled were educated in regular schools, just thought to be 'slow learners'. Soon educators started to develop separate classes for disabled students. The reasoning for taking them out of the normal classroom (exclusion) has not changed in the last eighty years. People today, who are still in favor of exclusion, have the same justification for their belief. It was thought that students...
What do we do with children with disabilities in the public school? Do we include them in the general education class with the “regular” learning population or do we separate them to learn in a special environment more suited to their needs? The problem is many people have argued what is most effective, full inclusion where students with all ranges of disabilities are included in regular education classes for the entire day, or partial inclusion where children spend part of their day in a regular education setting and the rest of the day in a special education or resource class for the opportunity to work in a smaller group setting on specific needs. The need for care for children with identified disabilities both physical and learning continues to grow and the controversy continues.
.Adams states that from a different article in the chronicle lennard j. Davis noted that” universities don't value disability as a form of diversity,as they do race and gender”These instances of ignoring disabled students needs and discrimination tell the reader that their is negative appeal towards disabled students as campuses are not funding their schools to provide disabled students with accessible locations and instead just tolerate their existence instead of welcoming into the campus,and maybe providing some sort of assistance.Despite all this negativity regarding the treatment of disabled students there are actually some college campuses which welcome and treat them fairly unlike others who tolerate them as if their just their and make them feel unwelcome.for example,the universities of florida,wayne state,humboldt state,and binghamton,university of illinois,the university of california at berkeley provides a great environment for disabled students.and by making basketball teams for wheelchairs or just providing the best care for all disabled students.We have all had to deal with discrimination before whether it was because our sec,race,religion,etc we have all had to deal with this and some cases it became very emotional to deal with just like these current disabled students are dealing with that is why this will appeal to emotional side of the reader..instead of making these the exemptions the exemptions which we make this the standard for all college
In the early 1800s people who had disabilities were sent to asylums and were treated horribly. The idea of adopting disabled individuals into schools was an idea that came about in the early 1900s. Then in the mid 1900s around 1950-1960, parents of disabled individuals began fighting for educational services to be available for their child. Not until “The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975” were children, regardless of disabilities, were able to receive a free public education in what is considered to be the “least restrictive environment.” In 1986, Madeleine Will, then-Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (under the U.S. Department of Education), thought of the idea of including mild to moderate disabled students to be part of a “pull out” program would be included in regular classrooms. By the time the mid 1990s rolled around, about 35% of disabled students were attending regular school classes (Historical Background). Since then, the ideas have expanded and pushed to make almost all of the classrooms be inclusion
I have experienced firsthand some of the positives and negatives. One of the most important aspects of inclusion is the social development gained by students with disabilities. One of the negatives is the danger of a student with a disability not being able to differentiate when they are in real danger of getting hurt. Often students with disabilities appear to be normal among the other students and not given the latitude of having a disability that may impede there judgement. As a special education teacher, I have learned standing in the doorway to prevent a child from leaving the classroom constitutes seclusion. I had to testify in a civil case in 2016 were a child with a disability tried to leave the classroom and the substitute teacher stood in the doorway and tried to prevent her from leaving. Preventing the incident could have transpired if there had been proactive measures taken rather reactive measures. It has become necessary to provide all personal involved within the school system the education needed to support inclusion and children with disabilities. I am a true believer in Least Restrictive Environment. Throughout my teaching career, I have watched a student with an IQ of 51 participate in co-taught or mainstream classes. Now, this particular student’s social skills were better than most people I know. In his freshman year, the doctor diagnosed him with cancer and given one year to live. He never stopped smiling. He pulled through and is currently finishing a program at the Vo-tech, where he maintained his grades and attendance with very few accommodations. He is happy, healthy, and I can see him ending up making more money a year than most people I know. I do understand not all cases will be like this one. However, I am sure that if the parents of this particular student had not stood their ground and refused to allow their child be
“to the maximum extent appropriate, handicapped children, including those children in public and private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not handicapped, and that special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of handicapped children from regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the handicap is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. (P.L 94-142, Section 1412) (Villa p. 5).
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 states that a person with a disability (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, (2) has a record of such an impairment, or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment (42 USC 12101 [2]). Students with disabilities experience specific struggles that negatively impact their academic and social engagement. However, their needs are often not met by higher education institutions in comparison to other student identities. This comes from the stigma in our society surrounding disabilities. Children are taught from a young age that it is inappropriate ask an individual with a disability about their experience. These children grow up to be adults who feel uncomfortable being around those who may have a disability.
The Education Act (1944) categorised all children with special educational needs by their disability and labelled them as ‘maladjusted’ or ‘educationally sub-normal’. It established eleven categories of ‘handicap’ and a partial acknowledgement that there may be certain benefits to mainstream schooling. Despite that, it was not until many years later that students with disabilities were accepted as individuals who had the right to a suitable education of their own. Until the 1970s many children with any form of disability ‘were excluded from the full rights of citizenship (Borsay, 2005), were considered ‘uneducable’ and taken away from their homes to spend their lives in institutions. It was not until 1971 that the ‘rights of the disabled child
General education students also benefit from the diversity of an inclusive classroom. Duhaney and Salend, 2000 found that parents of children without disabilities identified benefits for their own children such as greater sensitivity to the needs of other children, more helpfulness in meeti...
The true purpose of school is to prepare children for their future in becoming lifelong learners and global citizens. For children with special needs, special education services prepare and provide support for them in dealing with the challenges they face daily. Laws such as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has enforced schools to provide education to all children and reinforces the purpose of the school, which is to provide children the Least Restrictive Environment to help them develop to their optimal potential. There are myriad of concerns regarding inclusion’s effect on typical developing students, yet a research done by Bui, Quirk, Almazan, and Valenti shows that “[p]resence of students with disabilities results in greater number of typical students making reading and math progress compared to non-inclusive general education classes” (p. 3). Therefore, inclusion not only benefits children with disabilities, but it also benefits typical developing student’s academic skills and allows them to learn acceptance and respect for students with disabilities.
The idea of inclusion within a classroom tends to breed controversy from many people. Currently there is no clear consensus on a definition of inclusion (Heward, 2006). There are many different views on how students with disabilities should be handled. Those views ranged from students being fully included, partially included, or not included at all in mainstream schooling. Different descriptions of inclusion tend to reflect the person's own opinions towards it. People who feel students should not be included in the classroom focus on the negative characteristics of inclusion, such as the challenges of developing plans for students as well as the hard work it requires to incorporate those plans. However, studies show that full inclusion has many benefits to the students, for both students with disabilities as well as students without them. Inclusion has shown to improve the student's social skills, encourage communication, inspire laws and regulations, and improve the overall schooling experience (Gargiulo, 2012). Although it will take longer then some would like or have the patience for, full inclusion can be done in the classroom, with its benefits outweighing the hard work that it requires.
Inclusion does not only benefit the student, but the parents, teachers, school and the community. It is about understanding additional needs rather than ignoring them and allowing the student every chance that students without difficulties/disabilities have available to them
...fter the study “remarked positively about the practice of inclusion, particularly about the critical value of a sense of community” (M. Smith; K. Smith, 2000). In “Toward Inclusion of Special Education Students in General Education” (2006) , Lorna Idol also explains how teachers feel about inclusion by stating:
To begin with, full inclusion in the education system for people with disabilities should be the first of many steps that are needed to correct the social injustices that people with disabilities currently face. Students with disabilities are far too frequently isolated and separated in the education system (Johnson). They are often provided a diluted, inferior education and denied meaningful opportunities to learn. There are many education rights for children with disabilities to p...