People with Disabilities Need Inclusion

2230 Words5 Pages

Inclusion; the way forward? According to the World Health Organisation (2011), there are more than 1 billion people with disabilities in the world, with this number rising. Many of these people will be excluded from the regular situations we, ‘the ordinary’, experience in everyday life. One of these experiences is our right to education. Article 42 of the Irish Constitution states that the state shall provide for free primary education until the age of 18, but is this the right to the right education? Why should being born with a disability, something which is completely out of your control, automatically limit your chances of success and cut you off from the rest of society due to being deemed ‘weaker’ by people who have probably never met you? With approximately 15% of the world’s population having disabilities, how come society is unable to fully accept people with disabilities? In order to break this notion, we must begin with inclusion. The EPSEN Act (2004) defines inclusion as the intention to provide people with special educational needs the same right to avail of, and benefit from, appropriate education as do their peers who do not have such needs. The idea of inclusion is far from new but is still struggling to find its feet in the Irish education system. It can be said however, with confidence that the segregation of normal students from special students is being wiped out, with there being a decline in special schools since the early 1990s (Pijl, Meijer, Hegarty 1997). Inclusion has become increasingly important in education in recent years, with the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act being passed in 2004 to ensure equality in our system. In summary, inclusion is the idea of there being no child... ... middle of paper ... ...d evaluating their teaching. Parents and the students themselves are vital in the process. They allow for IEPs to be moulded to the student and for aims to be specific and as clear as possible. To enable students to develop fully, their individual needs must be considered and dealt with. 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 Inclusion is a basic human right for all students and differences are what make us unique. These differences should be embraced, not shunned. A student with extra educational needs may very well be capable of great things, but only if we, the educators, allow them the chance to be. Inclusion is the way forward

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