'Our problem is not our impairment, but the barriers and prejudice that exclude us'
(Jayne Wilkinson -(1959-1999) who had the condition Multiple Sclerosis. As her condition became more pronounced, Jayne would say she was lucky by comparison. For 29 years of her life she was a 'normal' (whatever that means) person.
Throughout the 11 years of her MS, Jayne remained normal. What bemused her, and annoyed me no end, was the abnormal way that Society viewed her. One example: a couple of years ago we went Christmas Shopping, and called into the pub for a drink. By this time she could not hold anything, though her enjoyment of her favourite tipple, vodka and coke was as it always was. As she was enjoying her drink, through a straw, she looked up, and across the room 3 people were staring. Obviously it started our conversation, as to what they were gawping at. My niece said 'ignore them mum, they're ignorant, they don't know any different' - she was right of course. I believe, like racism, prejudice and ignorance towards disabled people starts in the home and in schools. The more that disabled people are isolated from society, the more difficult it is for them to be full members of that society.
As a former Chair of School Governors, I believe fully in Inclusive Education. I think that Inclusive Education leads to a situation where all are accepted as they are and creates an environment where all can thrive free from prejudice about difference in our society. Most parents of disabled children are not disabled. They are easy prey to those who still espouse 'medical model' solutions to what is fundamentally a social problem- the changing of attitudes to disabled people.
Inclusion is not integration. Inclusion is about the whole school restructuring to meet the needs of all pupils. Inclusive education is about developing effective schools to meet the needs of all children, informed by an understanding of the historical oppression disabled people have faced in education, leading to 40% of disabled adults having no educational qualifications, low self esteem, and isolation from society. What disabled people want is to be included as they are, not to have intensive rehabilitation and therapy seeking - usually unsuccessfully - to alter or cure their impairment. Some young disabled people find therapy useful, but there is no need for this to take place in school time.
The ending of the compulsory segregation of disabled children in separate schools and the development of inclusive mainstream schools in each locality, able to meet the needs of all children, is a major goal for all those who support the rights of people with disabilities. Under the 1996 Education Act, parents have a right to state a preference for a mainstream school. The Local Education Authority (LEA) usually has a duty to comply with this, but only if the school is suitable for the child and can meet his/her special educational needs, the other children will not be disrupted, and it is an efficient use of resources.
These caveats enable LEAs to override the wishes of disabled children and their families. There are thousands of children placed in segregated special schools against their or their family's will. But it doesn't have to be like that. In the London Borough of Newham, all children have a right to go to their local neighbourhood school or an additionally resourced mainstream school and the resources are given to the school to meet their needs. Why? Because in 1984 Newham decided that the schooling of disabled children was an equal rights issue.
Dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of special schools was one important factor in the new trend towards integration/inclusion. In general in this country there was little effort directed towards reconstructing special education, As a result, the 'debate' between integration/inclusion and what is now called segregation remains based around special- educational concepts fundamentally unchanged since at least as far back as the 1970's.
Outside this sterile confrontation the world has moved on. Firstly, we see real recognition that parents have rights too, and in increasing numbers, are willing to fight to exercise their own informed choice over the style and nature of their child's education. Secondly, parents are becoming increasingly aware that elsewhere major advances have been made in special- educational technique, offering new hopes of transforming their child's development and the quality of their family life, and often in the face of obstructive bureaucracy. The product of all this is greater personal choice and autonomy both for the child or adult directly involved and for the wider family.
Special education has grown up as an outgrowth of this 'medical model' approach which is about making disabled people as 'normal as possible' at great expense to their education, self esteem and ability to develop worthwhile relationships. They are removed from their community and schooled away from their sisters, brothers and local children. Disabled children are not objects to be continually reviewed and relocated in a process that severs relationships and destroys self-esteem.
Educating all children together whilst supporting their individual needs is perfectly possible and would fundamentally change attitudes. It is also financially possible to do by a planned redistribution of resources and personnel from special to mainstream schools once schools have been made accessible. Disabled people have been fighting for years for the right for inclusion in mainstream schools. Inclusion is already happening in hundreds of schools and it has been shown that the educational standards of all children - disabled and non-disabled has improved.
In turn this enables disabled children to grow up as independent, self-valuing and accepted members of society.