Ashley Jones
PHL 235
Dr. Dixon
17 February 2010
Equality in Education: Inclusion of Students with Disabilities
The United States is a country booming with diversity. To be an American has several
different definitions based on a number of criteria. One very special group that contributes to the
widespread diversity of this country is the mentally and physically disabled. Like most
ethnicities and races residing in this country, this group is constantly surrounded by controversy.
The question of whether or not students with special needs should be included in a regular
classroom has been a topic for discussion and debate for several years. People are unsure if
segregating these students into their own special education classrooms is beneficial or if it is
hindering their success. Researchers have been conducting studies for years trying to discover
the best way to teach these students—is it inclusion, segregation, or integration? Inclusion
consists of all students, disabled and nondisabled being taught together in the same classes.
Segregation is the opposite—disabled students are placed into separate classrooms, commonly
known as special education classrooms. Integration combines the two—disabled students spend
part of their day in the special education classroom, and they spend the other part in the regular
education classroom. All three of these options have been researched extensively, but inclusion
of disabled students in regular classrooms will be the most beneficial option for all students.
The inclusion of students will require a great deal of work and an entire structural change
within schools. The disabled students will begin school at the same age as their nondisabled
peers, and they will continue on with them throughout their school career. The schools will
accommodate the disabled students to the best of their ability. To do that, the school will
evaluate all special needs students each year in terms of their intellect, behavioral skills, and
physical ability. After a full evaluation of every disabled student, the school will then place the
students in the classes that the students will excel most in. The school will also assign the
students teachers aids where they are needed, and then decide whether or not the student will
need time in a separate classroom where more individualized learning can take place. This means
that there will still be a classroom designated only for special needs students, but the students
will not be spending their entire day there.
The inclusion of disabled students into regular classrooms will allow those students to
experience a normal life. Rather than segregating all disabled students into one classroom all
day, these students will get the chance to grow up and learn around all of their peers. In the
article “Inclusion: Theory Meets Practice,” Sheryle Dixon says that “if they are isolated most of
the time, they don’t know what ‘normal’ behavior is” (11). Students need to experience normal if
they are ever going to have the chance to succeed in the real world. Simply being taught about
what normal is will not suffice. Dixon also argues in her article “Inclusion- Not Segregation or
Integration,” that “students with disabilities, particularly social deficit disabilities like autism,
will learn by observing and interacting with competent peers” (41). These experiences will allow
disabled students to see the real world for what it truly is. They will be able to prepare for a life
outside of school by learning behavioral skills and expanding their mental capacity. Opponents
of inclusion ask the question, “Why aren’t children with disabilities ‘OK’ the way they are? Why
do they have to be ready for anything?” (“Inclusion- Not Segregation” 40). Students with
disabilities are completely okay the way they are, but isn’t that also true for the rest of the world?
Most people are okay the way they are, but if people are satisfied with okay, then this world
would be much less successful. Students are placed in school so they can learn and prepare for a
world outside of the classroom. Schools want their students to be more than average, so they
strive to improve all students’ lives by helping them to reach their full potential. That is the goal
of inclusion; disabled students should be placed into classrooms where they will be pushed to
reach their full potential.
Not only do disabled students benefit from being exposed to normal, but nondisabled
students benefit by being exposed to the diversity that is brought into the classroom. Dixon
emphasizes the importance of diversity when she says, “Having a diverse mix of students will
better prepare all students for a life in a diverse society” (“Inclusion: Theory” 5). With the
amount of diversity in this country, students should be exposed to as much as possible early on.
It is unfortunate that there are schools today where diversity is nonexistent, which results in their
students growing up uninformed to others’ differences. If disabled students are included in the
classroom, nondisabled students will not experience as much of a culture shock when they
graduate into the real world. Dixon argues for this idea when she says, “When students grow up
together, sharing school experiences and activities, they learn to see beyond superficial
differences and disabilities and to connect as human beings” (“Inclusion-Not Segregation” 42).
Students will be accustomed to interacting with others different from themselves, and most
importantly, they will accept them.
Another benefit of inclusion is the feeling of belonging that disabled students will gain
when they are placed in classrooms with their nondisabled peers. When they are placed into
segregated classrooms they know that they are different. The feeling of being an outcast and not
truly fitting in is much stronger in a segregated classroom, so to be thought of as regular students
would impact their lives in a positive way.
Dixon reveals the reality of the situation when she says:
All children with disabilities have the same basic needs as other children: to be
unconditionally loved, valued, and respected for who they are; to love, value, and
respect themselves as they are; and to grow up knowing they can and should
participate in, and contribute to, the world around them. (“Inclusion-Not
Segregation” 51)
If disabled students develop in segregated classrooms they may think that is their place in the
world—that they do not belong with others that are considered “normal”. Inclusive classrooms
will reassure disabled students that they are regular people, and they deserve to be treated as
such; they deserve to participate in their community and in the world in any way they want.
Having this sense of belonging will help disabled students develop friendships with their peers,
which will be a major accomplishment of inclusion, and our society will have broken down an
enormous barrier.
Opponents of inclusion argue that disabled students will not feel this sense of belonging;
in fact, they say the feeling will be just the opposite. In Dixon’s article “Inclusion of Students
with Disabilities: Review and Critique of Recent Research,” she acknowledges that opponents of
inclusion argue that “it is unrealistic to expect that children with disabilities will be accepted at
the same rate as their peers” (10). Most students have yet to be exposed to this kind of diversity.
If more schools were to begin practicing inclusion, students would begin adapting to their
environment, and their disabled peers would be seen as normal. When children are young they
do not judge—they love and they play. This means that if disabled children begin school with
their peers, they will make friends early on before judgment emerges. The key is to start early: if
inclusion begins at the highs school level, nondisabled students will have already had the past 15
years of their life to see disabled people as different. The same goes vice versa. If disabled
students are thrown into a regular classroom when they enter high school, they will be
uncomfortable because they have already experienced 15 years of segregation.
Advocates of segregation assert that disabled students will not receive the education they
need if they are placed in a regular classroom. Dixon points out the possibility “that special
education teachers would have had lots of experience working with students with disabilities
and would therefore have a higher comfort level for dealing with disabilities” (“Inclusion of”
3). Opponents may believe that regular education teachers do not have the ability to teach
disabled students because they are not educated in that area, they are uncomfortable, or they are
already too busy with the other students that they do not have time to make separate plans or
give individualized attention to the disabled students. This is where change is important. First,
the teacher education program should incorporate classes on special education. Future teachers
will need to know how to handle behavioral problems, how to prepare their lesson plans, and
how teaching disabled students will differ from teaching nondisabled students. Second, teacher
aids will be available to personally help the disabled students. This idea is brought up in an
article written for the Tribune Review in Pittsburgh called “Schools Aim for Inclusion with
Special-Needs Students”: “The benefit of co-teaching is that it allows a teacher who knows the
content –reading, math or science, for example—to work together with one who understands
how to adapt it for special-needs students” (Crawford). With two teachers working together
these students will essentially get the best of both worlds. The main teacher will be there to
guide the students and teach them the content, while the aids will be able to give them the
individualized attention and help they may need. The teacher aids will not only be
advantageous to the disabled students, but to the other students and the main teacher as well.
The aids will be able to assist other students, which will relieve some of the main teacher’s
stress; the aids will also be able to help the main teacher with lesson plans and give their advice
on how to better help the disabled students.
A fact sheet put together by Kids Together, Inc reveals one of the most important aspects
of inclusion when it states, “Children with disabilities are first and foremost children” (1). These
children need to be taken into consideration just as any other child. Disabled or not, children are
children who are to be educated. The benefits of inclusion far outweigh the negatives. Including
disabled children into the classroom will help socialize them into the world. Disabled children
need to develop a sense of belonging because they are children too. They are a part of this
society and they deserve to be treated as any other person. Inclusion will help nondisabled
students realize this by growing up with their disabled peers. They will learn acceptance and
accept the idea of diversity. Implementing inclusion in the classroom will improve the lives of
disabled students as well as nondisabled students.
Works Cited
Crawford, Amy. “Schools Aim for Inclusion with Special-Needs Students.” Tribune Review.
[Pittsburgh, PA]. 20 Dec. 2008. 16 Feb. 2010. Web.
Dixon, Sheryle. “Inclusion of Students with Disabilities: Review and Critique of Recent
Research.” 11 Feb. 2010. Print.
---. “Inclusion- Not Segregation or Integration is Where a Child with Special Needs Belongs.”
2005. 11 Feb. 2010. Print.
---. “Inclusion: Theory Meets Practice.” 2005. 11 Feb. 2010. Print.
“Inclusion in the Classroom.” Vanderbuilt Kennedy Center. 17 February 2010.
<http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/kennedy_files/InclusioninClassroomTips.pdf>. Web.