1.4 Defining Inclusion and Disability
Back to: Developing inclusive education and practice in Ukraine
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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Difficulties in defining inclusion
Inclusion is a multifaceted complex concept that is interpreted in differing ways across the world. Internationally, there is not one unified way of defining inclusion. Throughout the globalisation of inclusion there has been confusion on what is inclusion, who is included in inclusion and what should happen to implement inclusion in current practice.
It can be considered as becoming ‘lost in translation’ as it’s implemented in differing countries. “It is a concept that has different meanings in different countries and continents, and this has seemingly led to confusion and inertia in the roll-out of this important agenda” (Hodkinson and Williams-Brown, 2023, p.4).
Inclusive education is an ongoing process of development and can be seen as ideological. It is left to stakeholders, such as teachers, practitioners, lecturers and members of government to decide what inclusion means in each country and how it can be practically implemented (Brown, 2016).
Inclusion as a human rights agenda
Internationally, inclusion is seen by many as a platform for social justice, dependant not only on structural changes in provision and support, but on educating schools and professionals on inclusive education that include equality, diversity, and the rights of all children (Nutbrown and Clough, 2006) .
Inclusion needs to focus on transformation in education and questioning ideas and assumptions including the use of special schools and the medical model assumption that disability is located within the individual. Justifications for this are ‘…often based on ideals of social justice’ (Artiles, Harris-Murri and Rostenberg, 2021, p.260).
As such, ‘…the concept of inclusion therefore becomes part of a broad human rights agenda that argues that all forms of segregation are morally wrong’ (Avramidis et al, 2000, p.192).
Inclusion for all
In many countries including Indonesia and Brazil, inclusion remains focused on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, either in mainstream or special settings (Hodkinson and Williams-Brown, 2023). However, internationally the Education Framework for inclusion focuses on participation of all children with or without disability (UNESCO, 2005, in, Bešić, 2020).
Including disabled children has become an ‘essential strand’ in a broader international policy agenda for all children (Ainscow, 2020).
This broader concept of inclusion also includes focus on enrolment and retention, aiming for equality in provision, ‘celebrating diversity and promoting cohesion’ (Shaeffer,2019, p.181).
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“Inclusion” by UNDP Ukraine is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.
Integration or inclusion?
Many countries including Ukraine believe that all children should be educated in the same heterogenous classrooms (Loreman, 2014). However, inclusion has enabled segregated special schools to operate alongside mainstream schools.
For instance, in Australia, students diagnosed with intellectual impairments are eligible for enrolment in special schools, special development schools, specialist units in regular schools or regular schools (Burke, 2023).
In some countries focus is on the placement of children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) into mainstream settings rather than the education system to accommodate their needs. Terms such as ‘inclusion’ and ‘integration’ can also be used interchangeably in some countries, but in other have profoundly different meanings. For instance, in England, integration focused on placement of children with Special Educational Needs into mainstream settings and was the focus before inclusion was established as an agenda in the late 1990’s (Brown, 2016).
Segregation in mainstream schools
In practice, inclusion in mainstream school does not mean that all children are educated in the same classroom. For instance:
In Greece, children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities who are educated in mainstream schools may be in the classroom with support from their teacher, with support from special education teachers, or in a separate inclusion class (Samsari, Nikolaou and Palaiologou, in, Hodkinson and Williams-Brown, 2023).
In Canada, there are varying levels of ‘pull out’ provision that includes segregated classes. Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities are overrepresented in this segregated provision. Students’ experiences vary dependant on need and may include social inclusion and/or support to engage with the curriculum alongside same-age peers (Whitley and Hollweck, 2020).
Key international principles of inclusion
A useful definition of inclusion from United Nations (ND, p.1) is as follows:
Inclusive education is seen as a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, and reducing exclusion from education and from within education…Within an inclusive education approach, learning environments are fostered where individual needs are met and every student has an opportunity to succeed.
Key international principles of inclusion therefore include:
- Considering ‘new ways of thinking’ to fit inclusion within existing education systems (Hodkinson and Williams-Brown, 2023).
- In its broadest sense means participation of all children (Bešić, 2020 ).
- All children have the right to education and to be included within education (Hodkinson, 2019).
- Importance is placed on transformation of the learning environment (Artiles, Harris-Murri and Rostenberg, 2021).
Activity
- Reflect on how you defined inclusion in the last set of individual tasks. Is it like one or more of the detailed approaches in defining inclusion?
- Has your perspective changed since reading more literature on the international drive for inclusion, the complexity of defining inclusion and/or differing approaches to defining inclusion? If yes, why has your position moved? If no, is this because your position was originally comparable to international literature?
- What is your perception of disability?
- Read into differing ways of defining disability internationally and in Ukraine. Is your definition like this literature?
Defining Disability
The United Nations estimate that there are 1 billion people with disabilities worldwide (Cooc, 2019) and around 250 million are children (Hodkinson, 2019). Despite a worldwide commitment to inclusion disabled people continue to have unequal access to healthcare, employment (Cooc, 2019) and education (Hodkinson and Williams-Brown, 2023).
The United Nations (2023, p.1) state that persons with disabilities continue to experience deep and persistent negative stereotypes and prejudices in parts of the world that shape who is considered as disabled and can contribute to a negative image of disability.
Worryingly, a recent UNESCO Report (UN, 2013, p.6) describes that Global North concepts of disability are ‘overriding indigenous cultures understanding’ that had a positive perception of disability as ‘…a gift, a source of wisdom or a welcome contact with spirits or the spiritual or philosophical life’.
Disability, like inclusion is a complex term that has differing definitions worldwide. It is influenced by terminology, culture, languages and on whether there is a use of the social or medical model of disability (Hodkinson and Williams-Brown, 2023).
The United Nations (2023) defines ‘persons with disabilities’ as used:
‘to apply to all persons with disabilities including those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various attitudinal and environmental barriers, hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others’.
The United Nations recommendations state that:
- Words such ‘a cripple’ and ‘retarded’ are internationally seen as derogatory.
- ‘Wheel-chair-bound’ and ‘disabled people’ emphasise disability before the person.
- The United Nations recommends the use of ‘persons with disabilities’. Interestingly, many use ‘disabled people’ to emphasise that society disables these individuals.