Let’s talk about understanding inclusion for advocating effectively. Our role as parents of children with disabilities should be to advocate for inclusion, meaning every child receives education in his or her least restrictive environment as stated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Law. But to enable the law, we need to understand what inclusion means. When we attack inclusion based on our lack of understanding or suppositions, we go backwards throwing away the efforts and the passion invested by those who once were considered insane and extremists for fighting in the name of love for their children to be rescued out from segregation.
Beating injustice is never an easy fight. Changing perception is not either. Segregation is the result of social injustice as we deprive a number of members of society of opportunities to maximize their abilities based on our own limitations and prejudices. No one can predict the future of an individual regardless of his or her diagnosis. That is something we have to keep in mind at all times. Talking specifically about inclusion, it doesn’t work magically. Inclusion is a shared responsibility that requires tons of efforts, time, and resources from parents and educators.
- Both teachers and parents have the primary responsibility to get to know the individual as an individual student, to evaluate his or her abilities constantly, and to accept his or her challenges in order to determine the best way to help.
- Inclusion is not tool to fix the child’s learning disability but a process to maximize his or her own abilities. If we live under the prejudice that the individual needs to achieve certain standards in order to qualify for inclusion, therefore we don’t know what inclusion means. By isolating and limiting them to be with “other kids like them” we are not going to see any progress. Segregation is never the answer.
- We don’t need to segregate to provide direct and special education services. Individualized services enable the child to achieve inclusion as he or she gains knowledge in all areas of development. The student with disabilities need services to be successful. The student’s accommodations and modifications enable him or her and have been created to include and to educate. They are not meant to become excuses to segregate.
- Academic inclusion doesn’t guarantee that the student will ever achieve the academic ability of his typical peers just because that is not the goal. The goal is to provide the student with the fair tools that will allow him or her to function in the classroom, at school, in his natural environment, and therefore, be prepared for the future to be ready to hold a job, to be a part of the community, and to be successful as an individual.
- Inclusion is not a situation of dependence. Inclusion is the gaining of the tools so the individual can perform to the maximum of his or her own abilities. Creating dependence to achieve fake inclusion is another way to segregate.
It’s really sad to witness how people blame inclusion for the educational problems of our students with disabilities. Let’s be honest. Inclusion is not guilty of our lack of knowledge or commitment. Teachers need to keep learning along with parents. We need to work together and we cannot give up on inclusion just because we don’t even understand what inclusion is about. We must embrace the challenge to make it possible and finally understand that every individual is unique and therefore, inclusion will be unique for each one of them.
I will never get tired to repeat this, inclusion is not easy but it’s always worth it. The fight is never over. And that is how sometimes I feel it is way too intense and exhausting, and so like everyone else I do distract myself by thinking that maybe somewhere else is easier and maybe with more money and resources, I could take a break and give the responsibility to someone else. But then I realize no one will ever be able to do it better than me, just because no one loves my children like I do.
As parents we need to work more as a team to support each other. At the end we all have something in common, we are all human beings with fears, with insecurities, with worries, but most importantly, with tons of love for our children. Are children are growing together and they all deserve the best.
Let’s don’t lose focus and let’s remember that inclusion is not a personal issue of us parents and/or educators. It’s not about our feelings and personal disagreements. Inclusion is all about the individual who needs and deserve it to live the best possible life with his own or her own abilities in a world that needs to meet them to adapt to their needs and respect their individuality.
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