Title: Inclusion as Social Justice: Critical Notes on Discourse, Assumptions, and the Road Ahead
Artiles, A. J., Harris_murri, N., & Rostenberg, D. (2006, June/July). Inclusion as Social Justice: Critical Notes on Discourse, Assumptions, and the Road Ahead. Retrieved September 15, 2016, from www.jstor.org/stable/40071605?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents.
Intended Audience: educators, parents, SPED parents, SPED teachers, legislators, administration, students, teachers
Relevance: All of us in this class are training and learning to become SPED teachers and we talk about and try to solve getting full inclusion in all schools on a regular basis.
Key Points: This article is arguing that inclusion is a form of social justice. Before we started inclusion in education students with disabilities were facing social injustice by not being able to have access to the same education as students without disabilities. The authors believed that for a long time schools were a major contributor in maintaining social inequalities. They argue that a larger, more comprehensive effort of inclusion in education will help ensure equality for culturally and linguistically diverse and students with disabilities moving forward.
During my time in special education I have seen many examples of the benefits of inclusion. We encouraged our students to interact with typical peers in inclusion classes, lunch, recess, school teams and after school programs. Our students benefited greatly from these experiences but so did their main stream peers. I have had middle school life skills students join the football team, play, succeed and make friendships that they maintained through high school. I believe that not only our students but all students benefit from inclusion and these benefits will ultimately improve our society.
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