EDU 221

Chapters 1 and 2

What is it?What is it?

Inclusion is any opportunity for children with disabilities to play & interact with, grow & learn alongside children who are developing in a typical way.

1.1

Attitudes Toward Disabilities: Historical Perspectives

1500s1500s

• Only 50% of children reached adulthood• Infanticide, abandonment,

exploitation common• Public sentiment: Children were full of evil

1.2

1700s1700s

• Children maimed to be better beggars

• Strict discipline enforced

• Public sentiment: Children seen, not heard

∆ Children = workers∆ Little thought given to persons with disabilities

1.3

1800s1800s

• First kindergartens

• 80% of persons in poor housing had some disability

• First disability services∆ School for the Deaf (1817)

∆ School for the Blind (1832)

∆ National Education Association subdivision concerning disabilities (1897)

• Public sentiment: Protect the handicapped

1.4

early early 1900s1900s• Institutions – isolated,

overcrowded, understaffed

• Residents – institutionalized for life, provided minimal care

• Community – developed apathy, fear, distrust

• Public sentiment – Persons with disabilities = menace

1.5

early early 1900s1900s• New science of genetics produced

faulty studies resulting in misconceptions

—Mental retardation was mostly hereditary

—Mental retardation caused social evils

• New laws removed rights of persons with disabilities

• Study of children as a science emerged

1.6

mid to late mid to late 1900s1900s

• World wars ended & disabled soldiers returned home

• New compassion for persons with disabilities

• Civil rights movement unfolded

• Federal legislation supports rights of persons with disabilities

• Public sentiment: People with disabilities are people first

1.7

Practices That Interfere with Positive Attitudes toward Persons with Disabilities

• Isolating people who have disabilities

• Treating people with disabilities as incapable & dependent

• Seeing only the disability, not the person

• Using language such as cripple, idiot, retarded, deaf & dumb

1.8

Landmark Legislation Supporting Inclusion

• 1972 Economic Opportunity Act amended

• 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act

• 1986 Education of the Handicapped Act amendments [renamed Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990]

• 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

• 1997 Reauthorization of IDEA

1.9

Challenges to Implementing Inclusion

• Negative attitudes of parents, teachers, & community

• Lack of trained staff

• Continued physical inaccessibility of some buildings

• Lack of funding for additional staff, smaller class sizes, specialized materials & equipment

1.10