Climbing Every Mountain

Check out the two pictures above. What are the differences?

To celebrate “Back to School,” I thought it would be worth relooking at some educational questions like “What is Inclusion?”

Next, “Why do we go to school?”

The concept of INCLUSION is both simple and complex.

Inclusion is the Opposite of Segregation.

If you never segregate a person, you will never have to make a big deal about including them. They just belong. Period.

Words like segregation, integration and inclusion evolve and change.

When Aaron turned 5 and became eligible for school, we knew it would take a miracle to get him into the front door of a public school.

In the state of Ohio, children with IQs below 50 were excluded from public schools.

There were segregated, “handicapped only” schools in each county. And there were schools for general education students, though many of the schools were still segregated by race.

There was not only the continuum of services for people with disabilities, but there was the social continuum ie. schools were built for general education students, often with separate facilities like classrooms and swimming pools for girls and boys.

History Lessons

Then when new schools were built, these white schools became “negro” schools. When even more new schools were built for the white children (think baby boomers), then the handicapped children were moved into the schools vacanted by the “negroes.”

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was passed in 1975, and it took Ohio a couple years to get on board.

At the time of Aaron’s hearing, the Dyer handicapped-only school was in a building considered no longer safe for general education children, but Cincinnati Public Schools rented the school to the “retarded” students with the low IQs for $1.00 a year.

Parents and local Board of Mental Retardation officials were happy to have a real school and be able to move out of church basements….

In the early 80s, expectations were raised and the Education of All Handicapped Children said Aaron and Neill Roncker and others had the right to be educated in “the least restrictive environment.”

For Aaron and Neill, this meant being integrated in a public school building. That was our court battle–to be able to ride the bus, walk in the front door, eat lunch with typical kids. We spent years in court with Cincinnati Public, just to be able to walk in the door of the public school buildings.

Then, as more children with disabilities were having success around the country, we learned more about best practice, and parents and advocates were no longer satisfied to have the segregated classroom next to the furnace room.

For information about the history of children with disabilities check out the Minnesota DD Planning council’s excellent resource, Parallels in Time 2

Like many parents and friends of people with disabiliteis, I had a paradigm shift, a new level of awareness about what would be the best educational placement–and it was inclusion, not segregated handicapped-only classes.

Aaron needed to be able to go to school with his brother and neighbors. This was important for Aaron, but also for Tommy and all the children who would grow up to be the next generation of parents, voters, teachers…

Aaron needed to learn functional skills he would need as an adult.

If he couldn’t do the whole skill, then he could at least Partically Participate and learn part of the skill.

Consider SPIN and Spin Agents

Just to make things more interesting, in our culture important words like freedom, family, and educational terms are often sabotaged by politicians, marketers, educators and ordinary people. They can be given a “spin” so that their original meaning is lost. Inclusion is such a word.

Inclusion was not defined in IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) but it has been thoroughly examined in research and in the courts i.e. “Inclusion is a right, not a special privilege for a select few.” – Federal Court, Oberti vs Board of Education.

Today, Cincinnati Public school administrators spin the word, they put all special education students in the same school and call it an “Inclusion School.” Other administrators illegally dump kids into general education classrooms with no supports. They might call that inclusion, but it is NOT!

Some people confuse “mainstreaming” “LRE” (Least Restrictive Environment) and the “Continuum of Services.”

But, these also are NOT inclusion because they require the student to earn their way into a general education classroom. The child doesn’t really belong, they are just a visitor in the class at the mercy of the teacher.

Definition of Inclusion

Giangreco (see Resources) has defined the criteria for inclusion:

Students go to the same school as their brothers, sisters, and neighbors;

They participate in the same environments as their peers (lunchroom, bus, playground, classrooms);

According to their IEP, the student has the extra supports they need to be successful (therapy, adapted curriculum materials, an aide, teacher inservice);

There should be a natural proportion of children with/without disabilities, (if 10% of students are on IEPs in a school–no more than 10% of the students in any one class should be on IEPs).

For more information to help a child be included, check out the http://www.iod.unh.edu/” title=”Institute on Disability”>Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire.

Inclusion is a civil right

In the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, segregation was found to be a violation of a student’s civil rights, “separate is inherently unequal.”

I believe the inclusion of people with disabilities is also just that simple, “separate is inherently unequal.”
In our lawsuit against Cincinnati Public Schools (Ulrich v. Jacobs) and in my friend’s lawsuit, (Roncker v. Walters) educational services were deemed “portable.”

Anything that could be provided in a segregated, handicapped only, school or classroom could be provided in a general education class IF the school added the needed aids and services.

What does Inclusion Look like?

Aaron had lots of wonderful inclusive opportunities. He went on a regular bus to the same school as his brother and neighbors, he was on the regular track team, he went to a regular biology class, he went to the prom and participated in the graduation ceremony.

An Inclusive Graduation Ceremony

Almost everything about Tommy and Aaron’s Graduation ceremonies were the same. Lakota High School is one of the largest high schools in the state. The both had HUGE graduating classes, both were held at the University of Cincinnati. Both had cheering parents and friends.

The difference between Aaron’s school experience and his typical brother Tommy’s, is evidenced in their graduation pictures above.

Aaron didn’t have to go through a segregated graduation ceremony and earn the right or prove he was ready to go to the inclusive celebration.

We assumed it was his civil right to be with the rest of the graduating class.

We did prepare by considering what would Aaron need to be added or subtracted from the typical experience.

In his case, Aaron needed an extra support person, his wonderful teacher Mr. Mike Valdini. And, what needed to be subtracted–the damn mortar board hat!

Hope this explains inclusion, if not, contact me and I’ll be happy to help.

Make a comment. What are your experiences with kids with disabilities? The world is changing and we are part of it.

Inclusion after school graduation

The school experience was tricky and took a lot of thought and planning, but after graduation, in the adult world inclusion is even harder.

In future posts, I’ll share some of our successes and challenges.

Keep Climbing: Onward and Upward

Mary

Comments:

It now seems like the concept of inclusion has been around forever. But like any civil rights movement, we often don’t move forward in a straight line. What are some of your experiences?

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