Redefining Disability
Introduction
To incapacitate legally. To pronounce legally incapable. To hinder or restrain. What do these words sound like to you? We have come very far to know that a disability does not hinder or restrain an individual. A disability does not separate someone from the rest of human race; it makes them human. The term disability has been a frequent flyer in the world of education. There are countless disabilities accounted for in a classroom full of diverse learners. Each learner is different from the next. I am refuting the idea that disability comes with a negative connotation and that those with disabilities should be separated from the general education classroom. To me, it is a term used to identify individuals with characteristics that effect their ability to learn differently from students without disabilities but still deserve the same opportunity to succeed in a general education classroom.
As an early elementary education major, I have experience teaching in a classroom full of diverse learners. This topic is relevant to my field because it is what I experienced first-hand day to day. There is major concern for the subject at hand because disabilities are common in classrooms across the world. 14% of the seven million students in the public school system are identified as students with disabilities. It is a relevant topic, and these numbers continue to increase as time passes (Smith, 2020).
Inclusion of all students is what we as educators strive for. In Action for Inclusion, the author states that “Inclusion is fundamental to learning about the world as it really is. Until each child belongs, efforts to achieve educational excellence build on sand…Inclusive schools build and nurture these essential relationships” (O’Brien & Forest, 1989). We are unable to learn about the world as it really is until we are brought together. Through inclusion of students of disabilities, we are able to give students the opportunity to learn about the differences in one another. O’Brien and Forest argue that because exclusiveness exists in our society then our values of educational excellence fall short. These values are considered invalid until each child belongs.
The Argument
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, disability means “an incapacity in the eye of the law, or created by the law; a restriction framed to prevent any person or class of persons from sharing in duties or privileges which would otherwise be open to them; legal disqualification.” The OED definition states that a disability eliminates the chance for a person to participate in duties or privileges. In response from a teacher’s perspective, when I look at someone with a disability I do not revoke their opportunity to participate in daily activities. The mindset I have allows me to look at the duty in a different light and see how it is attainable for that individual. These essential relationships that are built between teacher and student form the basis of inclusion. Students who have a disability still build relationships. Even though their minds are wired differently than a person without a disability, they still build relationships. Individuals with disabilities are owed the opportunity to grow in a general education classroom. Today, more and more students are being pulled out of these classrooms and placed in special education classrooms. These special education classrooms lack the necessary peer support and engagement that are prevalent in general education classrooms. Disability is a common word in the world of education. Students are diagnosed with learning disabilities throughout their schooling as well as intellectual disabilities. There is a process that students need to go through in order to receive special education services. Parents often serve as advocates for their children; they debate whether or not they want their child to receive services separate from the general education classroom.
We need to make strides in order to make students with disabilities a priority in the classroom. If parents are motivated and willing to have their students involved in a general education classroom, then the teacher needs to make accommodations. “Although some research has indicated academic gains, teachers are more challenged to appropriately include students with severe disabilities in the content areas.” (Wolfe, 2003). Wolfe insists in his article that there have been significant gains for students when they are placed in a general education classroom. Teachers are more challenged in this environment but it comes with the territory. Teachers are there to serve their students and provide them with the opportunity to achieve success. Each student is capable of success. It takes different ways for each of them to attain success but it is achievable. The ideas that Wolfe portrayed in his journal align with the ideas that I hold. We as teachers need to take on the challenge and help students to succeed. Every student struggles, disability or not. It takes careful planning to figure out the best way to accommodate and meet the needs of these diverse learners. It would be impractical of me to say that every student can follow the same lesson plan. After experience in a third grade classroom, I realize it is not feasible. Elementary level students are grouped together. At young ages, it can take a while for a disability to form or to be tested for it. Teachers, administration, and parents, have to be in unison in regards to being tested for a disability. After testing, parents are there to be the advocates to help their child receive the necessary support. By having parents advocate then we are improving the opportunities we give to students with disabilities.
A child is born with a disability. Is it fair to remove them from the opportunity to teach in a general education classroom? Students learn social skills from being in a classroom. They learn how to interact with one another, learn with one another, and learn from one another. It is unfair to see students stripped from this opportunity. Parents who are advocates fight for their children to have these social experiences.
“The main benefits of inclusion recognized by these parents were the potential social and affective outcomes for their children and the positive effects of inclusion on classmates who are likely to become more accepting and sensitive to individual differences” (Leyser & Kirk, 2004).
In some instances, we are unable to change the outlook that some teachers have. O’Brien and Forest argue that “Most administrators and teachers accept exclusion and isolation of children with special needs unquestioningly, as somehow natural and proper. Their first response to a request for inclusion may overwhelm the vision of inclusion. Some school people even celebrate segregated facilities and practices.” The point the authors are making is that a teacher’s first response to a student with a disability would be to exclude them. A teacher who excludes a student based on their disability is not seeing the full spectrum. In teacher preparation programs, disabilities need to be talked about with a positive connotation. The first instinct needs to be include rather than exclude. “Teacher preparation programs can be a powerful and critical lever for ensuring this support; however, most teacher preparation programs do not center students with disabilities in their curriculum for general education teachers,” stated Vasilisa Smith in her article posted on American Progress (2020). The article specifies that in 2009 a U.S. Government Accountability Office report “revealed that approximately 73% of elementary school teacher preparation programs required at least one course dedicated to supporting students with disabilities” (2020). It is questionable to think that teachers are prepared to meet the needs of a diverse group of learners by only being required to take one course. These programs can better prepare teachers by providing them the resources to learn specific strategies to teach diverse learners as well as be fluent in understanding individualized education programs (IEPs) (Smith, 2020). The decisions that teachers and parents make in regards to their students have an impact that can change a student’s life.
Students become more compassionate and accepting of individuality in a general education classroom. I can speak from experience when I was placed in a third grade classroom. I had a student who was diagnosed with an Emotional Behavior Disorder. He channeled his emotions in unconventional ways, often resorting to resisting work or putting his head down for the remainder of class. Beneath this resistance, I saw a student who just wanted support. He needed the one on one comfort of a teacher. Unfortunately, at my school we did not have services that supported him in a general education classroom. The administration thought his best option was to transfer schools to where he could receive the emotional support they (the administration) thought would benefit him. The student transferred. I went to visit him at his new school and realized the sudden change. He was not the bright, and brilliant student he once was in my classroom. The student verbalized to me he was “stuck with these people who are nothing like me.” My student was placed in a special education classroom with students far higher on the spectrum than he was. This poor student was now trapped in a classroom where he was limited in his ability to interact. Even though he could be difficult in a teacher’s eyes, he was there to learn. A teacher signs up for the job to welcome each and every student from all different backgrounds to succeed.
Conclusion
When you hear the word disability, do not shun the individual for having something you do or do not have. We cannot assume that a person with a disability is helpless or deserving off less opportunities. However, we can assume that this individual has the same attributes that set us apart from each other. There is no reason for an individual to be separated from the general education classroom based on one’s ability. Students who do not have disabilities still struggle. Everyone needs help. It is our job as educators to look at the facts and advocate for the individuals with disabilities in order to help them attain the same success we are striving to achieve.
Works Cited
Leyser, Y. & Kirk, R. (2004) Evaluating Inclusion: an examination of parent views and factors influencing their perspectives, International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 51:3, 271-285, DOI: 10.1080/1034912042000259233
O’Brien, J. & Forest, M. (1989). Action for Inclusion: How to Improve Schools by Welcoming Children with Special Needs into Regular Classrooms. Inclusion Press. 21,37.
Smith, V. (2020). How Teacher Preparation Programs Can Help All Teachers Better Serve Students with Disabilities. Center for American Progress.
Wolfe, P. S., & Hall, T. E. (2003). Making Inclusion a Reality for Students with Severe Disabilities. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 35(4), 56–60. doi: 10.1177/004005990303500409