Considering the dangers of over-inclusivity in education
Are there risks to including students with disabilities?
Over at The Dispatch, Jeremiah Johnson published “Against Over-Inclusivity.” In his essay, Mr. Johnson analyzes the events at the recent British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards. At the award ceremony a man with Tourette syndrome repeatedly shouted the N-word as two black actors—Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo—presented an award.
Mr. Johnson’s essay warns against what he perceives as the dangers of over-inclusivity. He cites a user writing on the Tourette subreddit who stated, “You are allowed to exist in public.” Mr. Johnson is not convinced. He argues that by being overly inclusive of the man with Tourette syndrome the event excluded many other guests in attendance at the award show and watching the broadcast of the event live.
Mr. Johnson’s essay is worth a read for readers of Special Education Today who are interested in making society more inclusive of students with disabilities. His essay made me ponder implications for students with disabilities in schools.
Bigger picture
Some in the full-inclusion movement want all students with disabilities to be taught in general education environments just like their peers without disabilities. However, could this full inclusion of all students with disabilities lead to excluding others?
For example, what if the BAFTA example happened in a K-12 context. If a child with Tourette syndrome yelled racial slurs at other students in his class, a civil rights attorney could make a strong case that the other students in the class were experiencing a racially hostile environment that limited their ability to benefit from the educational experience.1
Lest readers think I am cherry-picking an extreme example, consider another example. A student prone to aggressive, violent behaviors is placed in a general education classroom and repeatedly assaults his classmates when directed to complete aversive tasks. In this case, the child with a disability is receiving an inclusive environment at the expense of his classmates’ physical and emotional safety.
A personal connection
I recently got a call from my child’s school. My child had been hit by a classmate at recess because my child did not want to play the game the other child wanted to play. The dean of students made sure I understood my child had not done anything wrong and assured me the school was handling the issue with the other child. All is fine in this situation. It seems to have been an isolated issue with no history of violence from the other child and no incidents since. However, if my child were to experience physical violence from the other child repeatedly simply because my child did not want to play the game the other child wanted to play, I would not feel comfortable with my child remaining in that environment, and I think most parents would feel similarly. My child would be excluded at the expense of another child’s inclusion.
Perspective
I raise these issues because I think Mr. Johnson’s essay highlights important considerations that are not often considered in special education. Special educators (including researchers, teachers, advocates, parents, etc.) often consider only the rights and perspectives of people with disabilities—and for good reason. For most of our country’s history, the rights and perspectives of people with disabilities were ignored. Someone needed to stand alongside people with disabilities to fight for their rights to a free appropriate public education. However, I think it is worth considering what happens when inclusion of some leads to exclusion of others and how to navigate these challenges.
Occasionally, some in the full-inclusion movement will argue that schools need to be redesigned from the ground up to support full-inclusion of students with disabilities. They contend that if the general education environment was sufficiently supportive of all students with disabilities the dangers of over-inclusivity could be eliminated. However, I often perceive these calls for redesigning education as lacking specificity. I would whole-heartedly support fully including all students with disabilities in all spaces if a viable plan for such inclusion was presented.
As I was developing a draft of this post, I discussed my thoughts with my class of preservice teachers, and one of them shared that a nearly identical situation had occurred in one of her field placements.