Free Articles from Interaction 28 Issue 2 Perceptions can not control reality ... | Page 4

interaction : v28/2/’14
Historic Cultural
Response to a
Student with a
Disability

Historic Cultural
Response to a NonDisabled Student

What an Inclusive Cultural Response should be for
all Students

Burden

Benefit

Every student is welcomed and belongs – all students
have the potential to learn, contribute and enhance
each other’s academic and social development.

Abnormal

Normal

Human diversity is normal and we all belong.
Disability is part of human diversity.

Helping is charity/
extra/gratuitous

Helping is expected/
an entitlement

All students are entitled to be assisted as of right each student is an individual and their individual
needs should be addressed.

Child has 'special
needs'/'additional
needs'

Child has human or
normal needs

All needs are human or normal, but the way needs
are met should be individualised/cater for functional
impact of disability.

Child is an ‘add on’

Child is
automatically
included

Presence and full participation are rights and
expectations of all students.

Always pressure to
separate child and
deal with them
specifically

Always mixed with
others

Students learn best together - the best learning occurs
in cooperation so all students are sometimes helping
and sometimes being helped.

Grouped by least
desirable/
stigmatising
characteristic (i.e.
disability)

Grouped by age

Students should be grouped by age - particularly
important for students in danger of being seen as
developmentally “younger” than they are.

Inclusion is
conditional

Inclusion is
automatic

Inclusion is not an issue – avoiding exclusion
(including subtle exclusion through “soft prejudice”)
is the key consideration.

Focus is on ‘can’t do’ Focus is on ‘can do’.

Expectations are key to success - expectations should
be high for all students and each student supported
to meet expectations. Shared belief that nothing
exceptional is achieved without high expectations.

Lack of learning is
due to diagnosis/
disability

Lack of learning is a
problem for the
teacher to address

Teachers rely on evidence-based approaches to
maximise the learning for all students – conscious of
need to avoid stereotyping, reduced expectations
and stigma of “medical labels”.

Misbehaviour is due
to diagnosis/
disability and
outside of teacher
capability. Do not
apply normal
sanctions.

Misbehaviour is a
problem to be
addressed by
teacher and school
using normal
sanctions.

Normal sanctions apply to all students but may
sometimes be carefully adapted to life experience
and need for more structured responses in individual
cases - teachers are sensitive to importance of
belonging and positive feedback and impact of a
lifetime of exclusion, stigmatisation and rejection.

!28

Australian Institute on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities