Inclusion, Disability and Culture: An Ethnographic Perspective Traversing Abilities and Challenges

411 Pages·2017·5.92 MB·English

by  Santoshi Halder

Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity 3
Santoshi Halder
Lori Czop Assaf Editors
Inclusion,
Disability
and Culture
An Ethnographic Perspective Traversing
Abilities and Challenges
Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity
Volume 3
Series Editor
Lani Florian
School of Education, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Advisory Board
Mel Ainscow
Emeritus Professor, School of Education, University of Manchester, UK
Petra Engelbrecht
Senior Research Fellow, North-West University, South Africa
Emeritus Professor, Canterbury Christ Church University, England
Humberto J. Rodríguez
Principal, Escuela Normal Especialización, Monterrey, México
Roger Slee
Professor, School of Education, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
This book series reflects on the challenges of inclusive education as a strategy for
improving educational equity, and includes in-depth analyses of disparities in
education and the mechanisms by which they operate. It studies the development of
educational processes and pedagogical interventions that respond to the tensions
between education policies that promote competition and those designed to promote
inclusion at individual, classroom, school, district, national, and international levels.
Finally, it presents research and development activities in teacher education that
respond to the challenges of preparing teachers for the changing demographic of
schooling. Increasingly throughout the world, a broad concept of inclusive education
has begun to emerge as a strategy for achieving basic education for all learners
regardless of cultural, developmental or linguistic differences. Although considered
an important aspect of a global human rights agenda supported by the multilateral
Global Partnership for Education, basic education is a complex endeavour that is
subject to the forces of globalization, and the exclusionary pressures associated with
migration, mobility, language, ethnicity, disability, and intergenerational poverty.
The reciprocal links between these factors and educational underachievement has
led to an increasing interest in the development of inclusive education as a strategy
for improving educational equity. By addressing these and related issues, this series
contributes important advances in knowledge about the enactment of inclusive
education. This series: Offers a critical perspective on current practice Stimulates
and challenges further developments for the field Explores global disparities in
educational provision and compares developments Provides a welcome addition to
the literature on inclusive education.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13450
Santoshi Halder • Lori Czop Assaf
Editors
Inclusion, Disability
and Culture
An Ethnographic Perspective Traversing
Abilities and Challenges
Editors
Santoshi Halder Lori Czop Assaf
Department of Education Department of Curriculum and Instruction
University of Calcutta Texas State University
Kolkata, West Bengal, India San Marcos, TX, USA
Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity
ISBN 978-3-319-55223-1 ISBN 978-3-319-55224-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-55224-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017940487
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017
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Dedicated to all children, parents and
families of the world for inclusion, access
and equity.
–S.H
For all those willing to reconceptualize and
deconstruct what it means to be abled human
beings in a global world
–L.C.A
Foreword: Nihil De Nobis, Sine Nobis
Despite over a century of activism by advocates for equal access to society regard-
less of sociocultural factors, these irrelevant factors still result in the marginaliza-
tion of billions worldwide. For example, although the number of people who work
to facilitate racial equality has increased tremendously over the last century, subtle
prejudices that limit opportunity remain common everywhere, and even egregious
discrimination can still be found. Given the longstanding struggle for equality expe-
rienced by people who differ only in terms of sociocultural or racial factors, it is not
surprising that the relatively recent struggle for equal access to society’s benefits
(inclusion) by people with physical, intellectual and developmental differences is
understudied, daunting and sometimes controversial. Additionally, the obvious fact
that ability and developmental diversity exists in tandem with sociocultural and
racial differences adds further complexity.
The title of this foreword, ‘Nihil De Nobis, Sine Nobis’ or ‘nothing about us
without us’, expresses a sentiment that often arises when marginalized populations
self-advocate for improved societal access and opportunity. I believe it is suitable in
this foreword as an acknowledgement to the seminal book by James Charlton
(1998). Charlton eloquently argued against the not uncommon conceptualization of
individuals with diverse abilities as dependent and powerless while also providing a
cross-cultural perspective through his interviews with disability activists from ten
countries. Charlton’s landmark contribution was necessarily polemic and accessible
and thus intentionally omitted descriptions of interview methodology and other
similar details (Lazar, 1999).
The book, Inclusion, Disability and Culture: An Ethnographic Perspective
Traversing Abilities and Challenges, is similar to Charlton’s in that empowerment
and participation of people with a range of abilities are central themes and cross-
cultural discussion is interwoven throughout. However, the current text adds the
voices of researchers representing many fields (e.g. education, public policy, psy-
chology and sociology) alongside those of individuals with diverse abilities and
their families to create a transdisciplinary and culturally anchored perspective for
the reader while maintaining an academic tone. The result is an edited text that
vii
viii Foreword: Nihil De Nobis, Sine Nobis
inspires advocacy as well as practical translation to directions for future research
and current practice.
Families, clinicians, teachers, scientists and others who work to improve the
quality of life of people with disability must operate from paradigms constructed
from our own learning histories and experiences. This book aims, I believe success-
fully, to expand paradigms regardless of one’s role in the field and adds meaning-
fully to the vital and ongoing conversation on disability and inclusion taking place
worldwide.
Russell Lang
References
Charlton, J. I. (1998). Nothing about us without us: Disability oppression and empowerment. Los
Angeles: University of California Press. doi:10.1525/9780520207950
Lazar, S. (1999). Nothing about us without us: Disability oppression and empowerment: Book
review. Disability and Rehabilitation, 21(8), 400. doi:10.1080/096382899297558
Series Editor’s Preface
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN in September 2015
set the global education agenda for 2030 in SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and quality
education for all and promote lifelong learning. Inclusive education is a rights-based
approach to education intended to reduce exclusion and marginalization in educa-
tion that gained prominence in the 1990s as a strategy to achieve ‘education for all’,
the global commitment to ensure that everyone has access to quality basic educa-
tion. In May 2015, the World Forum on Education reaffirmed its commitment to this
approach with the Incheon Declaration and the Education 2030 Framework for
Action. The Incheon Declaration notes that ‘inclusion and equity in and through
education is the cornerstone of a transformative education agenda’ and that ‘no
education target should be considered met unless met by all’.1
Issues of inclusion in education are of relevance for people with disabilities who
remain among the most excluded of all marginalized groups in educational systems
throughout the world. The World Report on Disability2 found that children with dis-
abilities are less likely to start school, do well in school and complete school than
children without disabilities (p. 206). This inequality of opportunity has long-term
consequences not only for educational outcomes but for quality of life after school.
In a world where 10% of the estimated one billion people living with disabilities
are children,3 it is more essential than ever that their voices and those of their fami-
lies and caregivers become part of the discussion on how to improve access and
ensure better quality educational opportunities for all. Combing the multidisci-
plinary voices of professionals with those of caregivers and people with disabilities
from different world regions helps to establish a more integrated approach to the
literature on inclusion for the twenty-first century. It is fitting therefore that this
1 Unesco (2015) Education 2030: Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action, http://www.uis.
unesco.org/Education/Documents/incheon-framework-for-action-en.pdf
2 WHO/World Bank, (2011) World Report on Disability http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_
report/2011/en/
3 Global Partnership for Education, http://www.globalpartnership.org/focus-areas/children-with-
disabilities
ix
x Series Editor’s Preface
timely volume on disability and inclusion is published now when there is so much
to learn from hearing these voices as part of one narrative rather than as fragments.
While many books have addressed issues of inclusion and disability, this one takes
a sociocultural perspective that permits an exploration of disability identities in dif-
ferent national and cultural contexts, along with insights from caregivers, and the
communication issues that can arise between differently abled persons. A consider-
ation of inclusive policies, practices and interventions complements these discus-
sions leading to a critical reflection on future directions for research and practice.
University of Edinburgh Lani Florian
Edinburgh, UK