Where Are the Children's Experiences? Analysing Social and Cultural Exclusion in 'Special' and 'Mainstream' Schools

In this paper, we employ ethnographic data to illustrate that disabled children encounter discriminatory notions of 'normality' & 'difference' in both 'special' & 'mainstream' schools, & that these experiences relate to both the structural forces in schools & the everyday individual & cultural practices of adults & children. In contrast to much of the literature in the field, this paper examines the everyday life experiences of adults & disabled children from their own perspective. We highlight disabled children's own criticisms of 'special' & 'mainstream' schools to illustrate the fluid nature of disabled children's lives within educational settings. We argue that schools will be prevented from becoming fully inclusive until adults who control schools take account of children's views of specific educational processes & until educational policymakers adopt a more nuanced multilevel approach to inclusion. Children should be enabled to challenge the structural, cultural, & individual conditions that create disability. 49 References. Adapted from the source document