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The Special Education Unit of the Education Department started operating schools in the 1960s with the goal of serving visually impaired children. By the mid-1960s, these services were also available to children with hearing impairments and intellectual disabilities. The Education Department formally established a school for kids with intellectual disabilities in 1971–1972, hoping to improve the kids' communication skills, behavior, and functional abilities. -
Parents, advocates, and legislators have long sought to include students with intellectual disabilities in social and educational contexts. In many parts of the world, services for children with intellectual disabilities have advanced from institutional placements to services that enable full participation in general educational settings, including higher education, in accordance with the principles of normalization and the deinstitutionalization movement of the past several decades. -
It is important to note that this definition considers all students with disabilities attending regular education schools—regardless of whether they are placed in inclusion or self-contained classrooms—to be receiving a mainstream education. Moreover, the writers define inclusive education or inclusion as a "...system of policy and practices that involves fundamental civil rights, embraces diversity as a strength, and creates a sense of belonging, equal membership, acceptance, and being valued." -
In actuality, this means that students with disabilities can participate in general education classes with their peers without disabilities and have access to the general education curriculum, provided they receive the necessary supports and services. This is not the same as integration, which according to the authors is when "students identified as having special educational needs" are placed in mainstream classrooms with certain resources and adaptations. -
Turnbull and Stowe elucidate how policies function as the means by which laws are passed. They contend that definitions and conceptions of disability play a critical role in the analysis of policy related to disabilities. Therefore, the disability model offers a basis for comprehending the subsequent processes of policy implementation, assessment, and reform (or elimination). -
In the Guide for Special Education (RGSE) of 2016, the Ministry of Education defined intellectual disability as "a disability characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, which covers many everyday social and practical skills." This definition of intellectual disability is the same as the one used throughout the manuscript. -
Due to the deinstitutionalization movement of the previous few decades, services for children with intellectual disabilities have advanced from being placed in institutions to allowing full participation in general educational settings, including higher education, in many parts of the world. -
Since many of them have extremely complex cognitive, social, or behavioral needs, general education settings are not appropriate for many children with intellectual disabilities. Caretakers and social support services are frequently needed to meet these needs, and some people believe that these services should be offered in different settings. -
It is crucial to remember that not inclusion, is the outcome of inclusive efforts for a large number of students with intellectual disabilities. Nevertheless, people with intellectual disabilities can and do become active, contributing members of their communities when given the chance to access educational settings and are supported by the coordination of services. -
These advancements have not been without challenges, and efforts by scholars and decision-makers to achieve fair access and inclusion continue in what seems like an endless cycle of improvement. Since many of them have extremely complex cognitive, social, or behavioral needs, general education settings are not appropriate for many children with intellectual disabilities. -
References Abu, A. K. M., Catania, N., Semon, S., Lane, D., & Cranston, G. A. (2022). A brief history of special education policy on the inclusion of students with intellectual disabilities in Saudi Arabia. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 50(2), 178–187. https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12468