DARAGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Education Department
Daraga, Albay

PROF ED 6/ PROF EDUC 2 Foundation of Special and

Inclusive Education

Prepared by:

JOEWE B. BELGA, Ed.D.

Instructor
Module 2.1

ADDRESSING DIVERSITY THROUGH THE YEARS: SPECIAL AND INCLUSIVE

EDUCATION

Introduction

This chapter shall allow you to look at Special Needs and Inclusive Education
from historical and philosophical contexts. The first step to becoming an effective
Special Needs and/or Inclusive teacher lies not in one’s skill to teach strategically, but in
one’s willingness and commitment to respect individual differences. As seen in the
previous chapter, diversity is a natural part of every environment and must be perceived
as a given rather than an exception.

How then do we proceed from here? Below are key points to summarize this
chapter.

 Everyone has a right to education. Having a disability should not be an excuse

for being deprived access to schools; neither should poverty, religion, nor race.
 Inclusive education is an inevitable direction to take and must be properly
understood, appreciated, and prepared for within the context of society being
accepting of individual differences.
 For a nation to be truly inclusive, one must start from a humane perspective of
disability and a transformative mindset on inclusive. Thus, the success of
inclusive education starts with an appreciation and acceptance of diversity,
reinforced by an supportive and genuinely inclusive mind-set among our general
education teachers.

Competencies

This chapter aims for you to develop the following competencies:

1. The ability to create a safe, inclusive, and culturally responsive learning

environment for students with additional needs;
2. The ability to use your knowledge of general and specialized curricula to
individualize learning for students with additional needs; and
3. The ability to demonstrate reflective thinking and professional self-direction.

I. MODELS OF DISABILITY

The concept of disability has been existent for ages.

Clearly, disability cuts across countries, cultures, and timelines. But perhaps it is
part of human nature to react negatively to anything perceived as different or out of the
ordinary. There is often resistance, especially when people are met with situations that
they are unfamiliar with. Persons with disabilities (PWDs) are not exempted from this
type of environment.
For instance, there was a time when the status of PWDs was in question. In
earlier times, PWDs were seen as social threats capable of contaminating an otherwise
pure human species (Kisanji 1999). Therefore, as much as communities needed to be
protected from them, PWDs also had to be protected from society. Some people saw
them as menaces, while others treated them as objects of dread, pity, entertainment, or
ridicule. At best, they were put on a pedestal and perceived as Holy Innocents or eternal
children who could do no wrong (Wolfensberger 1972). At worst, they were killed or
treated as subhumans devoid of any rights (kisanji 1999, Wolfensberger 1972).
 Sociology reminds us that human behavior must always be studied in relation to
cultural, historical, and socio-structural contexts. In fact, the best way to understand why
people think or act the way they do is by looking at what was happening to their
community at a certain point in time. Events tend to shape one’s beliefs and values
system. As such, it is important that we examine historical highlights to appreciate
man’s perspectives on disability (see Figure 2.1)

Figure 2.1. The evolution of models of disability

Moral / Religious Model Functional / Rehabilitation

Model

(Medieval Times / Age of (Medieval Times / Age of

Discovery) Discovery)

(Copernican / Scientific (Post-Modern Times)

Revolution)

Social Model
Biomedical Model Rights-Based Model
Twin-Track Approach

Smart’s study in 2004 (as cited in Relief and Letsosa, 2018) emphasizes that
models of disability are important as they serve several purposes: (1) they provide
definitions of disability, (2) they offer “explanations of casual and responsibility
attributes”, (3) they are based on “perceived needs,” (4) they inform policy, (5) they are
not “value-neutral”, (6) they define the academic disciplines that focus on disability, (7)
they “shape the self-identity of PWDs”, and (8) they can provide insight on how
prejudices and discriminations occur. This last statement, in particular, has proven to be
very powerful in helping us see how, to a certain extent, society is unconsciously led to
respond to disability.

A. The Moral/Religious Model

The Medieval age is said to have started from AD 476, the year that Western
Roman Empire fell, and ended toward the early 1800s, eventually ushering in the
Renaissance age and Age of Discovery. This period saw the Church as one of the most
influential figures in Europe.
Such perspectives are rooted in a moral or religious model of disability, which
sees disability as either a blessing or a curse. It is characterized by notions of charity
and caretaking. However, Jackson (2018) adds that protection is also a primary concern
as there is an instinct to protect both persons with disabilities for their vulnerability and
the economic and social order which might be disrupted by “deviant member” of society.
B. The Biomedical/Individual Model
Historians and scientists alike consider the Copernican Revolution, that is, the
discovery of Nicolas Copernicus that the center of the universe was the sun and not the
Earth, is one of the most controversial yet significant discoveries of all time. It was
revolutionary and bold because it dared to contradict the Bible was well as then-
considered fundamental truths. But it was a breakthrough that triggered major changes
in the fields of science, philosophy, theology, and education. Most evident was its
contribution to scientific and technological advancements. What was not as apparent
was how it paved the way for people to also shift mind-sets from a religious perspective
to a more evidence-based model of disability called the biomedical (medical) model.
Here, PWDs are seen as persons who are ill and meant to be treated or “made more
normal.” Olkin (1999 as cited in Relief & Letsosa 2018:2-3) wrote:

Figure 2.2. The Medical Model of Disability, Reprinted from Taxi Driver Training
Packmn.d., Retrieved from http://www.ddsg.org.uk/taxi/medical-model.html.Copyright
2003 by Democracy Disability and Society Group.

It was during the 15t century when more schools for PWDs started to emerge in
Europe. These first special schools were built by private philanthropic institutions.
Although they initially catered only to those with sensory impairments such as deafness
and blindness, other schools soon started accepting other disability types into their
students roster.

C. The Functional/Rehabilitation Model

The scientific breakthroughs experienced from the time of Copernicus up until the
early 1900s brought about changes in all aspects of life, including warfare and the
concept of power. When World War I happened, communities witnessed perfectly
healthy people leave to serve the country only to come back disabled physically,
neurologically, or mentally. It was then that people started to realize that not all
disabilities are inborn. Physical and Occupational Therapies soon became prevalent
modes of rehabilitation for much of the service-related injuries the soldiers sustained
(Shaik & Shemjaz 2014) (National Rehabilitation Information Center, 2018)

The functional/rehabilitation model is quite similar to the biomedical model in

that it sees the PWD as having deficits. These deficits then justify the need to undergo
rehabilitative intervention such as therapies, counseling, and the like in the aim of
reintegrating the disabled into society.

D. The Social Model

What we need to understand about models and frameworks is that they have a
strong yet subtle way of influencing a person’s belies, behaviors, and values systems.
For example, a Filipino born and raised in the United States who comes to the
Philippines would most likely act more American the Filipino, not because he resists his
roots but because of his exposure to Americans, not Filipinos. He may not have been
raised this way intentionally but constant interaction with others of a particular culture
can strongly influence a person’s way of life.
Clough (Clough & Cobett 2000) points out that the social (sociological) model
became society’s reaction to how the biomedical perspective viewed disability. In fact,
Mike Oliver, a lecturer in the 1980s who coined the term “social model” and is
considered one of its main proponents, wrote a position paper directly reacting against
how the medical field has been reinforcing a disabling view of PWDs.

E. Rights-Based Model and Twin Track Approach

The rights-based model.
At best, lobbyists and practitioners now promote a twin track approach which
combines the social model and the rights-based models. A marrying of the two
perspectives allows for holistic changes to occur, with the opinion of promoting
individual needs whenever necessary.

Activity 2.1

Own, answer the following questions by using what you have learned from the chapter.
When you are ready, discuss your answers with a partner.

1. What are the different models of disability? How would each one define disability
2. How are impairments different from disabilities?
3. What is special needs education? How different is it from inclusive education?
4. Which international treatises are directly involved in the pursuit of inclusive
education?

Reflect

1. How important are models of disability? How can they affect students and the
different stakeholders of special needs and inclusive education?
2. Is it possible for medical practitioners to embrace a social perspective of
disability? How can they marry two seemingly opposing concepts?
3. Special needs education is said to address the extreme ends of a normal
distribution. However, who determines the cut-off for either end? To keep a
narrow range at the tail ends would mean less number of students might be in
need of Special Education programs and more “low average students” might be
in danger of academic failure, bullying, or dropping out. To make the tail ends
range wider, however, would mean more students will be segregated, therefore
negating the very idea of inclusion. Discuss your thoughts on how such a
dilemma could be resolved.
4. How can a paradigm shift from a medical standpoint to a social
perspective happen?