Beyond Special Education.

Overview & Synopsis

Faults of special education include its medical view of disability, its arbitrary division of students into handicapped and nonhandicapped, and the resultant separation between general and special education. Disabled adults are becoming less tolerant of an educational system that fails to recognize the capabilities of handicapped students. Society's attitudes toward disability are often more disabling than the handicapping condition itself. The labeling of students as handicapped lowers expectations for them and denies them autonomy and decision-making authority. The total educational system must change to ensure that disabled children receive an equal education. Students with mild and moderate handicapping conditions should be integrated into general education programs at the building level. A new framework for education is needed, and it must focus on adapting instruction to individual differences to maximize common goal attainment. Recommended is a merged or unitary system which rejects the bimodal division of handicapped and nonhandicapped and recognizes that individuals vary. Such a system requires: adaptations in society and in education, not solely in the individual; the use of effective educational practices in classrooms and schools; appropriate supports for disabled students and their families; and application of school effectiveness research, cross-cultural research, and adaptive education approaches. (JDD)