Ableism, as Every Author We

Ableism, as every author we have read who explicitly addresses the issue has defined it, is just like sexism or racism in that it is an underlying social and cultural system of prejudice that limits or prevents access to various parts of society-based to a select subset of the population. Specifically, ableism refers to the notion that no-disabled life is the "normal" mode of living, with disabled persons being substandard. This results in the design of society in ways that are physically, cognitively, and behaviorally prohibitive to disabled individuals. This is a hugely important matter of consideration for educators due to the ethical -- and legal -- mandate for everyone to receive a free and appropriate education. Minority inclusion, whatever the basis of an individual's minority status in a given perspective, must be a paramount feature of any educational plan at any level of instruction and/or administration.

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Any term that denotes difference will necessarily connote a type of hierarchy -- this is the natural and automatic human drive to classify at work. At the same time, given the unique needs of many students with disabilities, it would be unreasonable and impractical to abolish all linguistic differentiation of this subset of students. The terms "disabled" and "atypically abled" both imply a difference; though the first can be seen as having a more negative connotation, the second does not eradicate the issue of a marked difference. The word "atypical" still places those classified with this term in a category explicitly other than "normal." Truly, even in broad policy discussions, it is the recognition of these students as individuals rather than a classified and unified group that is important. References to "students with different learning needs" would reinforce some of this individuality without developing a special term for the purpose.

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One of the most important philosophic concepts that should be kept in the forefront of every educator's mind when working with this population of students is the difference between accommodation and modification, and the overall mindset that this distinction implies. Rather than viewing students with different learning needs as somehow needing to be taught differently, it should always be remembered that at many times they will simply require different or greater access to the same activity/instruction method. True inclusion doesn't mean creating similar but different projects and modes of instruction for every student with individual learning needs, but rather consist of enabling every student, whenever possible, to engage in the same activity and develop skills along the same lines of instruction. Modification is also often necessary, but should be secondary to accommodation.

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