ABSTRACT
Prior to 1975 most students with disabilities attended segregated special schools. Thirty years later the majority are included in their local community school learning alongside their same age peers. The essential difference between integration (the term used to describe the original goal of placing students with disabilities with their peers for the purposes of education) and inclusion (the term currently in use) is that with integration, the school asks; ‘Can we provide for the needs of this student?’ With inclusion, the school asks; ‘How will we provide for the needs of this student?’ (Foreman 1996: 12). With integration, a school may feel unable to adapt their practices to meet the needs of some disabled students, leading to their exclusion. However, where a policy of inclusion is in place, a wholeschool approach is instituted to ensure that the particular needs of all disabled students are appropriately accommodated and always met.
