ABSTRACT
We began the process of change for inclusive education with ourselves, and with the schools we had begun in the early 1970s. If we were to convince others that including all children with disabilities in mainstream schools was possible, we would need to show how it actually worked at a classroom and school level. Our fi rst step, as educators and therapists at SSI, was to change our own ideology and policies, before moving to the practicalities of dismantling special schools and assisting regular schools in the community to open their doors to children with disability. We began the change in our ideology with the NRCI-I ‘Charter’ described in Chapter 3, which stated the principles and rights of inclusive education, and our commitment to their realization. In this chapter, I describe how we undertook the process of transformation with SSI’s schools, and schools in the surrounding community, and how we developed what we call the ‘whole school approach’ to inclusive education. An experienced team of special educators and therapists at NRCI-I’s DRC (DRC) managed the process. The ‘Project Implementation Plan’ for NRCI-I set the mandate for the DRC.
