ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author traces the development of provision for students with special needs in the British further education system from the ad hoc provision of the 1970s to the equal opportunities approach of the 1980s and early 1990s. The importance of the influence of non-medical disability research on theoretical understanding of special needs in education is acknowledged. A curious development within post-Warnock terminology was the appearance of ‘special educational needs’ or, more commonly, ‘special needs’, as though it is a curriculum area. The author examines during the course of his research has principally, but not exclusively, been for students described as having disabilities and/or learning difficulties he reflect on the relationship between disability as a social construct and the language of ‘special needs’. The policy for implementing integration specifically for post-16 students is in the consultative stage and is an issue to which the working party expects to return.
