ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how the work of Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault has both guided those who continue to propose relativist arguments and denied them relevant voice in the lives of children with disabilities. It argues that the outcome of an adherence to postmodern "justice at any cost" is not justice and, furthermore, leads to decidedly illiberal policies. Foucault deserves special mention in any discussion of postmodern ideas because his arguments insisting that psychiatric laws and treatment are weapons that modern societies wield in order to enforce their own definitions of normality and to punish those who do not conform contributes greatly to a current negative view of special education. Foucault's appeal appears to have derived from his stance as a radical non-Marxist. Foucault also argued that knowledge is relative not only to historic eras but to social groups as well.
