ABSTRACT
One of the major problems has been in defining exactly what inclusion is, or indeed might be, but whatever it is, there seems little doubt that it is a political and philosophical stance rather than a purely educational one. Such preparation centres on insistence that the natures of severe learning difficulties and profound and multiple learning difficulties are academically and therefore educationally defining. Inclusion means a number of different things to a number of different people. This in itself is surely its fatal weakness, since it is very difficult, if not impossible, to see the journey towards inclusion as 'ongoing', if there are constant disagreements about both the direction of travel and the destination. That may indeed be a reason why the journey is still ongoing, since many of the travellers have been going round in circles. The social model is built upon the idea of liberating individuals from the imprisonment of the social construct of disability.
