ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the inclusion of children with SEND as a contested concept, and the origins and development of inclusive practice. It then talks about the changing attitudes to disability, from negative historical stereotypes of fear, suspicion and pity to present-day understanding, and the influence of key models of disability: medical and social. The chapter then discusses the moral argument for inclusion in the context of rights and opportunities and current barriers to inclusion. There are a number of tensions in the system of inclusion as it has evolved. One of these has been a model that links funding directly to the individual child's identified needs; so, the greater the need, the greater the resources required to meet those needs. This inevitably means highlighting the child's 'deficits', that is, what s/he is unable to do, which goes against the ethos of the rights-based social model of disability.
