ABSTRACT
Over the past few decades, educating students with the full range of disabilities has progressed from denying services outright to delivering education primarily in segregated settings (e.g. institutions, special schools, special classes) to providing instruction within general education classes with access to the same curriculum as classmates without disabilities. Regardless of the terminology in vogue in any particular place or point in time (e.g. mainstreaming, integration, inclusive education), there has been slow but steady progress toward more inclusive educational opportunities. Advocacy for inclusive education has been rooted in human rights efforts to ensure equitable and just opportunities and supports so that people with disabilities have access to the full benefits of citizenship accorded to people without disabilities (Mittler 2000; UNESCO 1994). Simultaneously, the professional literature documents both successful approaches to inclusive education and its positive impact on students with and without disabilities (Downing 2008; Hick and Thomas 2009; Hunt and Goetz 1997; McGregor and Volgelsberg 1998; Ryndak and Fisher 2003).
