ABSTRACT
This chapter argues the language of special education shapes Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCO) values, expectations, assumptions, responses and practice. The 1870 Forster’s Education Act was the first piece of British legislation to establish a nationwide compulsory system of education for all pupils aged five to thirteen. In 1913, the Mental Deficiency Act addressed the ‘problem’ of ‘uneducable’ children through the wide-scale institutionalisation of those judged to be impaired. The treatment of disabled children at this time is starkly illustrated in Mary Baker’s account of her experiences in an institution. The rise of the eugenics movement was not confined to the United Kingdom (UK), as distinct and identifiable from 1880 eugenic practices could be found in other parts of Europe, the United States (US) and Canada. Attitudes toward disability continued to change throughout the 1950s and 1960s. A person’s gestalt-shift of the picture-object enables seeing both a duck and a rabbit.
