ABSTRACT
The concepts of equity, social justice, and democracy have become major concerns in education, acquiring a new intensity and urgency, particularly for students with learning disabilities in inclusive classrooms. This chapter argues that while inclusion purports to promote equity and social justice, it continues to segregate and marginalize students with learning disabilities along race, class, and gender lines. It suggests that inclusion must advance via critical pluralism toward a social justice model of equity and access by examining the tensions. Ferri B. A. and Connor D. J. locate the overrepresentation of students of color in segregated special education classrooms to the connected discourses of segregation and exclusion. The chapter also argues that by extricating disabilities and inclusive school practices from their origins in essentialist assumptions, disability culture and inclusive school practices can be reinvigorated and positively identified, ultimately creating educational experiences to educate all children to fully participate in democracy.
