In 1955, the story of a brave and tired woman named Rosa Parks was put in front of this country's awareness (What is Inclusion). This woman had gotten historically tired of being denied equality. She wanted to be included in society in a full way, something which was denied people labeled as "black". So Rosa Parks sat down on a bus in a section reserved for "white" people. When Rosa was told to go to "her place" at the back of the bus, she refused to move, was arrested, and history was challenged and changed. All of this happened because Rosa Parks was tired, historically tired of being excluded. She had sat down and thereby stood up for inclusion. Another powerful cry for inclusion is being heard today. This new cry is being raised by people with disabilities.

In the past, it was quite common for children with disabilities to be institutionalized or home schooled (Kavale, 279). Then, in the early twentieth century, many compulsory attendance laws were passed that enabled some of the children with disabilities to attend public schools. However, in 1919, the Supreme Court declared, in Beattie v. Board of Education, that a school could exclude a child who had a condition that ca

used him to drool, have face contortions, and slurred speech. This ruling enabled schools to exclude some handicapped children. Later, in 1975, congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which was the beginning of free and appropriate public education to all school age children, regardless of disability (Kavale, 282). This act led to special education programs in public schools. These special education programs essentially segregated disabled students from the general classrooms in public schools, but did provide more individualized attention along with different educational standards. This law was amended in 1990 and was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and then was amended again in 1997. The amendment required that a student should be placed in an environment with the fewest restrictions and the greatest opportunities in the context of a particular disability. This was known as the least restrictive environment. Some advocates of the disabled are seeking to replace these special education programs with the full inclusion of disabled children into regular classrooms (Kavale, 283). The success of full inclusion lies in the hands of the teachers and the school systems. The question is however, are the school systems today ready to handle such a drastic change and make this a successful program?

It has long been recognized that a major factor in the success or failure of a policy such as mainstreaming is the attitudes of the general education teacher (Full Inclusion). Early on, general education teachers expressed some negative attitudes especially feelings of inadequacy in dealing with students with disabilities, although they remained generally positive about the concept of integration. Although, positive attitudes about students with disabilities could also be found these positive attitudes were often accompanied by concern about the integration of students with severe disabilities, particularly those with significant intellectual deficits. Teachers were also found to be more willing to integrate students whose disabilities did not require additional responsibilities on their part. Otherwise, they revealed a resistance to greater integration. Although attempts to foster more positive attitudes about integration have been made any positive attitudes achieved were found to be short-lived.

Administrators, because of their leadership positions, were viewed as playing a significant role in the success or failure of mainstreaming (Full Inclusion). Principals however, demonstrated a lack of their knowledge about students with disabilities and often perceived little chance of success in general education, particularly student

Some topics in this essay:
Education Inclusion, Education Act, Inclusion Principals, Inclusion Simple, Rosa Parks, Children Act, Inclusion Students, Learning Disabled, students disabilities, Board Education, special education, Schools Ready, positive attitudes, education classroom, children disabilities, special education inclusion, rosa parks, education setting, severe disabilities, education programs, education inclusion, special education programs, students severe disabilities, perceptions students disabilities, teacher-child interactions inclusive,