Across the country in New Jersey, Rafael, a mentally retarded 5-year-old with an IQ of 59 and a mental age of 2 who cannot speak intelligibly and who must be taken to the bathroom every 15 minutes, creates havoc with frequent outbursts, tantrums, and assaults on teachers, aides, and other students (Murphy 1). These scenes are the result of a movement called "full inclusion," whose supporters declare that putting children like Rachel and Rafael into separate classes is a form of discrimination. Proponents argue that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which says that disabled children should be educated with non-disabled children "to the maximum extent appropriate" (Murphy 1), require full inclusion. Attorney Thomas J. Murphy from Marlton, New Jersey argues that students like Rachel and Rafael are causing a disturbance in the educational process for the non-disabled students in their classes. The teachers cannot fully focus on the non-disabled students in the class because these Rachel and Rafael's take so much attention even if in most cases an aide is present; the teacher is still teaching the class (1). .
If the disabled student is abusive, then the students are affected. In one of the inclusion classes at my high school there was a student that was very abusive, but because of the law he was required to be in classes with all of the "normal" students. This student would constantly hit the other children and the response of the teacher would be, "He doesn't know any better, just ignore him." His education may be being enhanced because he's in a classroom with non-disabled students, but these non-disabled students are not being educated "to the maximum extent." The Individuals with Disabilities Act might in some way be benefiting the disabled students but it puts a great disadvantage to the students that are not disabled. .
Murphy also presents the experience of Mary Crampton, a teacher in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
