'Inclusion' Should Not Include Deaf Students

By Oscar Cohen

What is wrong with mandated "full inclusion'' for all deaf children, and why must the continuum of alternative placements be maintained?

Sometimes it seems as though rhetoric and value judgments have taken over the so-called "regular-classroom movement'' to such an extent that a reasoned and informed consideration of the real needs of deaf children is obliterated.

For many inclusionists, the guiding tenet is the "normalization principle'' of making available to disabled persons conditions as close as possible to the norms and patterns of mainstream society. This position, which emanates from a relatively small and insular group that advocates primarily for children with severe intellectual disabilities, The Association of Severely Handicapped (TASH), presumes to speak for all disabled students. Their goals call for the abolition of special education as a means to: 1) enhance disabled students' social competence, and 2) effect changed attitudes in teachers and nondisabled students toward children with disabilities. It is noteworthy that social acceptance, and not academic realization, appears to be their...