Law, policy, and practice in the United States has long held that
students with disabilities - including those with intellectual
disabilities - have the right to a free and appropriate public
education, in a non-restrictive environment. Yet very few of these
students are fully included in general education classrooms. Educational
systems use loopholes to segregate students; universities regularly fail
to train teachers to include students; and state regulators fail to
provide the necessary leadership and funding to implement policies of
inclusion. Whatever Happened to Inclusion? reports on the inclusion of
students with intellectual disabilities from national and state
perspectives, outlining the abject failure of schools to provide basic
educational rights to students with significant disabilities in America.
The book then describes the changes that must be made in teacher
preparation programs, policy, funding, and local schools to make the
inclusion of students with intellectual disabilities a reality.