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In spite of all the efforts taken at various levels to include childrenwith disabilities in the learning process, there are a number offactors that still hamper their progress and leave them to fend forthemselves. Many times persons with disabilities are still notaccepted by society as equals and have to make great effort torealise even their most basic rights. The obstacles in the path ofdevelopment are overcome by struggles and hard work on thepart of the disabled themselves and by others who advocate ontheir behalf.

This chapter will outline some of the endeavours on the part ofpersons with disabilities and society at largeto facilitate the process of inclusion in society.

Consider the following case that depictshow a student with visual impairments overcame the restrictionsin accessing education. He struggled hard to invent technologythat benefited not only him but in future would assist all thosechildren who face similar problems.

Student develops ‘Braille Face’ for the visually impairedSeventeen-year-old Satvir Singh, a student from J.P.M. SeniorSecondary School, has developed a new software called Braille Face,which has given a ray of hope to thousands of visually impairedstudents. The software translates the Braille command into theDevnagri script. He is the first student who have written his C.B.S.E.Class X exam in Hindi using a computer.

Being dependent on writers for exams, Singh found that he wasnot always lucky to get a good one. And cross checking what thewriter had written was impossible. This difficulty is what made thisyoung boy develop his own software. Right after his exam he foundpeople who were willing to assist him improvise the software. Heintends to release the updated version of the software, which he plansto call Jetsoft Striker. Later, the software will also be made availablein other languages such as Marathi, Kannada and so on. He alsohas plans to develop software to serve the needs of disabled peopleirrespective of their disabilities.

D.N.I.S. News Network

Chapter 5Overcoming BarriersOvercoming BarriersOvercoming BarriersOvercoming BarriersOvercoming Barriers

Ignorance is not thesame as innocence

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Children with disabilities face a number of challenges in theprocess of their growth and development. These challenges arebound by issues like negative attitudes, educational attainment,social relationships, abuse and neglect (physical, emotional, sexualetc.), adolescent problems, physical access, gender discriminationetc. All the students including those with disabilities are affectedby these issues.

Girls with Disabilities

Girls with disabilities face double discrimination on account ofbeing a girl and on top of that a girl having disability. They arealso more vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse at home or atschool. They are not able to move as independently as boys. Theygenerally complain oflack of privacy forexample, while usingtoilet or changingclothes. Girls havingvisual impairmentsgenerally complainabout not being able totravel alone or beingeve-teased and feelinghelpless to do anythingabout it. Consider thefollowing description:

Pooja Sharma, a bright disabled student from Meerut, with a score of 71 per cent inClass XII exams, aspires to be a lawyer. She had applied in various Law colleges and withgreat difficulty, got admission in Symbiosis Law College, Pune. Now, the college refuses toprovide accessible accommodation, putting Pooja and her parents in a fix. They havebeen running from pillar to post for the past few weeks. But in a show of negative attitude,the authorities are refusing to provide the student a single room and also refusing toaccommodate an aide to help her.(Disability News and Information Services Volume 4 Issue 12, June 15, 2006 NationalCentre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People http://www.dnis.org/)

On the other hand, there are girls who have struggled againstall odds and managed to do well for themselves. In their effortsthey have been helped by their parents and give all the creditto the support they got from them. The following two newsitems are examples of girls’ with disabilities efforts tooutshine others.

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Society may also hold some prejudices and stereotypes thatmay come in way of children’s progress. Some examples are givenbelow.

Myths

People who are visuallyimpaired acquire a “sixthsense”

People with disabilities alwaysneed help.

Do not use the word ‘see’with persons having visualimpairment.

Curious children shouldnever ask people about theirdisabilities.

All persons with hearingimpairments can read lips

Children with disabilities aremore comfortable with “theirown kind.”

People with disabilities havedifferent goals than peoplewithout disabilities.

People with disabilities needto be protected from failing.

Facts

No, they do not have a “sixth sense” butmost of them develop their remainingsenses more fully.

Many people with disabilities areindependent and capable of giving help.Some of them may need help and it isbetter to find out whether they need helpbefore offering it to them.

There is no problem with using the word‘see’ in normal conversation. You mustbehave normally with them.

Many children have a natural curiosityand may ask questions that some adultsconsider embarrassing. But rebukingcurious children may make them thinkhaving a disability is “wrong” or “bad.”Most people with disabilities won’t mindanswering a child’s questions.

Lip-reading skills vary among people whouse them.

This is a misconception and isconstantly being reinforced because ofsegregated settings like special schoolswhere these children are generallyplaced. Today more and more childrenare joining mainstream schools and arecomfortable with any setting.

Because people with disabilities alsohave cultural, social, and economicvariations , their goals can be as differentas any two persons’ goals are.

People with disabilities have a right toparticipate in the full range of humanexperiences including success andfailure.

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Class SizesLarge class size is considered to be a major barrier to inclusion ofchildren and youth with disabilities in education. In our country,the teacher–pupil ratio may range from 1:30 to 1:200, while classessizes of 50–100 would be a norm. Small class sizes with adequateresource support are more desirable than large size classrooms.However, the size of the classroom is not a significant factor forinclusion when attitudes are positive and rights of all children areconsidered to be on an equal footing.

Partnerships with ParentsParents need to play a supportive role in their child’s developmentand for overcoming the barriers faced by their children withdisabilities. They are the first teachers at home and can teach allthe required daily living and other skills to their child. They canalso provide relevant information to school teachers for planningappropriate interventions for the children with disabilities. Theparents can act as advisors, decision-makers and advocates fortheir child. They can form pressure groups so that their childrencan enjoy the basic rights and develop up to her/his potential.

The National Curriculum Framework–2005The National Curriculum Framework, NCERT, 2005 is anexcellent example of an Inclusive Curriculum. Some of the excerptsthat facilitate inclusion of children with disabilities are the following:

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Activities could enableteachers to giveindividualised attention tochildren, and to makealterations in a taskdepending on theirrequirements and variationsin the level of interest. Infact, teachers could alsoconsider involving childrenand older learners inplanning the class work, suchvariety would bringtremendous richness to theclassroom processes. Itwould also allow teachers torespond to the special needsof some children withoutmaking it seem as if it is anobvious exception.

We need to reaffirm our commitmentto the concept of equality, withinthe landscape of cultural andsocio-economic diversity fromwhich children enter into theportals of the school.

Simple adaptationof playgrounds,equipment and rulescan make activities andgames accessible to allchildren in the school.

The curriculum must provideappropriate challenges andcreate enabling opportunitiesfor students to experiencesuccess in learning andachievement to the best oftheir potential. Teaching andlearning processes in theclassroom should be plannedto respond to the diverseneeds of students. Teacherscan explore positivestrategies for providingeducation to all children,including those perceived ashaving disabilities. This canbe achieved in allcollaboration with fellowteachers or with organisationsoutside the school.

Curriculum design must reflect thecommitment to UEE not only inrepresenting cultural diversity, butalso by ensuring that children fromdifferent social and economicbackgrounds with variations inphysical, psychological andintellectual characteristics.

The effort should be to enable thelearner to appreciate beauty in itsseveral forms. However, we mustensure that we do not promotestereotypes of beauty and forms ofentertainment, that might constitutean affront to women and personswith disabilities.

NationalCurriculumFramework

2005

The learning planstherefore must respond tophysical, cultural andsocial preferences withinthe wide diversity ofcharacteristics and needs.

The constructive perspectiveprovides strategies forpromoting learning by all.

Children learn in avariety of ways-throughexperience, makingand doing things,experimentation, reading,discussion, asking,listening, thinking andreflecting, and expressingoneself in speech,movement or writing –both individually and withothers. They requireopportunities of all thesekinds in the course oftheir development.

Schools need to becomecentres that prepare childrenfor life and ensure that allchildren, especially thedifferently able, children frommarginalised sections, andchildren in difficultcircumstances get themaximum benefit of thiscritical area of education.

While many of thedifferently abled learnersmay pick basic languageskills through normalsocial interactions, theycould additionally beprovided with especiallydesigned materials thatwould assist and enhancetheir growth anddevelopment. Studyingsign language and Braillecould be included asoptions for learnerswithout disabilities.

A pedagogy that is sensitive togender, class, caste and globalinequalities is one that does notmerely affirm different individualand collective experiences but alsolocates these within largerstructures of power and raisesquestions such as, who is allowedto speak for whom? In particular,for girls and children from under-privileged social groups, social andclassrooms should be spaces fordiscussing processes of decisionmaking, for questioning the basisof their decisions, and for makinginformed choices.

The attempt to improve the qualityof education will succeed only if itgoes hand in hand with steps topromote equality and social justice.

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To conclude, including children with disabilities in educationis a challenging task. It involves providing appropriate responsesto a wide spectrum of learning needs in both formal andnon-formal settings. The following table will illustrate the natureof inclusion by highlighting a few fundamentals.

Inclusion is about Inclusion is not about

• making provisions for all about providing for somechildren and not excludingany

• welcoming and celebrating about considering diversities asdiversity a burden

• improving quality of education improving quality of educationfor all for some

• enabling all children dignity ridiculing children and havingand confidence to learn low expectations

• making all realise their basic denying some groups this rightright to education to education

• selecting inclusive learning selecting learning tasks andtasks and pedagogical practices pedagogies not accessible to all

• non exclusion only inclusion of disabled

• removing physical, social, considering some children to beattitudinal barriers inferior to others and not

capable of learning

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SUGGESTED READINGS

Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, 2000Directory of Rehabilitation Resources for Persons with HearingImpairment in India, Mumbai, India.

Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped,Augmentative Communications, Mumbai, India.

Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, EarlyIdentification of hearing loss in infant and children in rural areas.Mumbai, India.

Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, IndianSign Lanuage Book, Mumbai, India.

BAQUER, A. and SHARMA, A. 1997. Disability: Challenges vs. Responses:CAN, New Delhi.

FARRELL, M. 2004. Special Educational Needs: A Resource forPractitioners, Sage Publications, India.

FOX, A.M. 2003. An Introduction to Neuro-Developmental Disorders ofChildren, The National Trust for the Welfare of Persons withAutism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and MultipleDisabilities, New Delhi, India.

Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy. Physical Assessment of a Childwith Cerebral Palsy, Kolkata, India.

Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy. Physical Management for a Childwith Cerebral Palsy, Kolkata, India.

JULKA, A. 2006. Cognitive Architecture in Visually Impaired. DiscoveryPublishing house, New Delhi, India.

JULKA, A. 2006. A Review of Existing Instructional Adaptations (generaland specific) being used in Integrated/Inclusive classrooms. NCERT,New Delhi, India.

JULKA, A. 2004. Strengthening Teacher Education Curriculum from thePerspective of Children with Special Educational Needs: UnpublishedReport: NCERT.

JULKA, A. 1999. Low Vision Children: A Guide for Primary SchoolTeachers. National Council of Educational Research and Training,New Delhi, India.

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LYNCH, J. 1994. Provision for Children with Special Educational Needsin the Asia Region, The World Bank, Washington D.C.

Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs (Legislative Department).The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rightsand Full Participation) Act, 1995.

MOHIT, A., PILLAI, M and RUNGTA, P. 2006. Rights of the Disabled. NationalHuman Rights Commission, New Delhi, India.

MURICKAN, J. and KAREPARAMPIL, G. 1995. Persons with Disabilities in Society:Kerala Federation of the Blind, Kerala, India.

National Human Rights Commission, 2005. Disability Manual,New Delhi.

National Institute of Mentally Handicapped, 2002. Directory ofInstitutions for Persons with Mentally Handicapped in India,Secunderabad, India.

National Institute of Mentally Handicapped, 1994. Moving Forward:An Information Guide for Parents of Mentally Retardation,Secunderabad, India.

National Institute of Mentally Handicapped, 1991. Directory ofProfessionals in Mentally Handicapped, Secunderabad, India.

National Institute of Mentally Handicapped, 1989. Mental Retardation:A Manual for Psychologists, Secunderabad, India.

National Institute of Mentally Handicapped, 1988. Mental Retardation:A Manual for Guidance Counsellors, Secunderabad, India.

NCERT, 2005. National Curriculum Framework, New Delhi, India.

NCERT, 2001. Inclusive Education: Orientation Package for TeacherEducators. Unpublished manuscript, New Delhi, India.

NCERT, 2000. Assessment of Needs for Inclusive Education: Reportof the First Regional Workshop for SAARC Countries, NCERT,New Delhi, India.

Office of Chief Commissioner of Disabilities, Planning a Barrier FreeEnvironment, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

PUNANI, B. and RAWAL, N. 2000. Visual Impairment Handbook, BlindPeople’s Association: Ahmedabad, India.

PURI, M and ABRAHAM, G.Eds. 2004. Handbook of Inclusive Education forEducators, Administrators and Planners, Sage Publication, New Delhi

Rehabilitation Council of India, 2000. Status of Disability inIndia-2000. (Eds.) Kundan. C.L. New Delhi, India.

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Rehabilitation Council of India, 2000. Status of Disability in India,New Delhi, India.

REYNOLDS, C.R. and JANZEN, F. E. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of SpecialEducation: A Reference for the Education of the Handicapped andother Exceptional Children and Adults, Vol. No. 2. ed. USA, JohnWiley and Sons, Inc.

WALL, K. 2004. Special Needs and Early Years, A Practitioner’s Guide,Sage Publications, India.

World Heath Organisation. 2001. International Classification ofFunctioning, Disability and Health, Geneva.

UNESCO, 2001. Open file on Inclusive Education, Support Materialsfor Managers and administrators, Paris, UNESCO.

UNESCO, 1997. International Standard Classification of Education,Paris, UNESCO.

UNESCO, 1994. The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Actionon Special Needs Education. Paris: UNESCO.

Important Websites

http://www.disabilityindia.org/instvis.cfm (Disability India network)http://www.nivh.org/http://www.nimhindia.org/http://www.nrcissi.org/events/nsdialogue/nsd.htmlhttp://ayjnihh.nic.in/http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=184http://www.karmayog.com/ngos/spasticsociety.htmhttp://www.spasticssocietyofkarnataka.org/http://www.udaan.org/parivaar/orgdelhi.html sikkim.nic.in/spastics/html/history.htmhttp://www.iicpindia.com/about.htmlhttp://www.giveworld.org/nab/nab_profile.htmhttp://www.nabdelhi.org/http://www.bpaindia.org/http://www.rehabcouncil.nic.in/home.htmlhttp://socialjustice.nic.in/http://socialjustice.nic.in/disabled/welcome.htmhttp://socialjustice.nic.in/disabled/welcome.htmhttp://www.education.nic.in/http://education.nic.in/schsec.asp#iedc www.disabilityindia.org/INSTORTH.cfm

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http://nationaltrust.org.in/http://nirtar.nic.in/http://www.ccdisabilities.nic.in/http://www.niohonline.org/http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf SALAMA_E.PDF#search=%22the% 20salamanca% 20statement%2C%20unesco%22www.un.orgwww.eenet.org.uk/bibliog/unespubs.shtmlwww.unesco.org/education/inclusivewww.icevi.org/

NOTES