The term “disability” has always come with a negative connotation. In the early centuries, those who were considered mentally retarded were disregarded, often being placed in what society believed to be schools, but what were really mental institutions. In these mental hospitals, young children were forced wake up as the sun was rising to walk for miles, were fed grass and tooth paste, and were even forced to share beds with registered sex offenders because they, too, were unfit for society. One woman, in particular, remembers nurses taking a dislike to certain children and holding them under the bath water until the child turned blue. In one case, this resulted in the death of the child. Highly respected philosophers and people of authority were often noted speaking badly of disabled people, including Aristotle, who has been quoted saying, “Let there be a law that no deformed child shall live.” Luckily, special education has majorly progressed over time, but there has yet to be deemed one perfect method of teaching disabled children.
Today, there are two common methods of special education in the public school system: Integration and separation. Children are either integrated into normal classrooms, usually with a personal aid or nurse to help them with the tasks that they are given, which are the same tasks as other students in the classroom, or they are completely separated, either in a different classroom than the others or in an entirely separate school, and given a different curriculum that is seen as better fit for their needs. Of these two methods, not one has been deemed the most fit for the betterment of disabled children. Arguably, however, this is because neither of these will provide the best level of education; it is necessary to combine the two based on the student’s needs.
Disabilities that will effect a student’s ability to learn range anywhere from learning disabilities, such as Dyslexia, to cognitive and developmental disabilities, such as Down Syndrome. Because there is such a wide variety of disabilities that effect children, it is difficult and wrong to provide each student with the same education, as it will not teach each child in the best way. The majority of public schools in America have special education programs, however, they do not specify education based on the student. Because of this, more schools made specifically for handicapped children have arisen, however, these do not give the students the social developmental skills and beneficial challenges given in public classrooms that are necessary for life outside of school. It is not reasonable to expect all children to learn in the same way, especially those who are physically unable to do so based on their own internal structures or disabilities they are unable to control, but it is also not right to disregard these children and take them away from the learning experiences only achievable in what is considered a regular classroom.
The solution to this is simple: Combine the two forms of education. The number of people going to school for special education or nursing has grown over time, which will help to provide students with more individualized help in public classrooms. Disabled children have always been considered separate from humanity, but we should be embracing them as people who are different. We are lucky enough to live in a hugely progressive and accepting society, but to extend this ability to the fullest potential, we must include disabled people. We must provide these students with the necessary social skills and the proper educational skills to thrive in our society with people we consider normal. In order to do so, it is necessary to individualize education based on the student, combining separation and integration. This begins with education.
