Inclusion is a philosophy that many parents of children with Autism have taken into their value system. It can be applied to education or to the community. There is a lot of research behind the benefits to all people of inclusion.
Basically inclusion means that people with any disability including people with Autism live, work, play, and do anything else with non-disabled peers. For children this means the same school that other children in the neighborhood attend. It also means that the child goes to the same classes the children his or her age go to.
For adults this means that people with Autism and more severe disabilities can and should work at the same jobs as other people. They should go to the same church and the same stores. They also should go to the same stores.
It is really a simple concept. It is also a concept that people with disabilities have embraced. Although many people originally thought that parents who were requesting inclusion in the school system were misguided research has supported those very same parents. Continue reading ‘What is Inclusion?’ »