Abstract
In November 2015, the Goethe Universities Institute of Special Education and the Faculty of Education, in cooperation with the German Institute for International Education Research, hosted a symposium whose theme was Inclusion and Transformation: Possibilities of an Educational Systems Change. As part of the International Perspectives section, I was invited to share experiences regarding the challenges of changing educational systems toward providing more inclusive schools, with a particular focus on classroom pedagogy. In some ways, this renewed focus on inclusive education at regional, national, and international levels served as a form of stocktaking. I found myself asking: What do we know? What successes have we had? How do we know? What else can be done? As a career-long inclusive educator who can now look back at over a quarter-century, I have experienced the constant morphing of the educational landscape as it shifts according to changes in laws, governmental priorities, policies at federal/state/local levels, leadership, personnel, research, cultural values, and so on. In sum, the “progress” of inclusive education has been subjected to a recursive trajectory of ebbs and flows, pinnacles and pitfalls, and a perpetual feeling of two-steps-forwards-and-one-step back (or two steps back, and in some cases—alas!—three).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Baglieri, S., Bejoian, L., Broderick, A., Connor, D. J., & Valle, J. (2011). [Re]claiming “inclusive education” toward cohesion in educational reform: Disability studies unravels the myth of the typical child. Teachers College Record, 113(10), 2122–2154.
Barton, L. (Ed.). (1996). Disability and society: Emerging issues and insights. London: Longman.
Brantlinger, E. (1997). Using ideology: Cases of nonrecognition of the politics of research and practice in special education. Review of Educational Research, 67(4), 425–459.
Brown, S. E. (2003). Movie stars and sensuous scars. New York: Universe.
Connor, D. J. (2004). Infusing disability studies into “mainstream” educational thought: One person’s story. Review of Disability Studies, 1(1), 100–119.
Connor, D. J. (2015). Practicing what we teach: The benefits of using disability studies in an inclusion course. In D. J. Connor, J. Valle, & C. Hale (Eds.), Practicing disability studies in education: Acting toward social change (pp. 123–140). New York: Peter Lang.
Connor, D. J., & Bejoian, J. (2006). Pigs, pirates, and pills: Using film to teach the social context of disability. Teaching Exceptional Children, 39(2), 52–60.
Connor, D. J., Gabel, S., Gallagher, D., & Morton, M. (2008). Disability studies and inclusive education—implications for theory, research, and practice. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 12(5–6), 441–457.
Connor, D. J., & Ferri, B. (2010) Introduction to special DSQ issue: “Why is there learning disabilities?” revisiting Christine Sleeter’s socio-political construction of disability two decades on. Disability Studies Quarterly, 30(2).
Connor, D. J., Valle, J., & Hale, C. (2012). Forum guest editors’ introduction: Disability studies in education “at work”. Review of Disability Studies, 8(3), 5–13.
Connor, D. J., Valle, J., & Hale, C. (Eds.). (2015). Practicing disability studies in education: Acting toward social change. New York: Peter Lang.
Corcoran, T., White, J., & Whitburn, B. (Eds.). (2015). Disability studies: Educating for inclusion. Boston: Sense.
Danforth, S. (2009). The incomplete child: An intellectual history of learning disabilities. New York: Peter Lang.
Davis, L. J. (1995). Enforcing normalcy: Disability, deafness and the body. New York: Verso.
Fleischer, D. Z., & Zames, F. (2011). The disability rights movement: From charity to confrontation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Friend, M., & Cook, L. (2012). Interactions: Collaboration skills for school professionals (7th ed.). New York: Pearson.
Gabel, S. L., & Danforth, S. (2008). Disability and the politics of education: An international reader. New York: Peter Lang.
Gabel, S. L., & Peters, S. (2004). Presage of a paradigm shift? Beyond the social model of disability toward a resistance theory of disability. Disability & Society, 19(6), 571–596.
Gallagher, D. J. (2001). Neutrality as a moral standpoint, conceptual confusion and the full inclusions debate. Disability & Society, 16(5), 637–654.
Graham, L. (2010). (De)constructing ADHD: Critical guidance for teachers and educators. New York: Peter Lang.
Graham, L. J., & Grieshaber, S. (2008). Reading dis/ability: Interrogating paradigms in a prism of power. Disability & Society, 23(6), 557–570.
Haller, B. (2010). Representing disability in an ableist world. Louisville, KY: Advocado Press.
Hehir, T. (2005). New directions in special education: Eliminating ableism in policy and practice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Heshusius, L., & Ballard, K. (Eds.). (1996). From positivism to interpretivism: Tales of transformation in educational and social research. New York: Teachers College Press.
Kudlick, C. J. (2003). Disability history: Why we need another “other”. American Historical Review, 108, 763–793.
Lesseliers, J., Van Hove, G., & Vandevelde, S. (2009). Regranting identity to the outgraced—narratives of persons with learning disabilities: Methodological considerations. Disability & Society, 24(4), 411–423.
Linton, S. (2006). My body politic: A memoir. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Linton, S. (1998). Claiming Disability. New York: New York University Press.
Mitchell, D. T., & Snyder, S. L. (Eds.). (2000). Narrative prosthesis: Disability and the dependencies of discourse. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Mooney, J. (2007). The short bus: A journey beyond normal. New York: Henry Holt.
Rao, S., & Kalyanpur, M. (Eds.). (2015). South Asia and disability studies: Redefining boundaries and extending horizons. New York: Peter Lang.
Robison, J. E. (2007). Look me in the eye: My life with Asperger’s. New York: Random House.
Salend, S. J. (2011). Creating inclusive classrooms: Effective and reflective practices (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Shapiro, J. (1993). No pity: People with disabilities forging a new civil rights movement. New York: Three Rivers Press.
Slee, R. (2011). The irregular school. New York: Routledge.
Solis, S., & Connor, D. J. (2007). Theory meets practice: Disability studies and personal narratives in school. In S. Danforth & S. Gabel (Eds.), Vital questions facing disability studies in education (pp. 103–119). New York: Peter Lang.
Tomlinson, S. (2012). Ignorant yobs? Low attainers in a global knowledge economy. New York: Routledge.
UNESCO and Government of Spain, Ministry of Education and Science. (1994, June). World conference on special needs education: Final report. Paper presented at the world conference on special needs education, Salamanca, Spain.
Valle, J. W., Connor, D. J., & Reid, D. K. (2005). IDEA at 30: Looking back, facing forward—a disability studies perspective. Disability Studies Quarterly, 26(2). Retrieved from http://www.dsq-sds.org/issue/view/33.
Ware, L. (2001). Writing identity and the other: Dare we do disability studies? Journal of Teacher Education, 52(2), 107–123.
Ware, L. (Ed.). (2004). Ideology and the politics of (in)exclusion. New York: Peter Lang.
Wendelborg, C., & Tøssebro, J. (2010). Marginalisation processes in inclusive education in Norway: A longitudinal study of classroom participation. Disability & Society, 25(6), 701–714.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Connor, D.J. (2020). Sharing International Experiences to Develop Inclusion in a German Context: Reflections of an American Inclusive Educator. In: Ware, L. (eds) Critical Readings in Interdisciplinary Disability Studies. Critical Studies of Education, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35309-4_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35309-4_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-35307-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-35309-4
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)