Empathy not sympathy helps inclusiveness

Although the concept of Inclusion incorporates many of the fundamentals of the ideas present in h uman rights, inclusion is for the most part a distinct social movement and should not be conflated with disability rights more generally.

Jenny Cooper in her article ‘Inclusion our destiny’  argues that the human race has an historical and monumental obsession with the idea that the "body beautiful" can only be portrayed by perfection. Such a portrayal, therefore, does not have a great track record of "including" people with disabilities.

But many will say this has all been tried before: integration, mainstreaming, normalisation; is there anything left to say on inclusion? Maybe not, there’s plenty left to be done and nobody seems quite sure what’s holding it all up. Is it bureaucrats not toeing their "party line"? The economy? Fear, perhaps? Fate? Or does the idea of social Inclusion or disability rights act as a handy tool for government in the creation of social dilemmas.

What is reality and what is the rhetoric? That is to say that the vision for change appears to be there but not the active commitment.

How is this to be achieved for everybody with disabilities? There are infinite forms of disability with infinite actions, which have been stereotyped in comical and other demeaning ways, basically due to a lack of education and an inability, or more likely, an unwillingness to enforce anti-discrimination laws.

Further to this Cooper argues that a primary example of this apathy to overcome stereotypes is particularly evident when it comes to people with severe disabilities. When the importance of treating all people equally is acknowledged, then the broad spectrum of people with disabilities confronts such good intentions so that this has been called "the last human rights movement".

But is this label not based on a hierarchy of stereotypes? Does it not define inclusiveness of a person with disabilities as the final frontier, and therefore suggest that it is the most difficult? I'm not so sure.

When the apparently impressive statistics concerning inclusion worldwide are analysed carefully, a closer look at the figures for the inclusion of those with severe disabilities, including speech impairments,and they are not as good as is suggested. They simply indicate a serious lack of attention to those with severe bodily disabilities. Inclusion is happening, but mainly for those with milder disabilities.

And so, how do government initiatives and practices in education improve the prospects for inclusion of people with severe disabilities?