Inclusion means more than just preparing students to pass standardized tests and increasing academic levels. In inclusive classrooms, students with special educational needs are treated as integral members of the general education environment. Gain strategies to offer the academic, social, emotional, and behavioral benefits that allow all students to achieve their highest potential.

How colleges and universities can live up to their ideals of diversity, and why inclusivity and excellence go hand in hand. Most colleges and universities embrace the ideals of diversity and inclusion, but many fall short, especially in the hiring, retention, and advancement of faculty who would more fully represent our diverse world—in particular women and people of color. In this book, Abigail Stewart and Virginia Valian argue that diversity and excellence go hand in hand and provide guidance for achieving both. Stewart and Valian, themselves senior academics, support their argument with comprehensive data from a range of disciplines. They show why merit is often overlooked; they offer statistics and examples of individual experiences of exclusion, such as being left out of crucial meetings; and they outline institutional practices that keep exclusion invisible, including reliance on proxies for excellence, such as prestige, that disadvantage outstanding candidates who are not members of the white male majority. Perhaps most important, Stewart and Valian provide practical advice for overcoming obstacles to inclusion. This advice is based on their experiences at their own universities, their consultations with faculty and administrators at many other institutions, and data on institutional change. Stewart and Valian offer recommendations for changing structures and practices so that people become successful in ways that benefit everyone. They describe better ways of searching for job candidates; evaluating candidates for hiring, tenure, and promotion; helping faculty succeed; and broadening rewards and recognition.

Inclusive Leisure: A Strengths-Based Approach With HKPropel Access provides a blend of theoretical and practical information, moving beyond leisure programming and service delivery to consider how inclusivity should be applied to administration, infrastructure design, community relations, and more.

Practitioners, scholars, and teacher education students alike can celebrate reading Exploring Inclusive Educational Practices through Professional Inquiry. This rich array of case scenarios both illuminates and elaborates the meaning of inclusion in today’s schools and tomorrow’s visions. Twenty-five stories from parents, teachers, school principals, and specialists highlight the kind of experiential knowledge that won’t be found in typical research reports and district documents about inclusive education. What happens to real people—students and their families—doesn’t always resemble policies that can look so good on paper. This book makes a wonderful contribution to better understandings of the challenges of inclusion as well as the commitments positioned alongside values in order to meet those challenges. There are brave and spirited people in these pages—not the least of whom are the children themselves.Professor Luanna H. Meyer, PhD Director, Jessie Hetherington Centre for Educational Research Victoria University, New Zealand This is a book on inclusive education that leaves you with hope and ideas for action. It takes a very difficult and highly charged topic and demonstrates that it is possible to see both the trees and the forest. Michael Fullan Professor Emeritus OISE/University of Toronto We are reminded in the commentaries parents share in this book of how their passionate commitment to good education and their ideas make inclusion work. The case-study approach reveals the critical importance of their, and many other perspectives in finding solutions to what are so often dismissed as irresolveable dilemmas. They aren’t, and this book models exactly the kinds of conversations we need in schools across the country to challenge all of us to stay the course. It’s a must-read for anyone who wants to make diversity and inclusion a reality in public education today. Michael Bach Executive Vice-President Canadian Association for Community Living

In the vast expanse of education, a pervasive issue remains in the marginalization and lack of visibility of individuals with disabilities. Despite a strong desire for inclusivity, recent research suggests that fewer than 5% of children with disabilities in 51 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are enrolled in primary school. This exclusion is not solely in enrollment numbers; even those who manage to attend face learning environments ill-equipped to adapt to their needs, leading to further isolation. Girls with disabilities, in particular, endure heightened vulnerability to abuse, reflecting a systemic failure to provide an environment that fosters equality, dignity, and respect for all. The Handbook of Research on Inclusive and Accessible Education emerges as an inspiration for change, providing a profound solution to the persistent issue of exclusion. The book encapsulates a collective effort to reimagine education. It advocates for a paradigm shift—moving away from the confinement of special schools and towards inclusive, mainstream settings. By addressing controversies, sharing successes, and outlining prospects, the book serves as a comprehensive guide for special school governing bodies, curriculum advisors, university lecturers, and all stakeholders committed to reshaping education.

The concept of Assistive Technology is moving away from adopting the most appropriate devices to overcome the limitations of users, to the designing and setting up of total environments in which people can live, supported by suitable services and additional support devices integrated within the environment. These two perspectives are deeply intertwined, both from technological and social points of view, and the relationship between them currently represent the primary challenge for the field of Assistive Technology. This publication covers the proceedings of the 10th European Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe (http://www.aaate.net), the organisation which stimulates the advancement of assistive technology for the benefit of people with disabilities, including elderly people. This conference seeks to bridge the gap between these two complementary approaches, providing an opportunity to clarify differences and common points, and better define future direction. Topics covered by the conference include: technological innovation in assistive technology; the need for multidisciplinary approaches; equipment interconnectivity and compatibility; cultural aspects and the acceptance of different approaches; and the role of Europe in building inclusion competence worldwide. Disability results not only from a person’s intrinsic attributes but also from the context in which they live. This publication is a significant contribution to the advancement of inclusion for people living with a disability everywhere.