Inclusion has many rationales. At its most basic, inclusion is based upon the mutual benefits, exchanges and learning that go on between children with disabilities and non-disabled peers. To me inclusion is a collision of two worlds. The world of people with disabilities and that of people without disabilities. While there is no compelling reason why there should be two separate worlds, historically that has been the reality. Over the decades, IDEA incrementally has fused these two worlds. This fusion has in my experience resulted in some meaningful and life changing lessons for both the disabled and the non-disabled.
The lives of students with disabilities sometimes teach a final lesson. Last week, a 15 year old young man who I represented died. He had
cerebral palsy and a supreme sense of humor about it all. As his OT,
who treated him all his life, said to me "his tone equaled his sense of
humor." He loved The Three Stooges, rough and tumble play with his
older brother, who was not disabled, and most of all being one of the
guys especially when he was included in school.
The memorial service featured many adults who knew him, worked with him and loved him. The most profound insights came from his peers, who knew him from being together in inclusion at school and the community. Tearfully they recounted his desire to communicate, to be in the mix of things and the joyful quality of his life. The joy that this young man demonstrated flowed easily despite his physical challenges and pain.
His death served a final lesson in inclusion. Premature death inevitably causes us to reflect on our own lives. For many of his peers, death is an abstract concept that comes primarily to the very old. Since death is so "far away" (or so we all would like to believe), we strive for things and desires in the future. The belief is that a joyful life can be postponed for a future time. This young man’s life served as a perfect model for his peers and all of us, that joy can be an integral part of the present, even as we face our respective challenges. His joy was an innate part of who he was, which sprang from the milieu of his life–at home, in school and the community. Without inclusion, the lessons of his life, as well as his death, would not have had the effect it had on both worlds.