The impression that I get: educational inclusion explored through the voices of young people with vision impairment

Abstract

Despite the notion of educational inclusion of students with disabilit ies increasing in popularity, the day-to-day reality of its effectiven ess remains mostly unknown. This paper reports key findings of a small -scale qualitative study that was conducted with a group of young peop le with vision impairment who attended an inclusive secondary school. The aim of the research was to ascertain their voiced experiences of t heir inclusion. Relevant to the study was the researcher’s insid er status, which allowed for his unique insight and shared experiences with participants to influence data collection and analysis. The stud ents reported a constant trade off that occurred between their aspirat ions for access and autonomy and practices of other stakeholders in th e school that both facilitated and inhibited their inclusion. In sum, the students’ inclusion was ineffective because of habitual inhi biting actions of others. Recommendations are made based on Slee’ ;s (2001) call for altered teaching and learning realities to promote educational inclusion, and a model of social justice that could bring about increased student agency (Higgins, Macarthur & Kelly, 2009).

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ORCID for Ben Whitburn: orcid.org/0000-0003-3137-2803

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