Chapter 10: Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in Catholic Schools

Intrinsic to Catholicism, and thus to Catholic schools, is a commitment to serve the marginalized. Barton (2000) makes this point succinctly, “To be truly Catholic, education must be inclusive” (p. 340). This chapter examines how Catholic Social Teaching¹ compels commitments to inclusivity for Catholic institutions, how Catholic schools are fulfilling these commitments and the implications of this for the public interest.

Terms such as “the marginalized” and “inclusivity” imply different meanings in different contexts. Many students can be considered traditionally marginalized by schools. For example, students in poverty, of color, who are linguistic minorities, who have disabilities, or who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender continue to be underserved in schools (Berliner, 2006; Ferri & Connor, 2005; Losen & Welner, 2001; MacGillivray, 2000; Orfield & Lee, 2005). Inclusivity can refer to reducing the barriers within the school community for any and all such traditionally marginalized students. While elsewhere the literature addresses how Catholic schools include traditionally marginalized students in general (e.g., Scanlan, 2005), this chapter focuses specifically on the inclusion of students with disabilities in Catholic schools.