Chapter 6: Self-Inclusion of Students With Diverse Learning Needs in the Intercultural and Inclusive Education System That Excludes Them

Inclusive education worldwide is embraced as an education system that fosters acceptance, appreciation of differences, unity in diversity, etc. To accommodate all students with and without disabilities, adjustments, modifications and accommodations must be made about instruction, curriculum, assessments and teaching approaches. It seems inclusive education is a barrier because it prevents students’ free movement (the majority of facilities for learning cannot be approached, entered and used by students with mobility problems), decision-making, association and equal participation. For proper inclusion to occur, governments must invest heavily in resource provision, infrastructure development and maintenance, continuous teacher training formulation and implementation that are friendly to the system. It is believed that with that in place, all policy and pieces of legislation, students will receive and participate equally in education. It will be wishful thinking that learning institutions meet all the specifications of inclusive education. As a result, students with disabilities or diverse learning needs become excluded by the system that has to include them at all costs. However, students with diverse learning needs do not sit with folded arms waiting for a ‘Good Samaritan’ to address their plight. Some of these students are activists and self-advocates in their own right. Realising that inclusive education is perpetuating exclusion, instead of addressing or meeting their needs, students with disabilities, as a last resort, embark on strategies such as self-advocacy and establishing peer support networks, as well as applying the principle of universal learning design, whereby they advise teachers on how they should be accommodated. Against this backdrop, this chapter is written to echo students’ needs and their plight in inclusive education settings.