Today we celebrate teachers as the architects of the Inclusion Revolution. As we cheer on the educators who shape our future, it's important to take a moment to reflect on the core principles that form the foundation of an inclusive education system and the role of teachers in promoting inclusion.
Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report 2020
According to the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2020, inclusive education is a transformative approach that recognizes and accommodates diverse learning needs, ensuring that every learner is valued and included.
All students, regardless of their abilities, have the right to quality education and authentic social inclusion in school.
Still, disturbingly, over 250 million individuals with intellectual disabilities face unequal access to education. Today, the exclusion of people with intellectual disabilities from equal opportunities is a pressing human rights issue that needs immediate attention.
Research shows that more than 85 percent of primary-age children with disabilities who are currently out of school have never been to school in their lives. This finding underscores the urgent need to address this global problem and promote a more inclusive society for everyone.
At the Special Olympics Global Center for Inclusion in Education, we all share a strong sense of responsibility towards the often-vulnerable community of people with disabilities. We know that achieving full inclusion in education is a long-term commitment, and we acknowledge that there is no easy shortcut to attaining our vision. We also recognize that we gain strength and power by joining forces with other strategic partners across the globe to address this cause. Collectively, we lean on and learn from each other.
It is a journey that requires the dedication and collaboration of many stakeholders in many roles; but clearly, teachers are at the forefront of this critical endeavor. The goal of inclusive education cannot be achieved without them.
We spent some time with internationally recognized expert and disability rights advocate Sara Minkara, U.S. Special Advisor on International Disability Rights, to learn more about her perspective and the role teachers played in shaping her life’s journey.
Sara Minkara, U.S. Special Advisor on International Disability Rights
Here are some insights from our uplifting conversation.
Global Center: Can you share a bit about your background and what inspired you to become an advocate for inclusion?
Sara Minkara: I grew up in the Boston suburbs with parents who were originally from Lebanon. When I was seven, I lost my sight; my sister also became blind at the same age. U.S. laws allowed us to attend public schools and integrate with our peers. That support was crucial to our future development, though technical obstacles still existed. Our amazing family, especially our mom, pushed for our education and support, encouraging us to embrace our disability as a strength.
Realizing that many kids worldwide lack these opportunities led me to work on disability rights and inclusion through my nonprofit consultancy company. This journey ultimately brought me to my current role as a special advisor. My life's purpose is to ensure that every child, regardless of disability, has the right to exist, belong, integrate, and contribute their value.
Global Center: “Inclusion in education” is a term we often hear. Could you clarify what it truly means to you, and why it's so important in today's educational landscape?
Sara Minkara: Inclusion and inclusive education are crucial concepts, and people interpret them differently. Having separate classrooms for kids with and without disabilities is not inclusion. True inclusive education, and its companion approach known as universal design for learning, involves bringing kids with and without disabilities together to learn in one space, with individualized education plans (IEPs) as needed. It's about creating a technical and adaptive environment that requires teachers to understand universal design for learning, the inclusive technology appropriate to each student’s needs, and an inclusive culture that values diversity in learning styles.
Inclusive education encompasses various factors, but it's about much more than just physically placing kids with disabilities in the same room as those without. Some kids might need tailored approaches in terms of how they might access certain materials in education, right? But inclusion means all kids coming together and being given the means and opportunity to learn important skills together in the same space.
Global Center: What, in your view, are the potential benefits of promoting unified activities and interactions among students with and without disabilities, in the context of inclusive education?
Sara Minkara: Our world is so diverse. We need to understand how to come together, work with each other, and learn from each other. When we have unified schools and inclusive spaces, kids leave school each day with so much more social and emotional intelligence and academic knowledge. Unified activities and interactions allow for a healthier society; they allow society to see the value that comes when we all work together and move forward together. Unified activities and inclusive education allow us to understand that there are creative ways of interacting with each other. There's not just one way of doing things. There's not just one way of teaching. There's not just one way to understand materials and receive education. There's so much value in the short-term, mid-term, and long-term when we include everyone in building societies.
Global Center: What challenges do you see when it comes to implementing inclusive education on a global scale?
Sara Minkara: The first challenge is to make training in universal design for learning a requirement for every single prospective teacher as they pursue their educational path toward teacher certification and for current teachers whose practice is periodically evaluated.
The second challenge is to change the narrative and stop the system from presenting inclusive education as an add-on or a burden, or as difficult or time-consuming. Instead, educators—especially teachers— need to see inclusive education from the point of how it is going to bring value and benefit to everyone. Narrative change can make a huge difference.
Global Center: Is it a budget Issue?
Sara Minkara: A lot of people say we don't have a budget. Well, to be honest, we do have a budget, but we are choosing to put it towards specialized schools. Why don't we just really move towards inclusive education?
It’s not a budget issue. It is a resource issue. It's a value-based issue. It's a narrative issue. It’s a lack of technical expertise issue.
How do we build the capacity of teachers and staff to really embrace inclusive education as a concept? How do we get political will and leadership to say this is important for us? And then, how do we also get society and parents—parents of kids with and without disabilities—to be on board? So, there are many layers to these challenges.
Global Center: What needs to change in the global education ecosystem to make it more inclusive for people with disabilities, both physical and intellectual?
Sara Minkara: If you take it from a global education lens and you look at the mainstream global education partners—the leaders in global education and now as we're moving towards digitalization of education—most of those spaces are not thinking about disability, accessibility, and inclusivity, right? How do we break into those spaces and how do those spaces incorporate inclusivity and accessibility in a value-based perspective? I feel when it comes to global inclusive education, we're talking sometimes within our own bubble. We need to break into all the digital and educational transformations across the board; a lot of times accessibility is not even on the table. So, I think the biggest challenge is that there are still two different ecosystems. They overlap, but only in a very small way. This needs to change.
Global Center: As we celebrate World Teacher’s Day, what message would you like to convey to teachers around the world about their role in promoting inclusive education?
Sara Minkara: Teachers are one of the main reasons why I am here. Teachers believed in me and were creative in how they made their classrooms accessible to me. They supported and encouraged me. Teachers are one of the main variables for any person’s journey, with or without disabilities.
I think teaching is the toughest job in the world. You know, teachers are really transforming the lives of these young kids. I would ask of them, please take inclusive education and universal design for learning forward as important values, but also understand that there is a continuing evolution in how you can do your work. I also want to say “thank you” to every single teacher who has impacted and transformed people's lives.
Global Center: Looking ahead, what are your hopes and goals for the future of inclusive education on a global scale?
Sara Minkara: If I had a magic wand, my first wish would be to make it mandatory for every teacher to undergo training that includes universal design for learning and inclusive education as integral components of their curriculum in all Master of Education programs. This wouldn't be an elective or supplementary course, but rather a fundamental part of their education, deeply ingrained in their frameworks and principles.
My second wish would be to have inclusive education mandated by law and policy in every single country. My third wish would be to have the global education sphere bring disability, inclusion, and accessibility into their dialogues and programming in a more cohesive and systemic way from a value-based perspective.
Global Center: How do you think your life would have been different if your teachers hadn't made learning accessible for you? Can you share an example of when a teacher made sure your class was inclusive and accessible? How do we get to the point where all teachers are like that?
Sara Minkara: If my teachers hadn't made the classroom accessible and inclusive, I wouldn't have been able to go to the college and graduate school I attended. My life would have had a different outcome. Inclusive actions benefit everyone.
When I was a math major in college, classmates would always ask me, “What classes are you taking?” They said, “Whenever you're in the classroom, the professor becomes a better teacher because with you, the professor must explain things in a better way.” Who benefited? Everyone!
I was the first blind student who majored in math at Wellesley. The professors were like, “Oh, what do we do?” But they had to figure it out. Why did they have to figure it out? Because there's a law, right?
Some teachers make their classes accessible because they really care; others do it because it's a matter of compliance. There's a huge difference between mere compliance and having a teacher who really breaks down barriers to make the classroom more accessible.
I truly believe it goes back to mainstreaming inclusive education into the education of all teachers. It becomes a given and we can offer them help and support.
Some teachers are just afraid and think it's so hard. We need to show them the HOW. How is it done? How does this benefit everyone? When the concept of inclusion in education is mainstream, it's not an add-on or special. It is important to show the value of inclusive education.
Teachers being inclusive should not be seen as courageous. We should have high expectations for inclusive education everywhere; it should be the norm.
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At Special Olympics, we cannot agree more with Sara’s perspective. Empowering teachers to be agents of hope at the heart of inclusive education is imperative. It is also imperative to equip them with the knowledge, skills and resources they need to meet the diverse needs of their students.
While an empowered workforce is key, we also need to be innovative and practical. We do not have the luxury of time to reinvent the wheel; instead, we need to identify effective inclusion practices that we can scale up now. We need to increase impact, measure progress, conduct research and evaluation studies and continually learn from these initiatives that have proven effective.
Unified Champions Schools offers a proven model for a social inclusion program through the power of sports in schools. Special Olympics provides ongoing training and professional development for educators through online and in-person opportunities. Through local, regional and global events, educators learn about key aspects of inclusive programming and gain valuable skills for teaching and supporting students with intellectual disabilities.
This serious effort would not be possible without purpose-driven partnerships and collaboration with governments, disability organizations, the private sector, advocacy groups and experts to ensure the success of existing inclusion initiatives and elevate the movement toward innovation in emerging practices. Teachers are indispensable partners in promoting the effectiveness of inclusive education interventions.
We are grateful and appreciative for the tireless dedication of teachers across the globe. Thank you, teachers, for driving the Inclusion Revolution forward.
Every lesson you teach with adaptability, every student you support with compassion and every attitudinal barrier you break inside and outside the classroom makes a difference.
Your work inspires us all!
Salyne El Samarany – Vice President, Special Olympics Global Center for Inclusion in Education
