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Imagine.

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Imagine that schools recruit children

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who have the most different
thoughts and behaviors.

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Imagine that children
who learn differently

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are considered children
with special rights.

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Imagine that educators have
all the tools and strategies they need

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to meet all the needs
of the learners in their classroom.

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Imagine that families are viewed

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as equal partners
in their child's education.

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Imagine that there is a true convergence
of all abilities in classrooms

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that promote and change
the way we think about the world.

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This is the vision
and hope of inclusive culture.

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This comes from my years
of professional experience,

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but also comes from my experience
as a granddaughter, as a sister,

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as a wife and as a mother,

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and it is those relationships
that have made me most passionate

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about the impact of inclusive education.

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The roots of our educational system

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actually begin
with the Industrial Revolution.

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With the best of intents,
we ask our education system

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to promote learners who will be
competitive in the next century.

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We ask that they have

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high academic achievement
and competitive test scores.

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But sometimes,

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it is these attitudes and expectations 
that are actually counterproductive

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to the demands
of the 21st century workforce.

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Consider our classrooms today.

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We expect that students have the capacity
for universally accepted behaviors -

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the ability to sit still,
the ability to listen to the teacher,

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the ability to focus and attend.

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And we assume

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that all students have the capacity,
neurological and physiological,

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for those behaviors.

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And when a child is not meeting
academic expectations, what do we do?

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We provide more study time,
less recess, more tutoring,

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fewer after-school activities,
all in the name of academic achievement.

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And what happens when a child
doesn't have those behaviors?

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When they're fidgeting,
when they can't sit still,

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when they're nudging a child next to them?

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Do you know what grade level
has the highest expulsion rate?

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Pre-school.

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Just when children are learning
to separate from their parents

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and be in a setting
that promotes socialization.

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This often leads to a sense,
or a lack of a sense, of belonging.

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And we all know
what belonging is correlated with.

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It's correlated
with intellectual achievement,

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and it's correlated
with our sense of health.

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Isolation, loneliness,
low social stature,

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all contribute to our ability
to participate in the classroom.

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Does this feeling, or lack of feeling,
of belonging and connectedness affect

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what we see in schools today
with bullying and exclusion?

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What then is the effect
of the standardized system on educators?

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Educators are more pressured than ever

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to show that their children
can make the grade.

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They are judged by their children's
performance on standardized tests,

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and they are judged

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by the performance of the schools
and their academic ratings.

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Educators are more isolated
and lonely than ever before.

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So for children with disabilities,

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that sense of isolation and separation
has been there throughout history.

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Institutionalization was a long-accepted
strategy until 25 or so years ago.

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It wasn't 
until Brown vs. Board of Education

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was passed by the Supreme Court in 1954

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that the racial segregation ruling
paved the way for de facto segregation

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of children with disabilities
from their peers.

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It took another 20 years

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for Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act of 1974 to be passed.

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That was what finally gave
children with disabilities, aged 5 to 21,

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the educational entitlement to be
educated in same schools as their peers.

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Yet still, many of the children
labeled with special education

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are in segregated settings,
or what we call 'pulled out',

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where they are pulled out
from the regular classroom

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and given specialized assistance.

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42% of children
with special education needs

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are learning-disabled.

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By that very definition,

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they have average
or above-average intelligence,

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and yet, they are still pulled out
of the regular classroom

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on a regular basis in many settings.

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For children with disabilities,
that sense of segregation,

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they suffer more than others.

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Children with disabilities are
twice as likely as their same-aged peers

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to be suspended or expelled.

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Yet, just one suspension in 9th grade
increases the likelihood

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that that child will drop out of school
eventually, and/or serve jail time.

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That is why suspensions
and expulsions are often cited

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as the school-to-prison pipeline.

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So we have the disability rights movement.

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People with disabilities
throughout history

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are the most marginalized
in all of our society.

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Think about what we've taught,

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how we referred
to people with disabilities:

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deviant, sick, crazy, special, retarded.

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It's taking a different way of viewing
people with disabilities

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in a strength-based way,
to not blame the child for her disability.

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And families are also often judged

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for taxing an overburdened
education system,

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for bringing their school's
test scores down.

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So now, consider inclusive education.

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Perhaps we could imagine a school

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where all the sports are played
by children in wheelchairs,

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where the mathematician moves to think,
where the scholars are non-verbal,

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where everyone belongs
and everyone participates.

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There are some models now
for inclusive education across the globe

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that are paving the way,
and the outcomes are startling.

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The academic outcomes
for all the children are increased

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by looking at inclusive education.

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There is a recent movement 
in the past 10 years

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called neurodiversity.

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It means that we look
at the human diversity

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that is inherent in the classrooms,
and we celebrate it in our education.

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Dr. William Henderson is a principal,

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well-renowned in the Boston
public school system

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who started the Henderson School
as an inclusive model.

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He quotes three effective practices
that make a difference

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in the effectiveness
of inclusive education.

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They are culture, curriculum,
and collaboration.

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Start with culture - all learners belong.

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In fact, the environment is enhanced

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by having all people of all abilities
within that classroom.

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Consider the person 
with an anxiety disorder

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who has the sensitivity
to help and tutor another child.

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Consider the child
who is a visual-spatial learner

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who can create PowerPoints
for another child.

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Consider that classrooms can be places
where there are rich environments

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to be taught social
and emotional confidence.

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And conflicts can be avoided by the time
the children move to the playground.

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Curricular approaches.

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In addition to neurodiversity,
we have what is called universal design.

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That is a set of principles
that helps educators design curriculum

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for the highest of learners,
as well as the lowest of learners.

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The result is that it's good
for all the learners in between as well.

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Jonathan Mooney
is an expert in neurodiversity,

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and himself, a self-advocate

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with attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia.

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He has developed a program
called Project Eye-to-Eye,

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which is a mentoring program,

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and there is a component of it here
at the University of Denver.

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He talks about using arts

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as a way of leveling
the playing field for all children.

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And what else do children learn?

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They learn abstract reasoning,
they learn logical thought,

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they learn creativity.

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He also talks about technology.

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Technology, despite all the advances,
is still so underutilized

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in our education system
for kids with disabilities.

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iPads, note takers,
audio books are all tools

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that help make meaningful content
to children who learn differently.

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And last but not least,
collaborative teaming.

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Let's take away the isolation
that educators feel,

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and partner them with a specialist

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who can help them with the children
in the classroom tap all those abilities.

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Look at speech language pathologists,

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occupational therapists,
art therapists, counselors;

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all of these people enrich the experience

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and take away the isolation
of the regular educator.

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Believe it or not,
the cost can be the same.

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Those same resources and moneys

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that go to support
pull-out-systems and supports

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can be reallocated and redistributed
into the regular classroom.

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So there is not an increased cost

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to the tax payer,
the educator, the administrator.

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So imagine the 21st century
in a school community

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where all of the following
learn, belong, and thrive:

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Helen Keller, Whoopi Goldberg,

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Robin Williams, Stephen Hawking,

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Albert Einstein, Nikki Giovanni,

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my grandfather, your daughter,
my co-worker, your neighbor,

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me and you.

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Disability has inspired
many great things in our culture.

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People who learn differently have created
some of the very things we use everyday.

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We've learned to move differently.

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Think about the Americans with 
Disabilities Act and wheelchair ramps.

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We've learned to create.

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Think about the impact of artists
such as Vincent van Gogh.

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We've learned to invent.

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Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone

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when he was trying to create a device
to help his parents who were deaf.

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We've learned to communicate.

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The typewriter was invented
to help the visually impaired.

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In fact, what we've learned to do better
is to interact with one another.

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So in inclusive communities,
we suspend judgment, we advocate.

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We learn that living and being
in community together

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creates better outcomes for all of us.

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When we are all in inclusive cultures,
we create ways in which people belong.

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We create roles that everyone honors,

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we create a room for everybody
to show and demonstrate their strengths.

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When we are in inclusive communities,
we teach socio-emotional skills,

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so that we not only have
higher intelligence,

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we have higher emotional intelligence.

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We also create ways
where families' cultures are honored,

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and all families learn together
in community.

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We bring it together, we converge people,

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like at TED, with different ideas
and different thoughts

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to make a richer community.

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By creating inclusive schools
where all ideas are honored,

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and all abilities are valued
and cherished,

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we transform the way the world could be.

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It could be a better place.

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In fact, and imagine,
that we change the world.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)