Segregation, Integration and Inclusion: Models of Disability and the Salamanca Statement

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Four ways a school can respond

An education system can respond to a child with a disability or any other difference in four ways. Exclusion keeps the child out of school altogether. Segregation educates the child in a separate setting, such as a special school for blind or deaf children. Integration places the child in a regular school but expects the child to fit in: the curriculum, timetable, teaching and examinations stay as they are, and the child is helped to cope, perhaps through a resource room or a visiting special teacher. Inclusion changes the school instead: the teacher plans lessons, materials, seating, group work and assessment from the start so that every child, with or without a disability, learns in the same class. In integration the child is placed in the system; in inclusion the system is redesigned for the child. Inclusion is a continuing process of removing barriers to every child's presence, participation and achievement.

How integration led to inclusion

The move away from segregation drew on the normalisation principle, which Bengt Nirje of Sweden described in 1969: people with disabilities should live patterns of everyday life as close as possible to those of others. In India the Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) scheme of 1974 followed this idea. It was progress, but many children ended up 'in the class but not of the class': present, yet not taking part, because teaching had not changed. Inclusion grew from this experience, and Indian policy moved from IEDC to the zero-rejection approach of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and then to the inclusive education duties of the RPwD Act 2016.

Models of disability

How a teacher thinks about disability decides what she does. The medical model treats disability as a defect within the individual, to be diagnosed and treated by professionals; in class it leads to a focus on what the child cannot do. The charity model sees persons with disabilities as objects of pity who need kindness rather than rights. The social model, developed by disabled people's organisations in Britain in the 1970s and named by the scholar Michael Oliver, separates impairment (a loss of body function, such as low vision) from disability (the exclusion that results when society puts up barriers, such as print-only textbooks or a classroom reached only by stairs); removing these attitudinal, physical, communication and institutional barriers is society's duty. The rights-based model, reflected in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD, 2006), treats persons with disabilities as holders of rights; its Article 24 requires an inclusive education system at all levels. The WHO's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF, 2001) combines the medical and social views in a biopsychosocial model: disability arises from the interaction between a health condition and the environment.

The Salamanca Statement

The World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality was held at Salamanca, Spain, from 7 to 10 June 1994, organised by Spain with UNESCO. Representatives of 92 governments and 25 international organisations adopted the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. It affirmed that every child has a fundamental right to education and unique learning needs, and that children with special educational needs must have access to regular schools, which should accommodate them within a child-centred pedagogy. Its best-known conclusion is that regular schools with an inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, building an inclusive society and achieving education for all. Salamanca built on the World Conference on Education for All at Jomtien, Thailand (1990) and the UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (1993), and is widely cited as the starting point of the inclusive education movement.

Why inclusion matters in a classroom

Inclusion improves learning for everyone. Children with disabilities gain peer models for language and social behaviour, higher expectations and preparation for life in their own community. Classmates learn empathy, cooperation and respect for difference, and strategies used for one child, such as visual aids, clear instructions and group work, help every learner. Inclusion also follows from the Constitution: equality before law (Article 14), no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article 15), the right to education for children aged 6 to 14 (Article 21A) and the directive to provide public assistance in cases of disablement (Article 41). NCF 2005 asks schools to treat diversity as a resource rather than a problem, and Sustainable Development Goal 4 (2015) commits countries to inclusive and equitable quality education for all.

How CTET tests this

Questions describe a situation and ask for the teacher's best response. If a child with low vision joins your class, inclusion means changing the seating, the print size and your use of the blackboard, not asking the parents to move the child to a special school. Options saying that the child should be taught separately, must adjust to the class or deserves pity, or that the disability is the child's own problem, reflect segregation, integration, the charity model or the medical model. Choose the option that removes a barrier, involves the child fully and keeps expectations high.

Key facts

Exclusion = no school; segregation = separate special school; integration = regular school, child adjusts; inclusion = regular class, school adapts to every child.
'In the class but not of the class' describes integration without real participation - the gap that inclusion set out to close.
Medical model: disability is a defect in the person to be treated or cured; social model: disability is created by barriers in society and school.
Charity model treats persons with disabilities as objects of pity; the rights-based model (UNCRPD 2006) treats them as holders of rights.
Social model: impairment is a loss of body function (low vision); disability is the exclusion caused by barriers (print-only books, stairs).
Salamanca Statement: World Conference on Special Needs Education, Salamanca, Spain, 7-10 June 1994; Spain with UNESCO; 92 governments and 25 international organisations.
Salamanca: regular schools with an inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes.
UNCRPD Article 24 deals with inclusive education; the WHO's ICF (2001) is the biopsychosocial model of disability.
Normalisation principle: Bengt Nirje, Sweden, 1969 - the root of integration; IEDC (1974) was India's integration scheme.
In a CTET scenario the right option removes a barrier and keeps the child in the regular class with high expectations.

Quick revision

Exclusion; segregation = special school; integration = child adjusts to school; inclusion = school adapts to child; medical model = deficit in person; charity model = pity; social model = barriers in society (Michael Oliver); rights model = UNCRPD 2006, Art 24; ICF 2001 biopsychosocial; normalisation, Nirje 1969; IEDC 1974; Salamanca 7-10 June 1994, Spain + UNESCO, 92 governments; Jomtien 1990; Articles 14, 15, 21A, 41; NCF 2005: diversity is a resource.

Practise this topic

All 6 lessons on Inclusive Education and Children with Special Needs