Education Week - February 7, 2024 - 8

Q&A
Schools Should Boost Inclusion of Students
With Disabilities, Special Olympics Leader Says
How would you kind of sum up the state
of inclusion globally?
We've made progress, but we're way, way, way
behind where most people think we are, and we're
certainly behind where we ought to be.
Most people don't think there's a crisis, but to
children with intellectual and developmental
disabilities and their families, there is a crisis. Most
people think children with intellectual disabilities
go to school, but most of them don't. Most people
think that when kids are in the same school, they
learn together, and build relationships together, and
become friends together, but most don't.
So, in some ways, this letter is trying to highlight a
Conversation with
Timothy Shriver
Special Olympics
chairman
The United States does more to ensure access to education for
children with intellectual and developmental disabilities than
many other countries-but the nation's schools have work to do
to ensure all students feel a sense of inclusion and belonging,
said Timothy Shriver, chairman of Special Olympics.
" High-quality programs that imbue children with greater
empathy and moral courage, support for teacher training
and staff development, and rigorous measurement and
evaluation of school culture and climate, as well as resources
commensurate with the needs of communities, are all critical
elements of the inclusive practices that usher in lasting change, "
Shriver wrote in an open letter Jan. 24.
That letter, written on the International Day of Education,
provided a glimpse at the state of inclusion around the world.
Among its findings: Only 16 countries refer to " inclusive
education " in their education laws. The United States'
education laws do not explicitly mention inclusion, but laws
that provide designated funding and protections for students
with disabilities set it apart from the 25 percent of countries
worldwide whose laws call for segregation of students with
intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Still, full social inclusion and belonging is not just a matter of
laws and policies, Shriver said in an interview with Education
Week. Special Olympics has stressed educational integration
through efforts like its Unified Champion Schools program,
in which leaders commit to forming integrated teams where
students with and without disabilities play sports like volleyball
and bocce ball to build relationships and trust.
Participating schools also commit to improving school
climate to ensure students feel safe from bullying and
harassment.
Shriver spoke to Education Week about why building more
inclusive schools matters for all students.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
challenge that most people don't even know exists.
We're not where we were, but we are not where we
ought to be.
How do you define inclusion of children
with intellectual and developmental
disabilities?
A lot of people think of inclusion as physical
proximity: If we are in the same building, or if we
see each other in the halls, we have inclusion.
Our view of inclusion is much more focused on
the social dimensions. This may sound idealistic, but
does every child feel like they belong? Like they're
valued in the school? Now, you can say that's a high
bar. But that's actually what most educators want.
If you have children with intellectual disabilities in
your school, and we hope you do, then chances are
they feel like they're being bullied, like they're being
excluded, like they're not being welcomed to social
occasions or sports or activities.
So it's not just about tearing down
barriers; it's also about taking intentional,
affirmative steps to build inclusion. How?
The first thing is we have to empower children
who don't have disabilities to become agents of
inclusion. This can and should be a youth-led
movement. I like to say that if you're a 12-year-old
with Down syndrome, and you're in the lunch
room, there's only one person who can make you
feel included and that's not a cafeteria worker. It's
not a school administrator, not a social worker, not
a special educator-it's another 12-year-old.
We've done a large project with the Harvard
Graduate School of Education that has identified
what we call pillars of inclusive mindsets. Children
who are inclusive are more likely to have high
degrees of empathy, to value the dignity of all
people, and are more likely to be able to take the
perspective of others. These things can be taught.
Secondly, we need programs that bring kids
together across ability levels, and this is where our
Special Olympic programs work. Anybody can go
out and kick a soccer ball for 20 minutes or shoot
baskets or play bocce. We know that to be powerful
in building a sense of seeing skill and giftedness of
the other person, not a deficit.
Third, we need to challenge cultural norms we've
seen in schools. We've got to create new norms
where bullying backfires. It's not funny. You don't
get power by being the biggest bully in the schools.
And those kinds of school climate issues can be
measured.
8 | EDUCATION WEEK | February 7, 2024 | www.edweek.org
North America and Europe are among
the continents with the most inclusive
education policies. Does that mean the
work is done here?
No. Look, if you talk to the parents of children
with special needs, they will tell you today in
North America, even with the support and
assistance we have in place, that the system is
incredibly burdensome, and has parents almost
always feeling on their heels. By the age of 12,
most children with intellectual and developmental
disabilities have never been to a birthday party.
We have made great progress in this country,
there's no doubt about it. But the barrier that we face
now is this, in a sense, the first and the last barrier.
It's the barrier of attitude, it's the subtle stigma that
these children matter less, don't fit in, can't perform,
don't matter.
This is going to require not just the protection of
laws and policies, which we have in place in many
respects, but also the proactive commitment of
our families and our educators to educate a new
generation to be inclusive.
Have you had any 'aha' moments
about inclusion while visiting schools
in the U.S.?
I have seen schools where kids are behaving
in ways that I thought only possible in the
imagination. They've been so positive.
I was in Rhode Island at a Unified Champion
school and a 16- or 17-year-old kid said, " Until I
joined this Special Olympics team, I was afraid to
talk to kids who were different. I didn't know how
to approach it. No one had shown me. And then all
of a sudden, we're just playing basketball together.
The next thing I know, we're going to the state
championship. And the next thing I know, I looked
around and the difference was gone. "
We often hear that a rising tide lifts all
boats. Do these inclusion efforts help
students without disabilities?
There's no doubt that a safer school culture
leads to higher test scores, and more welcoming
school culture leads to higher attendance rates.
I was at a Unified Champion school in Nebraska
a little while ago where a young woman got up and
said, and in front of the entire school, " You know,
last year, I didn't want to come to school anymore.
I was home, I had checked out, I was sort of giving
up. " You could hear a pin drop. And then she
looked across the gym at the unified team and
said, " Then I got involved in this, and I met these
athletes. I realized that there's good in the world,
that there's something I can do to help it. "
And this is at 16 years old. Who knows where
life would have taken her. Would she have
dropped out? Struggled with mental illness? I don't
know. But I do know that she is a better student,
a better learner, and a better classmate after
participating.
It makes sense that, if our children see that
they can make a difference in the life of someone
else, that they'll be more likely to want to make a
difference in their own.
-EVIE BLAD
http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - February 7, 2024

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