Educating culturally and linguistically diverse students with disabilities in inclusive settings: beyond debates

Abstract

Abstract Inclusive and equitable education is the ultimate tool to develop students, communities, and the general society. And, special education is an added tool to help atypical and vulnerable students to be productive citizens in a thriving society. Ceteris paribus, for many culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with disabilities, being educated in an inclusive environment should be the ideal policy. However, it is not! Inclusion has continued to be debatable, challenged, and controversial, making this ideal goal implausible and unrealistic. Coupled with their disabilities, CLD students experience the loaded problems of discrimination, racism, and xenophobia in the multidimensional forms of misidentification, misassessment, mislabeling/miscategorization, misplacement, and misinstruction. These multiple problems make it easy for general and special education professionals and service providers to (a) view placement as instruction, (b) focus on unidimensional and narrow confines, and (b) intentionally, unintentionally, or inaccurately judge CLD students’ capabilities and willingness to maximize their fullest potential. The question then is, since the goal is to increase “normalcy” in the lives of CLD students with disabilities, is it not important to equitably educate them with their “normal” peers in inclusive settings? This article responds to this question.