Imported or Important Theory? Sociological interrogations of disablement and special education

Abstract

Drawing from sociologies of disablement this discussion affirms the importance of such theorising for identifying the epistemological basis, and therefore the implications for policy and practice, of special education. The discussion is both timely and necessary as professional resilience reinvents special education as consistent with inclusive education. This has been achieved through linguistic adjustments which eschew challenges to underlying assumptions about difference and schooling. Unless a sociological analysis is applied to educational practices to frame inclusive education as a project in cultural politics, special educational theory will reduce inclusive education to the functionalist endeavour of assimilation. This paper extends the discussion with Clark, Dyson, Millward and Skidmore (1995) to suggest that applying sociology to special educational needs is not an importation of theory to force intellectual closure by reducing educational complexities. Rather, sociologies of disability expose exclusions as mediated through curriculum, pedagogy and organisational practices to extend the possibilities for generating inclusive educational cultures.