ISSN 1918-5227 Pages 3839 Follow this and additional works at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/eei This Article is brought to you by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Exceptionality Education International by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact jspecht@uwo.ca. Recommended Citation Hutchinson, N. L. (2012) Judy Lupart: A Tribute to a Woman Who Led the Way. Exceptionality Education International, 22, 38-39. Retrieved from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/eei/vol22/iss2/5 Exceptionality Education International 2012, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 38–39 ISSN 1918-5227 38 Judy Lupart: A Tribute to a Woman Who Led the Way Nancy L. Hutchinson Queen’s University I am honoured to offer a brief tribute to Judy Lupart, a trail blazer in inclusive education in Canada. I look back over the past two decades to highlight how Judy’s efforts have contributed to our current accomplishments in inclusion and have challenged us to ensure education for all. In 1992, Judy Lupart foreshadowed the critical issues of the next 10 years when she wrote of the “complex and multifaceted” school reforms underway as special education gave way to “a unified system of education.” In her introduction to a special issue of this journal, she highlighted three dilemmas that characterized the magnitude of these reforms. The first dilemma was the need for change so that provincial education policies enhanced inclusion without compromising quality. The second dilemma focused on researchers and practitioners using the existing special education knowledge base to inform best practice in inclusive contexts until we developed comparable knowledge about inclusive classrooms. And, thirdly, she acknowledged the central role of classroom teachers in this momentous change. A decade later, in her 2002 opus “Canadian Schools in Transition” written with Charles Webber, Judy challenged us again to respond to the complexities and contradictions inherent in the transition toward inclusive schools. She acknowledged the disillusionment of many in the 1990s with the ability of the public school system to meet so many diverse needs. Whereas others might have seen these obstacles as overwhelming, Judy suggested ways out of these potential impasses. She issued a challenge, which has been heeded by researchers and practitioners, when she wrote that “it is incumbent upon both parents and educators to collaborate on restructuring plans.” She urged researchers and policy makers to listen to parents and to provide constructive support for the central role of classroom teachers in educating and socializing all students. Change, she acknowledged, was not easy while she led us by example—editing a journal that fostered important conversations and celebrated embracing these challenges in a uniquely Canadian way. In 2012, a group of Canadian researchers reported on the experiences of three parents as their children with developmental disabilities and delays transitioned into kindergarten in Ontario schools (Villeneuve et al., in press). In all three cases, the parents expected their children to be fully participating members of inclusive classrooms, just as Judy had anticipated and fought for throughout her career. The parents of Abby, who has Down syndrome, were advocates for Abby and for all children with Down syndrome and Judy would enjoy hearing them describe