Dianne L. Ferguson

Generations of Hope: Parental Perspectives on the Transitions of Their Children with Severe Retardation from School to Adult Life

Transitions within families are socially constructed processes that need to be understood in both their historical and their cultural context. This study explored how parents interpret the events and relationships surrounding the transition of their children with severe disabilities from school to adult life. The study used qualitative techniques to collect and analyze data from two sets of parents grouped according to their childrens ages. Results indicated that the parents interviewed tended to perceive three distinct types of transition: bureaucratic, family life, and adult status. Generational patterns of parental response to these transitions are discussed in terms of professional relationships and self-reliance. A matrix of these response patterns is presented. The findings suggested several ways in which parent-professional cooperation around transition events might be improved.

Figuring Out What to Do with the Grownups: How Teachers Make Inclusion “Work” for Students with Disabilities

This article describes details of inclusion of students with severe disabilities using an extended example of one high school drama class. Based on research conducted in eight schools by a team of four researchers, the article describes three inclusion outcomes for both disabled and nondisabled students (curriculum infusion, social inclusion, and learning inclusion). It then describes how the drama teacher and the special education teacher provided teaching support, prosthetic support, and interpretive support to one disabled student by developing both collaborative and consultive relationships with each other.

Partial Participation Revisited

This article reanalyzes the principle of partial participation, which was introduced in 1982 to support educational programming for students with the most severe and profound disabilities. The article presents four “error patterns” in how the concept has been used, some reasons why such error patterns have occurred, and strategies for avoiding these errors.

Winks, blinks, squints and twitches: Looking for disability, culture and self‐determination through our son's left eye

In this article, we argue that while an appreciation of disability’s cultural context is fundamental, we should be careful not to replace one essentialist version of disability with a new one. We look at the relational patterns that emerge from the specific circumstances of significant intellectual disability. This article follows Clifford Geertz’ well‐known account of the multiple layers of cultural context and interpretive richness raised by even a seemingly simple act such as winking. By exploring the meaning of son’s ability to wink, we argue that intellectual disability may be interpreted as the absence of culture. The article goes on to explore the fragility of this relationship through the example of the cultural status of adulthood. Two recent reform initiatives ‐ independent living and community inclusion ‐ are discussed in light of this interpretation of intellectual disability. Implications for further research are briefly mentioned.

Changing tactics: Embedding inclusion reforms within general education restructuring efforts

Abstract After years of research and efforts in pursuit of a greater understanding of inclusion, there is now growing certainty that inclusive reforms in special education must be pursued in terms of restructuring and improvement in general education. In this chapter three issues are raised and addressed. They are: (1) how does special education become an integral part of public schooling? (2) how will higher education, various research organizations, educational labs, institutes, and other research organizations in both general and special education need to change? (3) how should families, individual community members, community agencies, and business participate in large-scale school change?