So far, I have really enjoyed listening to all the speakers and learning about different cultures.  At today’s conference, I was really intrigued  by Dr. Shivaun Quinlivan’s presentation on inclusive education for children with psychosocial disabilities. I have learned about inclusive education before in some of my courses at UMass, but I was excited to hear about her thoughts. I like how she addressed that in order for things to change we cannot just think about accessibility, but also changing the curriculum, system, and attitude. She also brought up the stigma that exists in society about special education. At one point she even recalled a student referring to segregated education as “social death”. While the idea of inclusive education sounds great, I could not help but think that it does not work for all students. There are some students who do not want to be in an inclusive classroom and not only does the student not want to be there, but the amount of students in the room could be distracting for them. For example, when I think back to my elementary school classrooms they were typically loud, filled with at least 20 other children and bright. Students who have a sensory impairment may find themselves overwhelmed and overstimulated in such an environment. While Dr. Shivaun Quinlivan brought up some great points on politicians needing a better vocabulary when discussing inclusive education (not referring to students with disabilities as “those people”), she did not express that some students may prefer a segregated environment.

While listening to Dr. Shivaun Quinlivan’s presentation, I could not help but think about the deaf community. If I understood Dr. Shivaun Quinlivan’s presentation correctly, I believe that she was advocating against segregated education and she briefly mentioned schools for the deaf and blind. As an individual who wants to be an audiologist, I would advise Dr. Shivaun Quinlivan to think about the deaf community specifically. There are many individuals within the deaf community who advocate against cochlear implants and who would not benefit from an inclusive classroom even if there is an ASL interpreter. The individual may even feel more isolated if they are the only ones needing to rely on an interpreter. She also advised against segregated education by stating that society would be valuing the other student’s education more. However, this is not always the case as students in the deaf community may find that they have more opportunities in a segregated classroom environment. While I think there is a lot to take away from Dr. Shivaun Quinlivan’s presentation, I would suggest keeping an open mind and making sure we are always acting in the best interest of the student.