I had a dream

A dream about red-haired children in segregated education is used as a metaphor to critique real-world segregation of students with disability. The letter compares segregated schooling to discriminatory practices that would be used if a society wanted to exclude red-headed children.  The implied question is “How can this be happening in front of our eyes?”

Segregated services for people with disability:  Eugenics continued with a new narrative.

The essay traces the history of eugenics and argues that its harmful ideas persist today under a more benign veneer, affecting people with disabilities, especially intellectual disability.  It contends that modern disability services still stigmatize and segregate in a pattern similar to the eugenics era, but now mask coercive practices as protection, care, and ‘special’.  The essay calls for acknowledging these harms and reforming systems toward genuine inclusion and equity  in education and life.

Parallels between Apartheid and disability policy and practice

The essay draws a provocative parallel between apartheid in South Africa and contemporary disability policy and practice, arguing that although apartheid is ended, segregation and devaluation of people with disabilities persist in similar forms.  While acknowledging that most service workers are well-intentioned, it argues that good motives do not prevent harm, citing historical echoes of eugenics, sterilization, and Aboriginal examples. Critical scrutiny of current disability services is needed, together with a human-rights-centred, inclusive approach to fully  integrate disabled people into society.

Designing services to exclude and harm

The essay argues that practices in disability services can resemble practices specifically designed to exclude and harm, even when driven by well-meaning professionals.  It proposes a deliberately provocative approach: design services to exclude and harm, then identify and reform those practices to reveal how harm could be avoided, increasing transparency and accountability.  It emphasizes learning from historical warnings, including the Holocaust and eugenics, to recognize how discriminatory narratives can evolve into accepted, benevolent-seeming policies.   The overarching aim is to prevent harm by making the design and implementation of services transparent, scrutinized, and oriented toward genuine inclusion rather than paternalistic protection.

Changing a culture of exclusion

School culture shapes how students with disabilities are perceived and treated, and lasting inclusion depends on changing the overall culture, not just implementing targeted measures.  The essay critiques historical patterns of exclusion and segregation, showing how disabled students and their families have long been marginalized, while non-disabled students are welcomed and supported.  A genuinely inclusive culture is presented as essential for maximizing academic, social, and well-being outcomes, acting as the “oxygen” that fuels successful inclusion.  The essay pairs a comparison of historic and many current responses to disability with what inclusive practice should look like for all students, emphasizing universal belonging, high expectations, a strength-based approach, shared resources, and collaborative decision-making involving teachers, parents, and specialists.  Written together with Catia Malaquias AO.

Disability discrimination in education:  Hidden in plain sight

What are the lifetime outcomes of segregated education?  Is it an ordinary included life in the community with a job, independence, own home…   or have the segregated students been prepared for a life apart?  The essay argues that we are  reproducing a pattern that must be owned and challenged as a moral, not only educational, issue.  The essay contrasts current segregated practices with an inclusive ideal: all students in mainstream classrooms and curriculum with appropriate, individualized supports, and inclusion as automatic rather than conditional.  Disability-focused segregation perpetuates burdens and stigma, where an inclusive culture treats all students as having universal needs, has high expectations, and ensures equal rights to participate.  Transforming school culture is essential for genuine inclusion.  Additional resources or interventions may have little impact if the underpinning culture and driving assumptions are non-inclusive.

Segregating autistic students. 

Segregated education for autistic students is not the solution.  Mainstream classrooms can be adapted to meet the needs of autistic students, whereas segregation leads to enduring academic and social harm. The essay compares segregation to discriminatory neglect in regular schools and cites decades of research showing included autistic students achieve better academic and social outcomes, with even short-term pull-outs causing harm. It questions whether support for segregation reflects system inertia rather than students’ best interests, pointing to international examples where inclusive education is prioritized. The author cites UN guidance advocating shifting resources from segregated to inclusive settings and concludes that true education equity requires transforming regular schools rather than expanding segregated options.

Time to desegregate our schools

The essay argues for desegregation and inclusive education in Australia, drawing parallels to negro history in the U.S. and past gender-based segregation.  It asserts that segregating students with disability is immoral and harms their academic and social outcomes, while inclusive education benefits all students and can raise overall school performance.  It cites over four decades of research showing inclusion leads to better independence, employment, and citizen participation for people with disabilities, with no overall negative impact on other students.  The United Nations defines inclusion as a human right and distinguishes exclusion, segregation, integration, and inclusion; Australia has signed and ratified these UN Conventions, but increasingly practices segregation despite these commitments.  Systemic barriers in Australia push families toward segregation or accepting discrimination court settlements with non-disclosure clauses.  Italy successfully moved away from segregation which compares to Australia’s poor performance since discrimination was outlawed in 1992.   Just as separate facilities were deemed by the US Supreme Court as  “inherently unequal” in negro education, segregation of students with disability must end, and desegregation is overdue.

Ban behaviourism?  Be careful what you wish for

The essay cautions against advocating for the banning of behaviourism, arguing we should reject abuse and maltreatment but not science-based approaches.  It traces behaviourism’s history from early 20th-century operant conditioning to its influence on education and disability reform, including improvements in independence and skills.  It acknowledges harmful uses, such as coercive treatments (electric shocks, isolation, denial of food) and the problematic focus on “the individual” rather than system-wide inclusion.  Ivar Lovaas’s intensive Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) for autism is discussed, noting mixed experiences: some find it traumatic yet some benefits, and historical use included controversial practices.  The essay  highlights how rights-focused movements and “freedom of choice” can also lead to unintended harms if not balanced with care.  The author argues for careful, evidence-based use of behavioural science to promote inclusion and reduce harm, warning against fads or anti-science trends.  Overall, it supports critical evaluation of practices, defending the value of science in improving education and rights, while condemning abuses.

Thinking about inclusion:  Following the natural paths of childhood

For most children, an ordinary life path is clear and supported. For children with disabilities, a different pathway to a life apart is often promoted, and without a clear vision of inclusion, families may end up on the segregated path.  Having a clear vision of an inclusive, ordinary life helps families evaluate choices by whether they move toward or away from that vision. Without it, the default path often becomes segregation.  Inclusion is a moral issue about who is welcomed and how resources are allocated; it is not only an educational question.  In over 50 years of cross-national studies no evidence has been found favouring segregated education over inclusive education for children with intellectual disabilities.  The more a child with a disability is included, the better academically and socially they tend to perform.  Children with intellectual disabilities tend to have more friends and feel less lonely in inclusive settings.  Inclusion benefits non-disabled peers as well: improved attitudes toward disabilities, better social skills, no negative impact on their own academic progress, and reduced fear of difference.

The purpose of education

What is the purpose of education?  Is that a silly question?   The essay argues that the purpose of education is more complex than simply teaching knowledge and skills for adulthood; it must meet societal needs in a rapidly changing world.  The essay proposes that a core purpose of education is socialising children, where schools effectively integrate diverse groups into mainstream society, and is a key contributor to social cohesion and multicultural harmony.  While education historically reflected and reinforced social hierarchies (ruling classes, gender segregation, caste-like distinctions) it later adapted to industrial needs, shaping who could access higher status roles.  It built a more equitable process to stratify the society and allow some class mobility through academic performance, while maintaining the broader societal structure.  Education increasingly serves to provide day care and support for working families, extending schooling hours and ages to accommodate two-income households and economic demands.  The framing of education as a tool for social integration, historical stratification, and economic functionality implies that schooling serves broader societal roles beyond individual academic achievement. This perspective invites reconsideration of what education should prioritize today.

Education as a continuing state of being

The essay challenges the limiting messages often given to families after a child’s disability diagnosis and emphasizes high expectations and proactive education.  Parents, as a child’s first and most effective teachers, can build skills and realistic pathways to ambitious dreams using effective teaching and high expectations.  Learning occurs beyond formal schooling, from birth to death, through daily life, relationships, work, and community. With appropriate support, children and adults with disabilities can learn continuously whereas low expectations and isolating practices lead to failure.  Labels implying fixed, limited potential (e.g., “intellectual disability”) can become self-fulfilling.   Education is an ongoing, life-time process that supports growth and achievement for all people, with or without disabilities.  In short, do ask your child what they want to be when they grow up.

Strategies for curricular inclusion

Inclusion means engaging ALL students in the same tasks within a lesson, regardless of verbal ability, language, motor control, or cognitive differences.  Diversity in a typical class includes a wide range of backgrounds, abilities, labels, cultural backgrounds, and attitudes toward school.  If classes are age-graded, they will reflect a normal distribution with high, middle, and low ends. Teaching to the middle misses high- and low-end students.  The essay summarises strategies for teaching to diversity developed at the University of Oregon as well as describing the underlying principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).  Additional strategies are suggested that are backed by extensive international research.

Peer circles

All schools face students marginalised by skin colour, ethnicity, gender identity, disability or other attributes.  Some children just have difficulty making friends.  Bullying, rejection, and social exclusion can cause long-term harm to individuals, and the students may exhibit behaviour problems, school avoidance, or mental health issues.  Peer circles are an active strategy where peers voluntarily provide support and build relationships with marginalised students. Typically 6–8 student volunteers form a circle around a marginalised student with membership decided by a mix of family, teachers, and the student.   It is stressed that the circles do not include other students with disabilities or other marginalised students due to the real danger of segregation and stereotyping.  Circles meet weekly or fortnightly with a teacher or adult present to discuss their lives out of school and how they can best support each other.  Circles help the marginalised student feel safe and welcomed, reducing anxiety and school refusal.  All circle members benefit as the circles  provide valued roles and opportunities to practice supportive, pro-social behaviours.  Circles can involve practical supports such as visiting a student on the way to school, arranging activities during breaks or walking to the next class with the student.  Older students can lead circles, developing problem-solving and inclusive leadership skills.  Parents report significant positive impacts on their child’s well-being.  Circles of support are a proactive, peer-led strategy to foster inclusive, caring school communities and support marginalised or socially vulnerable students.  Written together with Kate Reid, a high school teacher who has established several support circles.

Let’s rethink ‘behaviour problems’  and ‘failing’ students

Many students who fail or display behaviour problems can thrive if we shift from a deficit/remediation mindset to a strengths-based, environment-focused approach. The traditional “remedial” model medicalizes learning failure and often leads to segregation and long-term marginalization.  An alternative approach is to ask what in the teaching environment can be changed to accelerate learning for all.  Research on successful teaching points to multiple strategies that can dramatically affect student engagement and motivation to succeed.  Rather than continually trying to ‘bridge the gap’ which highlights failure, the alternative is to start from the individual’s current state and build skills positively, tailoring the environment to minimize distractions and gradually increase demands and tolerance.  Individualization is essential as there is no one-size-fits-all solution.  Low expectation negative environments stifle students and often leads to segregated outcomes.

Segregation and congregation  and the gaining of a real home

Are group homes the ultimate living alternative for people with disability?

Group homes fall far short of delivering an “ordinary life” and tend to perpetuate segregation, stigma, and low expectations. Grouping people by disability reinforces devaluation, reduces opportunities for role models, and can lead to loss of skills and limited community belonging. In comparison, Australian research on alternative living arrangements all yielded substantially better quality of life and community integration than group homes.  It is concluded that non-congregated, integrated living is possible and preferable and  a deliberate move toward ordinary life with creativity and community-based supports is needed.

Building belonging

Building relationships and a sense of belonging is very important for people with disabilities, especially those who have experienced extensive segregation through their life.  A  process is described of understanding fundamental needs of a person so that an individualised vision for the future can be developed and used as a basis for developing valued roles, with specific strategies to maximise the probability of real relationships developing.  The importance of safeguards is highlighted as a broken relationship or failure in a valued role can do particular damage to vulnerable people.

Leadership

The disability history is bleak: widespread exclusion, social exile, and horrific practices rooted in eugenics and eugenic-minded policies, including mass killings and institutionalisation. Today, society has mainstream schooling access, disability rights frameworks with international ratification, and inclusive education policies.  While there is still much to be done, what produced this massive societal change?  The key people were brave families who stood up against the whole society and refused to institutionalize their children.  In education, the move to inclusion started with parents suing the government and showed that whether a child was segregated or included was completely arbitrary.  In the US, parent led advocacy groups achieved major changes in the law and in Australia multiple parent-led organisations and disability-led organisations have shaped education policy and rights-based approaches in all areas of life.  While many others helped behind the scenes, the massive change has been led by families and people with disabilities and they continue to be the main drivers of change.  It is pointed out that leadership is not only the spokespeople at the front.  Those families and people with disability that changed the beliefs of teachers, stood on the steps of parliament or advocated amongst their family and friends are also leaders who are changing the world.

How does a society change its mind?

To shift society’s view on how to treat people with disabilities, we need to understand how societies change beliefs, a process explored by Thomas Kuhn.  Throughout history, major belief changes (e.g., flat Earth, geocentric models) faced strong vested interests and took long battles.  Kuhn showed that people don’t adopt new ideas merely with evidence; changes often resemble a “religious conversion” with rapid shifts by some and uncertainty by many others.  Early adopters quickly see the logic of a new world view; many others experience doubt as anomalies accumulate, and some never convert.  The key driver of change is the emergence of anomalies that conflict with the old view, reducing the credibility of the prevailing belief.  In disability, Kuhn’s framework implies that continuously highlighting anomalies and questioning entrenched practices (e.g., segregated education, parallels with eugenics thinking, incarceration without trial in institutions, unequal access to education) is likely the most powerful strategy to shift the societal worldview toward inclusion. Publicizing these questions broadly is recommended.

System change

This satirical essay uses a field-based lens to describe why new professionals (especially psychologists) struggle to change large, entrenched systems such as institutions or education facilities. New graduates enter systems with idealism, but quickly face resistance, sabotage, and condescension from established staff.  Initial hopes give way to despair, escalating conflict, and eventual adaptation to the system’s realities.  A practical model is suggested that involves analysing the system using a framework  that maps the chain of influence from direct care staff to higher authorities and external forces (parents, unions, politicians, etc.).  Change requires that the cumulative positive incentives for change outweigh the negatives across the entire influence network and support can leak through informal channels such as the grapevine.  Merely getting top-level commitment is insufficient as the entire network must be engaged and aligned.  Meaningful system change requires realistic environmental analysis, careful contingency management, sustained external support, and accountability from the change agents themselves.

I have a dream

A rewrite of the famous speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “I have a dream”, in the context of Australian disability rights.  It recalls Australia’s Disability Services Act (1986) and Disability Discrimination Act (1992) as hopeful milestones, but argues that many people with impairments remain marginalized, excluded, and in poverty.  As in the original speech, there is a call to reject gradualism and bitterness but pursue “soul force” and persistent action to secure full inclusion in education, work, and everyday life. The central dream envisions a unified Australia where people with and without disabilities, across races, religions, and backgrounds, stand as brothers and sisters.  The speech envisions a transformed nation where justice, inclusion, and belonging ring across all states, territories, and institutions, culminating in a shared national unity: “We belong at last! We are one at last!”

Further reading

A references list is appended with books, articles and links for further reading.

About the author

Dr Bob Jackson is Adjunct Associate Professor at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. He has over 4 decades of experience in disability as a direct care worker, psychologist, institution superintendent, senior manager, and academic.

The book:   Paperback, 336 pages.