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RECOMMENDED READINGS


Inclusive Education: Rationale
  1. Barlow, M., & Robertson, H. (1994). Class Warfare: The Assault on Canada's Schools Toronto: Key Porter Books.
  2. Biklen, D. (Ed.). (1985). Achieving the Complete School: Strategies for Effective Mainstreaming. New York: Columbia University, Teacher's College Press.
  3. Brendtro, L., Brokenleg, M., Van Bockern, S. (1990). Reclaiming Youth at Risk: Our Hope for the Future. Bloomington, IN: National Education Service.
  4. Gartner, A., & Lipsky, D. (1987) Beyond Special Education: Toward a Quality System of Education for All Children. Baltimore: Paul Brookes.
  5. Gussin, Paley, V. (1992). You Can't Say You Can't Play. Boston: Harvard University Press.
  6. Nisbet, J. (1992) Natural Supports in School, At Work, and in the Community for People with Severe Disabilities. Baltimore: Paul Brookes.
  7. Sapon-Shevin, M. (1994). Playing Favorites: Gifted Education and the Disruption of Community. Albany: State University of New York.
  8. Thousand, J., Villa, R., Nevin, A. (1994). Creativity and Collaborative Learning: A Practical Guide to Empowering Students and Teachers. Baltimore: Paul Brookes.
  9. Villa, R., Thousand, J., Stainback, W. & Stainback, S. (1992). Restructuring for Caring & Effective Education. Baltimore: Paul Brookes.


Inclusive Education: Curriculum Adaptation

  1. Deschenes, C., Ebeling, D., & Sprague, J. (1994). Adapting Curriculum and Instruction in Inclusive Classrooms: A Teacher's Desk Reference. Indiana: University of Indiana - Institute for the Study of Developmental Disabilities.
  2. Thousand, J., Villa, R., Nevin, A. (1994). Creativity and Collaborative Learning: A Practical Guide to Empowering Students and Teachers. Baltimore: Paul Brookes.

Inclusive Education: Behaviour
  1. Kohn, A. (1993). Punished By Rewards: The Trouble With Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and other Bribes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  2. Kohn, A. (1996). Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
  3. Lovett, H. (1985) Cognitive Counseling & Persons With Special Needs: Adapting Behavioral Approaches to the Social Context. Westport CT: Praegar.
  4. Lovett, H. (1996) Learning to Listen. Positive Approaches and People with Difficult Behavior. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities

  1. Lovett, H. (1985) Cognitive Counseling & Persons With Special Needs: Adapting Behavioral Approaches to the Social Context. Westport CT: Praegar.
  2. Lovett, H. (1996) Learning to Listen. Positive Approaches and People with Difficult Behavior. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
  3. McKnight, J. (1995). The Careless Society: Community and Its Counterfeits. Basic Books.
  4. Sobsey, Dick. (1994) Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities: The End of Silent Acceptance? Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

Violence & Abuse: Euthanasia

  1. Morris, Jennifer. (1991). Pride Against Prejudice: Transforming Attitudes to Disability Philadelphia: New Society.
  2. Proctor, Robert. (1988) Racial Hygiene: Medicine Under the Nazis: Cambridge: Harvard University Press
  3. Gallagher, Hugh. By Trust Betrayed: Patients, Physicians, and the License to Kill in the Third Reich. New York: Henry Holt
  4. Lifton, Robert. (1986) The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide. New York: Basic Books.
  5. Sobsey, Dick. (1994) Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities: The End of Silent Acceptance? Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

Violence & Abuse: Wrongful Incarceration / Unfair Judicial Treatment

  1. Perske, Robert. (1991). Unequal Justice: What Can Happen When People with Retardation or Other Developmental Disabilities Encounter the Criminal Justice System Nashville: Abingdon Press.
  2. Perske, Robert. (1995). Deadly Innocence Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Societal Values & Attitudes

  1. Beisser, A. (1988) Flying Without Wings: Personal Reflections on Loss, Disability, and Healing New York: Bantam Books.
  2. Brightman, A. (1985) Ordinary Moments -- The Disabled Experience. Syracuse: Human Policy Press.
  3. Driedeger, D. & Gray, S. (1992). Imprinting Our Image: An International Anthology by Women With Disabilities: Gynergy Books.
  4. Shapiro, J. (1993). No Pity: People With Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement New York: Times Books.
  5. Morris, J. (1991). Pride Against Prejudice: Transforming Attitudes to Disability. Philadelphia: New Society Press.
  6. Snow, J. (1994). What's Really Worth Doing and How To Do It: A Book For People Who Love Someone Labeled Disabled (Possibly Yourself) Toronto: Inclusion Press.
  7. Wright, B.(1983). Physical Disability - A Psycho-Social Approach. (2nd ed.) New York: Harper & Row.
  8. Zola, I.(1982). Missing Pieces: A Chronicle of Living with a Disability Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Disability & Sociology: Professionalism

  1. Condeluci, A. (1991). Interdependence: The Route to Community Orlando: Paul M. Deutsch Company.
  2. Illich, I., Zola, I., McKnight, J., Caplan, J., & Shaiken, H. (1987) Disabling ProfessionsNew York: Marion Boyers Publishers.
  3. McKnight, J. (1995). The Careless Society: Community and Its Counterfeits. Basic Books.
  4. Skrtic, T. (1988). Behind Special Education: A Critical Analysis of Professional Culture and School Organization.Denver: Love Publishing Company.
  5. Zola, I.(1982). Missing Pieces: A Chronicle of Living with a Disabilty Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Disability and Sexuality

  1. BaIaderian, N.J. (1991) The Sexual Assault Survivor's Handbook: For People with Developmental Disabilities and Their Advocates. Saratoga: R & E Publishers
  2. Brown, G.T., Carney, P., Cortis, J.M., Metz, L.L., Petrie, A.M. (1994) Human Sexuality Handbook: Guiding People Toward Positive Expressions of Sexuality. Springfield: The Association for Community Living
  3. Caprio-Orsini, C. (in press) Visual Reality: People with Developmental Disabilities Healing from Trauma through Art. Eastman: Diverse City Press
  4. Hingsburger, D. (1990) I Contact: Sexuality and People with Developmintal Disabilities, Mountville: Vida Publishing.
  5. Hingsburger, D. (1990) i to I: Self Concept and People with Developmental Disabilities. Mountville: Vida Publishing
  6. Hingsburger, D. (1993) I Openers: Parents Ask Questions about Sexuality and their Children with Developmental Disabilities. Vancouver, Family Support Insititute Press
  7. Sobsey, Dick. (1994) Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities: The End of Silent Acceptance? Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
  8. Sobsey, D., Gray, S., Wellis, D., Pyper, D. and Reimer-Heck B. (1991) Disabiilty. Sexuality. and Abuse: An Annotated Bibliography. Baltlmore: Paul H. Brookes
  9. Ticoll, M. (]992) No More Victims: A manuaI to Guide Families and Friends in Preventing the Sexual Abuse of People with a Mental Handicap. Toronto: The Roeher Institute
  10. Ticoll, M. (1992) No More Victims: A Manual to Guide Police in addressing the Sexual Abuse of Peopie with a Mental Handicap. Toronto: The Roeher Institute
  11. Ticoll, M. (1992) No More Victims: A manual to Guide Counsellors and Social Workedrs in Addressing the Sexual Abuse of PeopIe with a Mental Handicap. Toronto: The Roeher Institute
  12. Valenti-Hein, D. (1990 The Sexual Abuse Interview for the Developmentally Disabled, Sacamento: James StanfIeId Publications

Women With Disabilities

  1. Browne, S., Connors, D., & Stern, N.(19858). With the Power of Each Breath: A Disabled Women's Anthology Pittsburgh: Cleis Press.
  2. Driedeger, D. & Gray, S. (1992). Imprinting Our Image: An International Anthology by Women With Disabilities Gynergy Books.
  3. Fine, M., Asch, A. (1988). Women With Disabilities: Essays in Psychology, Culture, and Politics Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  4. Matthews, G. (1983). Voices From the Shadows: Women With Disabilities Speak Out Toronto: Women's Educational Press.
  5. Morris, J. (1991). Pride Againt Prejudice: Transforming Attitudes to Disability.. Philadelphia: New Society Press.
  6. Snow, J. (1994). What's Really Worth Doing and How To Do It: A Book For People Who Love Someone Labeled Disabled (Possibly Yourself) Toronto: Inclusion Press.

Family Issues & Disability

  1. Dunst, C., Trivette, C., & Deal, A.(1988) Enabling & Empowering Families: Principles & Guidelines for Practice.Cambridge: Brookline Books.
  2. Gartner, A., Lipsky, D. & Turnbull, A.(1991) Supporting Families with a Disability: An International Outlook Baltimore: Paul Brookes.
  3. Turnbull, R. & Turnbull, A. (1985). Parents Speak Out: Then and Now Columbus: Charles Merrill Publishing Co.

Barlow, M., & Robertson, H. (1994). Class Warfare: The Assault on Canada's Schools Toronto: Key Porter Books

They say that schools are failing. They say that kids are growing up illiterate and unprepared for the high-tech future. They say that the liberal, left-wing curriculum has turned Canada's schools into the nursery of the welfare state.

Are they right? And why are they, anyway?

In Class Warfare, Maud Barlow and Heather-jane Robertson take a hard look at the condition of public education. They find that most of the charges leveled at Canadian schools are unfounded. Our literacy rates are among the highest in the world. We are turning out scientists faster than the economy can absorb them. And our curriculum reflects the kind of society Canadians want.

The attack on schools has been mounted by interests that have something to gain by making changes. They are the representatives of big business who stand to make a fortune by privatizing education. And they are the representatives of the religious right who want to control what is taught - and not taught - in our schools.

Class Warfare is both an original and penetrating analysis of the current struggle over public education and a passionate defense of the principles at stake. No one with an interest in Canada's future or the future of its youth can afford to ignore the issues raised.

(Webmasters' Note: Class Warfare does not specifically address the issue of inclusion, but nevertheless, this book is well worth reading and implies the importance of inclusion, throughout. Although the book deals specifically with the Canadian school systems, arguments are equally, if not more applicable to U.S. schools. Statistics used can easily be extrapolated to U.S. schools.)

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Beisser, A. (1988) Flying Without Wings: Personal Reflections on Loss, Disability, and Healing New York: Bantam Books.

At twenty-four. Arnold Beisser was a recent medical school graduate and a nationally ranked tennis player. But overnight a devastating bout of polio left him permanently paralyzed from the neck down and dependent on an iron lung to draw his next breath. Polio robbed Arnold Beisser of his strength, his athletic ability, and almost his life. Yet he discovered in this unthinkable trap not only the expected sadness and despair but wonder, delight, and the pleasures of everyday living.

This is the wise deeply moving and warmly humorous account of Arnold Beisser s .search for a new life and meaning as he comes to terms with his disability and then transcends it to practice psychiatry, to fall in love, truly to soar without wings. His spirit and determination to fight for happiness will inspire any reader faced with unbearable loss. Dr. Beisser shows us why the contrast between a winner and loser, athlete and cripple, is in our minds much more than in our bodies. And he shares with us the experiences that taught him life's greatest truth: Nothing can keep you from love, laughter, meaningful work, or enlightenment -- except yourself

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Biklen, D. (Ed.). (1985). Achieving the Complete School: Strategies for Effective Mainstreaming. New York: Columbia University, Teacher's College Press.

This important book clearly examines principles and strategies for use in achieving the successful mainstreaming of students. Although the authors of Achieving the Complete School: Strategies for Successful Mainstreaming have created separate chapters to address the particular role of several different groups -- district special education administrator, school building principal, teacher, and parent -- they emphasize and show that each group becomes "more effective when it understands the basic nature of the other groups' roles."

The authors not only examine special education/regular education issues, such as principles for curriculum planning, but also the basic aspects of organization and change that make mainstreaming work. They strive to understand the overall phenomenon of mainstreaming and to interpret its place in education. Throughout, they have devoted their energies to addressing the questions: When does mainstreaming work? Why does it work? How does it work?

Numerous case examples illustrate the complexities involved in mainstreaming, the relationship of the process to the culture of schools, and the many critical issues affecting the integration of special and regular education. Based on the experiences of scores of administrators, teachers, and parents, the material in Achieving the Complete School has been drawn from two extensive studies funded by the National Institute of Education and the U.S. Department of Education, and carried out simultaneously over three years.

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Condeluci, A. (1991). Interdependence: The Route to Community Orlando: Paul M. Deutsch Company

Interdependence is a call for action to the human services -- a prescription for a renewed sense of partnership. Recognizing the limitations of the medical/expert approaches that have dominated the care and treatment of the physically challenged, Interdependence suggests a blending of actions that are rooted in the values of self-esteem, and actualized in the community. This powerful presentation explores the goals of human services, how and why the medical/expert paradigm has not done the job, and then introduces the interdependent paradigm as an alternative approach to human service.

From the preface: Interdependence is about relationships. It is a composite blend of a number of viable concepts into a rational approach to the human elements of devaluation. Built from the work of sociologists, systems analysts, educators, organizers, urban planners, psychologists, politicians, academicians, and some common folk, Interdependence makes practical sense out of the needs of people who are distanced or ostracized from society, or their community... Interdependence is about a reunion of these distanced people to their community."

Virtually everyone in the allied human services professions needs to read this book. It offers unlimited opportunities to all who work with the physically challenged today.

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Dunst, C., Trivette, C., & Deal, A.(1988) Enabling & Empowering Families: Principles & Guidelines for Practice. Cambridge: Brookline Books.

Successful programs understand that the disabled child's needs must be considered in the context of a family. Recent Federal legislation (P.L. 99-457) requires that early intervention programs use a family systems model. This book was specifically written for practitioners who must work with families but who have insufficient training in family systems assessment and intervention. It is a valuable blend of theory and practice with pointers for applying the principles, and case studies illustrating how to apply them. Dunst et al. propose tested principles, operating guidelines, and assessment forms that enable families to acquire the skills they need to mobilize resources to meet their needs. Their system, which is easily understood and applied, enables professionals to help the family to identify its needs, locate the formal and informal resources and supports to meet these needs, and develop decision-making and problem-solving abilities to effectively access these resources. The focus is on building the family's capabilities to cope more effectively on its own. Sample forms assist practitioners to help families apply this system are included in the Appendix. Packets of these forms are available for use by practitioners from the published forms include: Family Resource Scale, Personal Network Matrix (version 1), Support Functions Scale, Personal Network Matrix (version 2), Support Functions Scale (short form), Family Functioning Style Scale, Resource Scale for Teenage Mothers, Family Support Plan, Family Needs Scale, Profile of Family Needs and Social Support, Family Support Scale, Family Strengths Profile, lnventory of Social Support.

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Gartner, A., Lipsky, D. & Turnbull, A.(1991) Supporting Families with a Disability: An International Outlook Baltimore: Paul Brookes.

This book is concerned with three entwined issues - disability, culture, and the family - and the ways in which they play themselves out in the lives of families with a child with a disability. This thoughtful book delves into developments and trends in family disability issues in nine countries spanning the globe. At the heart of Supporting Families is a growing awareness that physical and social environments determine the extent to which an individual's impairment becomes a handicap. Supporting Families explores the historic and anthropological background on how different cultures respond to families with a child with a disability. This probing book discusses aspects of family support systems such as financial assistance, education, employment, housing, recreation, and respite care. It examines such key issues as disability rights, legislation, and the need for collaborative services. Supporting Families emerged from "A Cross-Cultural Conference on Support for Families with a Child with a Disability," held at the Johnson Foundation's Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wlsconsin and sponsored by The Graduate School and University Center, The City University of New York:, The International League of Societies for Persons with Mental Handicap: the World Institute on Disability: and the World Rehabilitation Fund. Delegations from Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uruguay participated in the conference.

Essential reading for researchers, legislators, administrators, and families.

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Illich, I., Zola, I., McKnight, J., Caplan, J., & Shaiken, H. (1987) Disabling Professions New York: Marion Boyers Publishers.

In this fascinating, controversial collection of essays, Ivan Illich, Irving K. Zola, John McKnight, Jonathon Caplan, and Harley Shaken challenge the power and mystery of the professions. Why do we put so much resource into medicine, education, and the law with so little result? Why do we hold the professions in awe and allow them to set up what are in affect monopolies? By analyzing these questions and putting forward radical answers, the authors make an invaluable contribution to the public debate on the power of the professions.

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Kohn, A. (1993). Punished By Rewards: The Trouble With Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and other Bribes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Our basic strategy for raising children, teaching students, and managing workers can be summarized in six words: Do this and you'll get that. We dangle goodies (from candy bars to sales commissions) in front of people in much the same way that we train the family pet.

In this groundbreaking new book, Alfie Kohn shows that while manipulating people with incentives seems to work in the short run, it is a strategy that ultimately fails and even does lasting harm. Our workplaces and classrooms will continue to decline, he argues, until we begin to question our reliance on a theory of motivation derived from laboratory animals.

Drawing from hundreds of studies, Kohn demonstrates that people actually do inferior work when they are enticed with money, grades, or other incentives. Programs that use rewards to change people's behavior are similarly ineffective over the long run. Promising goodies to children for good behavior can never produce anything more than temporary obedience. In fact, the more we use artificial inducements to motivate people, the more they lose interest in what we're bribing them to do. Rewards turn play into work, and work into drudgery.

Step by step, Kohn marshals research and logic to prove that pay-for-performance plans cannot work.; the more an organization relies on incentives, the worse things get. Parents and teachers who care about helping students to learn should do everything possible to help them forget that grades exist. Even praise can become a verbal bribe that gets kids hooked on approval.

Rewards and punishments are just two sides of the same coin--and the coin doesn't buy very much. What is needed, Kohn explains, is an alternative to both ways of controlling people. The final chapters offer a set of practical strategies for parents, teachers, and managers that move beyond the use of carrots or sticks. Seasoned with humor and familiar examples, Punished By Rewards presents an argument that is unsettling to hear but impossible to dismiss.

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Kohn, A. (1996) Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

"When students are ‘off task,’ our first response should be to ask, 'What's the task?'"
From Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community.

What is most remarkable about the assortment of discipline programs on the market today is the number of fundamental assumptions they seem to share. Some may advocate the use of carrots rather than sticks; some may refer to punishments as 'logical consequences." But virtually all take for granted that the teacher must be in control of the class, and that what we need are strategies to get Xudents to comply with the adult's expectations.

In this path-breaking book, Alfie Kohn calls these premises into question, and with them the very idea of classroom "management." He questions the assumption that problems in the classroom are always the fault of students who don't do what they are told, suggesting that we might instead reconsider what they have been told to do -- or to learn. He shows how a fundamentally cynical view of children lies beneath the assumption that we must tell than exactly how we expect them to behave and then offer positive reinforcement when they obey.

Just as memorizing someone else's right answers fails to promote students' intellectual development, so does complying with someone else's behavioral expectations fail to help students develop socially or morally. Kohn contrasts the idea of discipline, in which things are done to students to control how they act, with an approach in which we work with students to create caring communities where decisions are made together.

Packed with stories from real classrooms around the country, seasoned with humor and grounded in a vision as practical as it is optimistic, this book shows how students are most likely to flourish in schools that have moved toward collaborative problem solving-and beyond discipline.

About the Author

Alfle Kohn is the author of five books, including Punished by Rewards and No Contest: The Case Against Competition, as well as scores of articles on education and human behavior. A former teacher, he now works with educators across the United States.

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Lovett, H. (1985) Cognitive Counseling & Persons With Special Needs: Adapting Behavioral Approaches to the Social Context. Westport CT: Praegar.

'I came to see that labeling persons as retarded lumps them together in a dishonest and pointless way. Those we call 'retarded' are as much alike as those we call 'color blind’ or ‘rich’ are alike:'
From Cognitive Counseling and Persons with Special Needs

Far too often behavioral principles -- sound enough in themselves -- are applied without taking individual needs and tastes into account. Such programs either fail to change the behavior or they draw counselor and patient teacher and student parent and child into deeper conflict.

Cognitive Counseling and Persons with Special Needs describes the effective and humane use of behavioral methods to teach social and cognitive skills to the severely and profoundly mentally retarded This introduction and guidebook outlines general principles and offers many case studies to illustrate the concepts under discussion.

Cognitive Counseling and Persons with Special Needs is based upon the author's extensive experience with retarded adults in institutions. workshops, and community homes, in addition to his conviction that problems start when technique is placed ahead of concern for the individual. Sensitively written. this book offers readers sound professional advice as well as emotional support and inspiration.

About the Author

Herbert Lovett is a psychotherapist in private practice. He holds a doctorate in psychology from the University of Rhode Island.

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Lovett, H. (1996) Learning to Listen. Positive Approaches and People with Difficult Behavior. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

This straightforward book offers logical alternatives to the ineffective and controlling practices so often used with people who have intellectual or emotional disabilities. The case studies within convincingly demonstrate that people do not have to be deprived of their dignity or robbed or their civil rights in order to help them with their difficult behaviors.

Through the interactive process of learning to listen, support providers can replace techniques that are thoughtless, harmful, or demeaning to everyone involved with approaches that alleviate frustrations for people with disabilities, focus on their needs and wishes, and support them to take control of their lives.

Where other books dare not tackle such troublesome topics as professional fears and biases, staff and consumer abuse, restraints, and self-injurious behavior, Learning to Listen examines these critical topics and exposes dysfunction in outdated service systems. Professionals who read this book will feel a renewed commitment to the beliefs and principles that originally attracted them to the human services.

About the Author

Herbert Lovett is a psychotherapist in private practice. He holds a doctorate in psychology from the University of Rhode Island.

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McKnight, J. (1995). The Careless Society: Community and Its Counterfeits Basic Books.

Amid all the hand-wringing about the loss of community in America these days, here ia a book that celebrates the ability of neighborhoods to heal from within.

The Careless Society shows how competent communities have been invaded, captured, and colonized by professionalized services--with devastating results. Overwhelmed by these social services, the spirit of community falters: families collapse, schools fail, violence spreads, medical systems spiral out of control. "The enemy is not poverty, sickness, and disease." the author writes. "The enemy is a set of interests that need dependency masked by service."

John McKnight tells how the experts' best efforts to rebuild and revitalize communities are in fact destroying them. McKnight focuses on four "counterfeiting" aspects of society: professionalism, medicine, human service systems, and the criminal justice system. Because in many areas the ideological roots of service grow from a religious ideal, the book concludes with a reflection on the idea of Christian service and its transformation into carelessness.

Reforming our human service institutions won't work, McKnight writes. These systems do too much, intervene where they are ineffective, and try to substitute service for irreplaceable care. lnstead of more or better services, the book demonstrates that the community capacity of the local citiizens is the basis for resolving many of America's social problems.

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Morris, J. (1991). Pride Against Prejudice: Transforming Attitudes to Disability Philadelphia: New Society Press.

This book is a celebration of our strength and a part of our taking pride in ourselves. --Jenny Morris

Pride Against Prejudice has broken revolutionary ground with its stunning feminist analysis of the experiences of people with disabilities. It challenges the reality of being different, exploding the popular myth that life for disabled people is "not worth living," and exposing the cultural and institutional prejudice against them.

Emerging out of the collective organization and pride of disabled people, Pride Against Prejudice provocatively explores such issues as abortion, "mercy killings," institutionalization, independent living and "community care." Often personal, always compassionate, Pride Against Prejudice resounds with knowledge, energy and conviction.

Never having allowed society's prejudice to define her limits, Jenny Morris is a mother, feminist, disability rights activist and the editor of Able Lives: Women's Experience of Paralysis.

Book Review (by Dave Hingsburger)

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Nisbet, J. (1992) Natural Supports in School, At Work, and in the Community for People with Severe Disabilities. Baltimore: Paul Brookes.

Promoting the position that assistance must be defined by the needs of individuals rather than the requirements of service "systems," this definitive book combines thoughtful research and provocative first-person accounts to give fresh insight and practical guidance for using natural supports. The authors, a committed group of researchers, advocates, and service providers, offer a vital perspective on natural supports in the family, school, workplace, and community to both inspire and assist anyone supporting individuals with disabilities to live quality, interdependent lives. Thoughtful chapters supply essential information on:

- useful strategies for building community membership for individuals with disabilities
- examinations of support programs and networks available to families
- the roe of natural supports in pubic schools
- the effect of natural supports in employment settings
- public policy and the development of natural supports
- and much more

Natural Supports in School, at Work, and in the Community For People with Severe Disabilities will be valued by individuals in the fields of special education, vocational rehabilitation, and social work, as well as advocates, researchers, policy makers, and all others concerned with supporting individuals with disabilities.

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Sapon-Shevin, M. (1994). Playing Favorites: Gifted Education and the Disruption of Community. Albany: State University of New York.

Playing favorites examines the ways in which gifted education disrupts the classroom community, deskills regular classroom teachers, limits their ability and willingness to meet individual needs, and impairs the creation of a climate of inclusion and acceptance of difference. Sapon-Shevin shows here that current models of gifted education are elitist and meritocratic, treating some children, not just differently than others, but better: and that in large urban districts, gifted education programs are often racist as well.

By creating and funding gifted programs, the author contends, schools engage in a form of educational triage, serving those children for whom inadequate programming and educational failure would not be acceptable while maintaining the status quo for the majority of the school population.

This book provides support for teachers, parents, and administrators who have found themselves caught in the struggle of insuring an appropriate education for some children without sacrificing the good of all. Incorporating the words of teachers, parents, and students, as well as related research and theory, this book analyzes the relationship between diversity, community, and social justice. Sapon-Shevin challenges the reader to reconsider ways in which schools can meet individual educational needs while preserving communities of learners as well as the commitment to the education of all children. Finally, the book extends the challenge and assurance that we need not choose between quality education for some and mediocre education for all.

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Skrtic, T. (1988). Behind Special Education: A Critical Analysis of Professional Culture and School Organization. Denver: Love Publishing Company.

Drawing on the work of Dewey and other antifoundational theorists, including Rorty, Weber, Foucault, and Derrida, Behind Speciai Education argues that we should stop thinking of special education as a rational and just response to the problem of student disability, and start thinking of it as an institutional practice that emerged in the 20th century to contain the contradiction between public education's democratic ends and bureaucratic means.

The advantage of redescribing special education in this way is that, in con-junction with a corresponding reading of the institutional practices of general education and educational administration, it deconstructs 20th-century public education and provides the structural and cultural insights necessary to begin reconstructing 21st-century public education for the historical contingencies of the post-industrial era. And, because these contingencies could reduce the contradiction between democracy and bureaucracy in public education, such a project of reconstruction holds out the possibility of preparing all students for full political, economic, and cultural participation in democracy, while at the same time eliminating the need for the institutional practice of special education in the 21st century.

This book should be of interest to teachers and students in the fields of special education, curriculum and instruction, educational administration, and foundations of education, and especially to readers who are concerned about educational reform.

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Sobsey, Dick. (1994) Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities: The End of Silent Acceptance? Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

Each year hundreds of thousands of individuals with disabilities become victims of neglect, sexual abuse, and physical violence. Abuse is undeniably one of the country's gravest social issues--one that must no longer be hidden or ignored.

Why is he abuse of individuals with disabilities so prevalent, and how can it be prevented? This extraordinary reference addresses these questions and describes proven prevention strategies to promote the personal safety and well-being of individuals with disabilities. The author combines his extensive experience working in the human services with his distinguished background in research to present information that is both authoritative and revealing. Poignant case studies, alarming statistics, and an integrated ecological model of abuse make this powerful volume one that will compel society to confront the conditions that foster abuse and finally end "the silence. " Beginning with an insightful look at the nature of abuse and why it occurs, this book offers professionals and families specific guidance for:

- detecting instances where abuse may be occurring
- identifying important risk factors of abuse
- combating abuse by altering specific social conditions
- helping to heal the consequences of abuse
- ending the harmful violence and disability cycle in which people with disabilities become entrapped

Written with urgency and conviction, sensitivity and passion, this book is essential for everyone who touches the lives of people with disabilities - direct service providers and administrators, advocates and educators, therapists arid counselors, physicians arid nurses, legislators and lawyers, law enforcement personnel and parents.

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Villa, R., Thousand, J., Stainback, W. & Stainback, S. (1992). Restructuring for Caring & Effective Education. Baltimore: Paul Brookes.

Making a commitment to inclusive education means rethinking school organization so that all students can truly learn. Written by practitioners and scholars in both general education and special education reform, Restructuring for Caring and Effective Education provides strategies to respond to the unique needs of each learner and provide integrated classroom environments at the elementary and secondary levels. Informed and inspired by the school restructuring movement, this book includes detailed methods for planning, implementing and evaluating a classroom where instructional practices accommodate all children, regardless of background or level of ability. An added benefit of this empowering book are case studies of six schools in the United States and Canada where inclusive education has been successfully implemented. Also included are guidelines for:

- merging regular and special education
- preparing staff and involving parents
- encouraging student self-direction
- managing classrooms
- structuring opportunities for collaboration

An invaluable resource for school administrators. regular and special educators, parents, policymakers, and teacher trainers, this book eases the transition to heterogeneous schools.
 

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