In/exclusion: the politics of difference

The inclusion debate has raised issues in relation to ascertainment, the labelling of 'special' needs, the distribution of human and physical resources and the placement of students on individualized education programmes. This paper contends that the inclusion debate, however, has not addressed critical issues pertaining to the politics of representation and difference. That is, the normative struggles over rights and social justice for the disabled have largely elided differing cultural constructions of disability and the question of who speaks for and represents whom.