Embracing Achievements

Duplicating Inclusion Successes

“Being different does not entitle you to give up or believe in excuses,” said an award-winning student. Embracing the world with contagious can-do attitudes, combined with family and educational support systems, children with disabilities repeatedly said, “Yes I can!” at the 90th Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) in Denver, Colorado, in 2012. Passionate, fearless, energetic, determined, and enthusiastic lives were revealed.

As I was walking in the convention corridor to present a session on the topic of facilitating inclusion, a young woman in a wheelchair approached me and asked where a room number was located. I told her that it was on the lower level and that I thought there was an elevator around the corner from ...