This volume in The SAGE Reference Series on Disability explores education issues for people with disabilities and is one of eight volumes in the cross-disciplinary and issues-based series, which examines topics central to the lives of individuals with disabilities and their families. With a balance of history, theory, research, and application, specialists set out the findings and implications of research and practice for others whose current or future work involves the care and/or study of those with disabilities, as well as for the disabled themselves. The concise, engaging presentational style emphasizes accessibility. Taken individually, each volume sets out the fundamentals of the topic it addresses, accompanied by compiled data and statistics, recommended further readings, a guide to organizations and associations, and other annotated resources, thus providing the ideal introductory platform and gateway for further study. Taken together, the series represents both a survey of major disability issues and a guide to new directions and trends and contemporary resources in the field as a whole.

Introduction, Background, and History

Introduction, background, and history
LanaCollet-Klingenberg and CherylHanley-Maxwell

History of special education and a history of exceptionality are not the same. One deals with educational and institutional arrangements first formally established in the eighteenth century, the other, with people who have been present in society since its beginnings. Nevertheless, the histories are inextricably meshed, and the essential theme of both is the varying treatment afforded the disabled population

—Winzer, 1993, p. 3

As stated so eloquently by Margret Winzer (1993), the events of history related to disability and the education of children with disabilities (a.k.a., special education) are closely intertwined. On a larger scale, the history of access to education for individuals with disabilities reflects political and social conditions, as well as religious tenets and ...

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