The education of children with disabilities is a complex issue more than 30 years after "inclusive education" appeared for the first time in an important 1994 United Nations statement.
Children with disabilities too often face varied forms of exclusion with minimal interaction with their non-disabled peers as well as disrupted or curtailed classroom time with their peers because of delayed hiring practices for support staff or urgently needed supports that never arrive.
Teachers often struggle to keep up with the challenges.
They learn during teacher education how to adapt learning content and outcomes to the diverse learners in their classrooms. But in practice, approaches such as Universal Design for Learning often do not radically change the reality for children with disabilities.
