Learning and Belonging

"Inclusion can no longer be claimed without specifying what it means in practice. It cannot rest on placement alone. It cannot be inferred from effort or intention. And it cannot be reduced to a list of practices detached from students’ lived experience."
“Learning and belonging are inseparable. Learning without belonging is unstable. Belonging without learning is insufficient. They function together, each shaping the other."
“Belonging is part of the infrastructure for learning.”
“Learning and belonging are not separate goals. Belonging is not a benefit added after instruction is designed. It is part of the design of instruction, support, and school life.”
“For disabled students, belonging is an important condition in stronger school outcomes.”

A teacher reads a book aloud to a diverse group of young children seated on the floor in a library, accompanied by a fluffy therapy dog wearing a vest. Bookshelves fill the background.

Asking Better Questions

Where do students with disabilities learn and belong?
To what extent are materials and environments usable?
How fully do students participate in shared learning and social life?
In what ways is disability represented and understood?
How much ownership do students experience over their learning and lives?

Five Features of Student Experience

"The five Features do not replace the idea of inclusion. They make it accountable."

Location

Location remains the same as it would if the student did not have a disability.

Accessibility

Environment, interactions, and all materials are designed to be usable and engaged with similar ease, quality, timing, and opportunity, regardless of physical, sensory, cognitive, or other disability.

Participation

Student with a disability is involved in the same experience, arrangement, and academic and social routines as their peers without disabilities.

Affirmation

Interactions and materials promote accurate understanding of disability as a natural part of human diversity, showing respect and value, honoring disability identity and culture, and celebrating unique strengths and needs.

Agency

Students demonstrate ownership and control over their own learning and lives.

Continuum of Supports

"The four points along the Continuum offer an analytic lens to describe what students actually live."

When the experience is designed so that all five Features are preserved, the resulting experience is Universal. Supports are built into the curriculum, interactions, environment, etc., and made available to all students. The design anticipates and seamlessly supports the use of individualized tools (e.g., wheelchair, AAC device, screen reader).

Aligned experiences also preserve all five Features, but they do so through individualized supports added-on to the design. These supports may be planned in advance or adjusted in the moment. The experience is Aligned when those supports preserve Location and provide for Accessibility, Participation, Affirmation, and Agency, so that the shared experience stays intact.

When supports preserve Location but one or more of the other Features, particularly Participation, are inhibited, the experience becomes Alternate. The student may be physically present but is no longer engaged in the same instructional or social routines as peers.

When supports involve a change in Location, the experience becomes Restrictive. Once Location changes, Participation in shared routines is no longer possible. Other Features may or may not be present, but the foundational condition for equitable educational experience has been removed.