Education is both a right and a means to the realisation of other rights.

It is generative in that education

enables the development of the capabilities necessary for full and meaningful participation in modern
society (Galliott & Graham 2014). The United Nations there-fore requires that education be available,
accessible, acceptable and adaptable, with the ‘best interests of the child a primary consideration’
(United Nations 1989: Article 3). Education must also be afforded to all, without discrimination of any
kind, ‘on the basis of equality of opportunity’ (United Nations 2016: paragraph 13). This means that all
humans, regardless of their presumed ability, have a right to education. This has not always been the
case historically, and many individuals around the world are still denied the basic right to educa-tion.
This happens often and not just in developing countries where, for example, there is still a struggle to
ensure equality of educational opportunity for girls (Hodal 2017). In any country—whether it is devel-
oping or already developed—students with disability are the group at greatest risk of discrimination and
exclusion (Srivastava et al. 2015). Exclusion of and discrimination against students with disability also
occurs in wealthy, developed countries. Here, the problem is more insid-ious and often disguised
through the ‘benevolent humanitarianism’ (Tomlinson 1982: 6) of special education, which is translated
through a discourse that displaces education with ‘care’ and rights with ‘needs’.

MLA 8th Edition (Modern Language Assoc.)

Linda Graham. Inclusive Education for the 21st Century : Theory, Policy and Practice. Routledge, 2020.

APA 7th Edition (American Psychological Assoc.)

Linda Graham. (2020). Inclusive Education for the 21st Century : Theory, Policy and Practice. Routledge.