Don’t forget about us: attitudes towards the inclusion of refugee children with(out) disabilities

ABSTRACT

Intersectionality recognises that individuals can simultaneously be members of multiple disadvantaged groups, which creates a system of disadvantage. To analyse these systems of disadvantages, it is necessary to look at the intersection of different categories. This paper examines the intersectionality of disability, refugee status and gender. It analyses whether general public’s attitudes towards inclusion differ depending on disability type (physical disability vs. behavioural disorders), refugee status (Austrian vs. refugee child) and gender, and how these attributes interact to influence attitudes. The attitudes of 2307 Austrians were assessed. Respondents read a short description of one student and answered questions addressing the possibility of including him/her in mainstream primary schools. The results showed that the public’s attitudes depend on students’ attributes, emphasising their intersection. Respondents showed more positive attitudes towards the inclusion of Austrian students, students with a physical disability and girls (regardless of refugee status and disability type) into mainstream primary schools. It was discovered that the intersection of disability type and refugee status affects the general public’s attitudes towards the inclusion of (refugee) boys and girls differently. The results demonstrate that focusing on only one category of difference does not allow seeing the complexity of how multiple discriminations interact with each other.

KEYWORDS:

• Attitudes towards inclusion
• disability
• refugee
• gender
• mainstream school
• intersectionality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Edvina Bešić is a junior scientist at the Inclusive Education Unit, Institute of Educational Sciences at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research areas are inclusive education of students with special educational needs and migrant students, intercultural education, intersectionality, participatory research with children and evaluation research.

Lisa Paleczek is a junior scientist at the Catholic University College for Education Graz, Austria. Her research is focusing on inclusion of children with special educational needs in the school system, heterogeneous learning groups, reading and language development in L1 and L2 learners at elementary school, differentiated teaching methods and teacher training.

Barbara Gasteiger-Klicpera is a senior scientist at the Institute of Educational Sciences at the University of Graz and Dean of the Faculty of Regional, Environmental and Educational Sciences at the University of Graz, Austria. Her main areas of interest are the inclusive education of students with special educational needs, social and emotional disorders in children, development and prevention of reading and spelling disabilities, development and prevention of behavioral difficulties and evaluation research.