Negotiating Normalcy with Peers in Contexts of Inclusion: Perceptions of youth with disabilities in India

Abstract

The qualitative study reported in this article investigated how youth with disabilities in India described their peer relationships within their educational settings. We situate the aims of this study within the larger context of inclusive education in India and discourses on self-determination for individuals with disabilities. Findings from the study suggest that students with disabilities actively sought membership in their peer communities but had few opportunities within inhospitable schooling contexts to represent themselves in ways other than as needing help. For families of students with disabilities, the onerous demands of making physical environments and curricular materials accessible to their children left them isolated within schools and their communities. The study sheds light on families’ reluctance to abandon legal guardianship models in order to support increased self-determination for their children, and also raises important questions for activist educators working within complex conditions such as the Indian context.

Keywords:

• families
• inclusive education
• India
• non-government organisation
• peer relations
• qualitative research
• self-determination
• significant disability

Acknowledgements

There was no research funding for this study, and no restrictions have been imposed on free access to, or publication of, the research data.

Notes

1. Drafts available from the website of the National Trust: www.thenationaltrust.in.

2. “Lakh” is a unit within Indian (and many Asian) numbering systems that equates to one hundred thousand and is written as 100,000.

3. Data obtained upon request from the Ministry of Human Resources and Development.

4. Names of the NGO, schools and all individuals described in this paper are pseudonyms.

5. See http://www.socialjustice.nic.in/state.php.

6. The NIOS curriculum offers greater flexibility than other centralised examination systems in the choice of subjects, the number of papers completed at a given time and an extended time period within which all requirements for the certificate are to be met.

7. See http://ssa.nic.in/.