Inclusion, Diagnostics, and Diversity: Ethical Considerations

Abstract

Is every child entitled to be educated in the same setting as his or her peers? Is segregated education automatically oppressive by its very nature? Is the diagnosis of behavioural disorders harmful to disabled people in general? Are so-called behavioural disorders just undesirable manifestations of human diversity? These questions are matters that call on us to take a normative stand about whether something is right or wrong, good or bad. In other words, besides being educational policy issues, they are ethical questions. In this chapter, the ethical issues I will explore relate to disability and childhood. I will begin by explaining what ethics and political philosophy are all about, and how they are relevant with regard to disability. After that, I will discuss inclusive education and the diagnosis of behavioural disorders as ethical issues. My aim is not to offer exhaustive normative arguments that would show the moral superiority of certain viewpoints over others. Instead, I hope to offer conceptual tools and fresh points to consider, with the aim of helping professionals working in the field to question ethical norms that they may have considered self-evident.