"It is like you are in a golden cage": How autistic students experience special education classrooms in general high schools

From Specialised Classrooms to Mainstream Classrooms: A Study on the Inclusion of Students with Special Educational Needs from the Voices of Their Mainstream Peers

“…This is an aspect of great importance [6,7] because it can help in detecting the barriers that inclusion must face and overcome in order to guarantee the presence, participation, and learning of all students in mainstream contexts [17,18]. Accordingly, there are previous studies of the national [10,11,20] and international situation [6,[12][13][14][15] that have studied this aspect. Therefore, this study contributes to a topic of great interest within the field of study of inclusive education from a seldom-heard point of view: that of the perception of the students without SENs in MCs (students whose voices have rarely been acknowledged in research processes).…”

“…However, as stated by Alcaraz and Arnaiz [8], there are scarce and intermittent works that deal with the issue of schooling and the placement of students with SENs and their impact on the development of the principle of inclusion movement. In spite of this, the existence of relevant research that exposes very significant evidence within the Spanish framework [9][10][11] and also within the international context [12][13][14][15] is acknowledged.…”

“…Therefore, from an inclusive point of view, SCs or units, even though they are located in mainstream schools, are considered to be an important barrier to fulfilling the right to the true inclusion, participation, and presence of all students in mainstream centres [19]. In this sense, Zakai-Mashiach [15] affirms that SCs in mainstream centres for young people with disabilities or ASD have increased the opportunities of SEN students for physical integration in mainstream schools; however, this type of classroom is not enough to achieve inclusion for these students, because inclusion is broader and requires many more challenges to be overcome than simple integration or presence in mainstream centres.…”