The Politics of Special Educational Needs

Special educational needs and art and design education: plural perspectives on exclusion

“…It is vital to recognise the political significance of work important for problematizing the evolution of a parallel special education system in the UK (Barton, 1988;4 Tomlinson, 1981;Barton and Tomlinson, 1984) and the US (see for example Ware in Gabel, 2005: 103). The social model of disability is central to disability studies, acknowledging the ways in which socio-cultural factors produce disability and recognising the limitations that social organisations place on people who are disabled by material barriers and social attitudes.…”

“…Critical disability studies (CDS), is described as a comparatively new, theoretical expansion of disability studies which builds on important foundations by Oliver (1983;1990) and Barton (1986) for example. It is vital to recognise the political significance of work important for problematizing the evolution of a parallel special education system in the UK (Barton, 1988;4 Tomlinson, 1981;Barton and Tomlinson, 1984) and the US (see for example Ware in Gabel, 2005: 103).…”

Lessons for higher education: the university as a site of activism

“…While he expected excellence in scholarship (before 'excellence' became simply a marketing strategy), he also expected engagement and equality of respect and recognition for those who were defined as the 'subjects' of research. He was interested in transforming research relations in the disability area and the relations between those professionals who offered educational services and those who were recipients (Barton, 1988).…”

“…He was not representative of sectional interests, even those within the disability movement. He retained a critical distance from all forms of institutional power, including those aligned with social movements with which he was intellectually associated (Barton, 1988). Through his work he created a space for all types of sociology to flourish, be it professional, critical, public or policy-oriented (Burowoy, 2005).…”

“…He facilitated a dialogue between experiential knowledge and academic propositional knowledge, especially in the journal Disability and Society that has had a profound and lasting effect on the way research is undertaken with disabled people. Through this journal, and other publications, he helped bring an end to the colonisation of disability as a research issue by those who had no interest in challenging injustices of recognition, power and resources that have plagued disabled people as research 'subjects' (Barton, 1988(Barton, , 1989a(Barton, . 1989b(Barton, , 2001.…”