Advances in Research and Praxis in Special Education in Africa Caribbean and the Middle East

This edited volume explores various issues pertaining to the education of children with disabilities in Africathe Caribbean and Middle East. As a group persons with disabilities have been subjected to social culturaland educational exclusions of various forms and for various socially-scripted reasons. In education forinstance individuals with disabilities have been altogether excluded from educational participation in manyparts of the developing world or they have been excluded from pursuing meaningfully beneficial higherlevels of education in developed countries like the United States. One of the social responses/remedies to thewidely-acknowledged exclusionary practices experienced by learners with disabilities has been the widespread implementation of inclusive practicesin the education of individuals with disabilities across countries in the west and the developing regions of the world. A distinctive marker of differencein the way inclusive practices have been enacted in western countries versus those in the developing world has primarily stemmed from the fact thatmajority of western countries operate under funded mandates that also regulate the provision of education to persons with disabilities. While the idealof inclusion has been highly desirable many of countries in the developing world have floundered in their implementation due to lack sound legislativeframework to guide implementation coupled with socio-cultural factors related to negative perceptions of disabilities and limited funding sources.Chapters in this volume explore inclusive education from a variety of perspectives.