Romer and Walker's "Appreciative Inquiry," which obtained input from 16 capable personal assistants, challenges some influential assumptions about personal assistance and opens a way to think about the demanding work of developing capable and committed personal assistants. Attempts to depersonalize the relationship between people…

Parents have long played a pivotal and powerful role in advocating for improved services, supports, and increased opportunities for their children with significant disabilities. Yet inclusive opportunities remain strikingly limited in many schools and communities. We examined the viability and impact of parent-led community conversation events as…

This article explores the benefits and challenges of operating an inclusive elementary and special education teacher preparation program within a disability studies framework. How does such a program balance issues of theory and practice? How does it provide students with a critical approach that essentially views disability as a social and…

Although the author has written, conducted research, and lectured about parents of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and he is a parent himself, he is not the parent of an individual with a disability. Viewing from the experience of life "without" a child with IDD in it, it is reasonable to assume that there are…

It has been about 9 years since the last special issue on diversity in "Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities" ("RPSD"). The obvious question people ask: What progress has been made to awareness, respect, and inclusion of people from diverse backgrounds in their society? Specifically, has any progress been made for individuals…

The Special Olympics has been a controversial program for persons with severe disabilities. There have been numerous discussion articles in the literature concerning pros and cons of the Special Olympics, and research has often found negative results concerning the Special Olympics. The purpose of this article is to review and to discuss concerns…

This paper illustrates the positivistic nature of person-centered planning (PCP) that is evident in the planning methods employed, the way that individuals with disabilities are described, and in portrayal of the outcomes of PCP. However, a confluence of factors can lead to manifestation of excessive positivism that does not serve PCP…

This article reports concerns among disability community members that the implications of genetic research will be driven by mistaken beliefs about genetics and negative attitudes toward disability as identified in a qualitative study funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute. In addition to reporting the nature and the context of…

The term "access to the general curriculum" is widely used in the field of special education, yet little is known about how practitioners are interpreting the term for high school students with significant cognitive disabilities (SCD). In this study, general and special educators in one high school were interviewed to determine their definition of…

A growing number of schools are engaged in efforts to become more inclusive in their service delivery and educational practices. To date, accounts of principals involved in reform efforts have largely been absent from the research literature. To address this need, this study examined the perspectives and experiences of eight principals who were…

Increasing the participation of youth with severe disabilities in general education has remained a consistent and prominent focus of legislative, policy, and research initiatives. We examined the perceptions of high school staff regarding the goals, barriers, benefits, outcomes, and supports associated with including adolescents with severe…

Peer support interventions are emerging as an effective alternative to traditional paraprofessional models for assisting students with moderate to severe disabilities to access the general curriculum. To contribute to the refinement of peer support interventions, we evaluated the impact of altering the number of participating peers on the social…

From the author's perspective, self-determination is characteristic of all humans regardless of their capabilities, disabilities, or idiosyncrasies. It is evident when they act on their circumstances to get what they need or want and when they persist in those pursuits until situations change in the right direction for them. It is accurately…

This survey study investigated the influences of culture, socioeconomic status, and children's special education status on parents' engagement in fostering self-determination behaviors. Major findings included (a) children from Caucasian families were more involved in personal independence activities than Asian and African American children; (b)…

The purpose of this study was to examine the startup of a charter elementary school specifically designed to be fully inclusive. Twenty-one adult stakeholders, including parents, teachers, staff, and an administrator, were interviewed and asked a series of questions designed to solicit information about what they identified as strengths and…