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2023 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

3. Education and Persons with Disabilities in the Caribbean: A Law and Policy Perspective

Authors : Jacqueline H. Stephenson, Natalie Persadie

Published in: Disability in the Workplace

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Many people with disabilities face barriers which prevent their full and equal participation in society. Issues that many take for granted, such as access to physical, as well as digital, spaces, can disproportionally affect persons with disabilities. This is especially true of educational opportunities. This has a ripple effect throughout the life of a person with disabilities, as it restricts personal development early on and then job prospects and autonomy in adulthood. These challenges have a cumulative effect, making it significantly more difficult for persons with disabilities to find employment or generate an income. Noteworthy, however, is the fact that it is not the disability itself that is the barrier, but rather the paucity or absence of accommodating physical and electronic infrastructure, funding, technology and teacher training, among other issues. Persons with disabilities face very similar issues in the Caribbean, where legal and policy approaches are slowly emerging. This chapter provides an examination of the legal and policy approaches of the English-speaking Caribbean countries in addressing disability and education. This overview is done primarily on the basis of international legal obligations and existing domestic statute and policy that address the education of persons with disabilities.

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previous chapter The Nature of Disabilities in the Caribbean

next chapter Disability, Information Technology, Assistive Devices and Employment in the Caribbean

For the purposes of the following section, the only type of international and regional legal instruments under review are conventions. There is no focus on any agreement, declaration, treaty, charter, statement, protocol or any other type, notwithstanding the extremely important, but non-binding, Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education, 1994.

Key terms related to disability and education, such as special (needs) education, mainstreaming, integration, and inclusion, are used sometimes interchangeably in the various country documents reviewed, but it should be noted that they have different meanings and are defined according to the user, which is not without its challenges. Bergsma (2000), for example, aligns integration with mainstreaming as a means of placing students with special needs in the mainstream of regular education. Inclusion and special needs education are synonymous for Bergsma (2000) and reflect meeting the needs of a diversity of student and meeting individual student needs in a general setting. Disability Rights California (2022) defines “mainstreaming” similarly to Bergsma (2000) where students with disabilities are placed in regular classrooms but may receive special attention if required; “integration” is similar to mainstreaming but refers to integrated school sites where students with disabilities may receive special education classes separately, but interaction between both groups can still occur. “Inclusion” means the total integration of a student with disabilities into the regular education program and classes with special support and no separate special education assignments (Disability Rights California, 2022). “Special education” refers to specially designed instruction, such as individual education plans, often legislated as seen in the case of six countries below, to meet the unique needs of a child with disabilities whether in the classroom setting or other settings (Disability Rights California, 2022).

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Title: Education and Persons with Disabilities in the Caribbean: A Law and Policy Perspective
Authors: Jacqueline H. Stephenson
Natalie Persadie
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Disability in the Workplace
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-19339-2

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-19340-8

Copyright Year: 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19340-8_3

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