Uditsky, B., & Hughson, E. (2012). Inclusive Post secondary Education: An evidence-based moral imperative. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 9 (4), 298–302.
Uditsky and Hughson, the pioneers of IPSE in Canada write that motivation to create IPSE opportunities for students with developmental disabilities emerged as a practical and moral imperative. They recognized that segregated and partially segregated opportunities were linked to increased vulnerability and marginalization and that a new approach had to be developed to address this. Furthermore, the rationale for a fully inclusive approach was backed by the growing support for full inclusion in k-12 and the failure of segregated opportunities to address the social inequities experienced by people with developmental disabilities. The impetus for inclusion at post-secondary came out of their work, in collaboration with families, to embed people with disabilities in the “normative pathways”. These pathways are the life avenues that are typically followed by people without disabilities. As post-secondary education is a pathway young people follow in Canada to pursue greater employment and other positive outcomes, it was a natural avenue to explore full inclusion.
The article defines IPSE as supporting students with developmental disabilities to pursue an authentic student experience. Authenticity is understood as the experience of students without disabilities who are admitted to post-secondary education. They understand authenticity as a multifaceted experience that plays out in the following 5 contexts (at least): Academic, social, associational, employment and family.
The authors describe key features of IPSE initiatives in Alberta, starting with the concept of inclusion, the allocation of funding, the role of inclusion. In Alberta, IPSE has been successful in universities, colleges and technical institutes; private and public institutions; as well as secular and faith based institutions. The article makes the assertion that the Alberta experience demonstrates there is no need to implement inclusion in an incremental way. They call for Post-secondary institutions to embrace IPSE and full inclusion now, as students with developmental disabilities “deserve no less”.
The article defines IPSE as supporting students with developmental disabilities to pursue an authentic student experience. Authenticity is understood as the experience of students without disabilities who are admitted to post-secondary education. They understand authenticity as a multifaceted experience that plays out in the following 5 contexts (at least): Academic, social, associational, employment and family.
The authors describe key features of IPSE initiatives in Alberta, starting with the concept of inclusion, the allocation of funding, the role of inclusion. In Alberta, IPSE has been successful in universities, colleges and technical institutes; private and public institutions; as well as secular and faith based institutions. The article makes the assertion that the Alberta experience demonstrates there is no need to implement inclusion in an incremental way. They call for Post-secondary institutions to embrace IPSE and full inclusion now, as students with developmental disabilities “deserve no less”.