They were a part of the school and were allowed to participate in school activities. Personally, I was in an advanced program and was not given the opportunity to have these students with exceptionalities in my classes. This made my contact with these students minimal. Despite having had very little contact with these students, I did notice how they were treated in school by their peers. Their peers treated them with respect and were very open with them. The school also treated the students like equals to their able-bodied/neurotypical peers. An example of this occurred during my high school graduation where an award was given to a student with an exceptionality for “Best Improvement in Reading”. The school recognized that this particular student improved substantially in reading and was the most deserving of the award. They did not view the student’s exceptionality as an obstacle to their learning. Furthermore, the physical accessibility of the school allowed students with physical impairments the ability to access every classroom with ease (there was an elevator which allowed them to reach every floor of the building). Moreover, teachers were understanding that their mobility was reduced and …show more content…
For instance, at the CÉGEP I attended, for students with physical impairments, there was an elevator that they could use in order to get from one floor to another. There were also ramps to get into the entrance of the buildings. With regards to the material of each course and how the professors taught their classes, the actual classroom experience was mostly of the traditional, teacher-oriented kind. In other words, many of the classes were lecture-based and offered little in classroom discussions or group work (which could have helped further someone’s understanding of the class material). This type of learning environment is not suited for all students and hence, does not make for an inclusive classroom environment. Despite the lack of group work, many students were not bother by this given their lack of fondness for group work to begin with. For most students (myself included), there was always the fear that all the work will land on one student’s shoulders. Therefore, the idea that all students would collaborate amongst one another and share or build their knowledge together (constructivist approach) is lost. In this sense, inclusion may not always work and for certain classes, a more traditional setting is