Throughout society, the dominant narrative is that students with intellectual

disabilities need to be in separate classrooms from those students that dont have
intellectual disabilities. The stereotype is that students with mental disabilities are
unable to learn and academically prosper if they dont have specifically prepared
teachers. Many people justify this myth by claiming that students with intellectual
disabilities will distract other students, and they wont be able to learn from a
teacher who is not qualified. This dominant narrative is displayed in Moskovkina,
Pakhomova, and Abramovas Studying Stereotypes of Teachers' and Parents'
Attitudes Toward the Mentally Retarded Child (2001). They conducted a study to
analyze the attitudes and myths about students with disabilities from college
students studying disabilities in education, students and faculty in primary
grades, and parents. The study found that there were mainly negative stereotypes
associated with students with disabilities, and educators were not well informed
in the field of remedial pedagogy and special psychology (p. 68). This academic
article supports the dominant narrative that students with intellectual disabilities
should be separated in educational settings because majority of teachers dont
have adequate psychological education.

One thing that challenges this narrative is found in Gary Bunch, Rima Al-Salah,
and Jack Pearpoints Equity, Social Justice, Disability and Secondary Schools
(2011). They explore the dominant narrative that students with intellectual
disabilities need separate settings than other students, and they need teachers
who have been specially educated on how to teach them. They found that when
students with mental disabilities are separated from the classroom, they
experience a lack of a sense of belonging in school society(p.5). Students with
intellectual disabilities wont feel connected to their schools community if they
are constantly hidden in separate classrooms. Thus, the growth of these students
critical consciousness will be stunted, and they will lose the opportunity to learn in
a social environment. A second thing that challenges this dominant narrative is
that teachers are now being educated on how to adapt their teaching methods to
accommodate for all students. Both educators that specialize in special education
and not are being taught how to teach students with disabilities, so in todays
society, all teachers have some sort of background in how to effectively teach all
students. The third thing that challenges this narrative is that all children learn by
example. Students learn how to socially interact with being exposed and working
with other students. Pupils with mental disabilities learn from other students how
to interact. Students that dont have disabilities learn how to be accomplices for
their classmates that do have intellectual disabilities because they have a better
understanding of how and why inclusion is important.