The Disability Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against a ,student on the ground of disability unless it can be shown that the admission of a,student with a disability would impose 'unjustifiable hardship on the educational authority'. Elek argues that the only admissible measure of 'hardship' should be the financial cost involved and that if an appropriately broad view is taken of the savings and other benefits to the community of inclusive education, then the net financial costs of inclusion are not likely to be high, and that in some cases the benefits may outweigh those costs. The paper focuses on some of the social and economic considerations (including mathematical formulae) to be taken into account and recommends a procedure which might be followed before considering whether to deny a child's rights on account of costs. Keywords: Education, School age, Inclusion
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Including all children in neighbourhood schools - An economist's view
Written Material