EVERYBODY IN - THE EXPERIENCE OF DISABLED STUDENTS IN FURTHER EDUCATION

The authors report on a study of student attitudes towards disabled st udents in three colleges of further education. They found that many no n-disabled students were not aware of the various issues facing disabl ed students at the colleges. Social contact between disabled and non-d isabled students was not extensive, although those who had attended sc hool with disabled pupils were more likely to have friendships with di sabled students at college. Whilst non-disabled students were strongly supportive of inclusive education in principle, many saw inclusion in the mainstream as conditional on the particular impairment of an indi vidual. Disabled and non-disabled students supported the view that ear ly social and educational contact results in greater mutual understand ing, and is of benefit to all students.