https://www.neurodivercitysg.com 

This is a Singaporean community blog that is feature and resource rich. It explores more about the depths of what inclusive society means, and how everyone is a part of it. Neurodiversity is a concept, as simple as science, every person in life is uniquely beautiful; physically, emotionally, neurologically, etc just to name some. And just like nature, the biodiversity thrives because every living thing contributes in its own way to the variety of life.  It stems from the idea where there is no measure of perfection or imperfection, it is just its own nature. Thus neurodiversity celebrates every single person's nature to be. Nature is beautiful because there is so much diversity in it. Nature and all living beings are all inter-dependent on each other. An inclusive society celebrates this collaboration of differences. There is no comparisons in this concept. There is only embracing each other completely.

http://inclusionmatters.sg

Fascinating showcase by Lien Foundation of case studies from British Columbia and Finland which show how inclusive education benefits both neurotypical and neuroatypical children: http://inclusionmatters.sg  

https://findingwhatsnext.sg 

“What’s next?” This question, often thrown around in the special needs community, highlights the challenging circumstances surrounding autistic youth who leave the sanctuary of special education schools the moment they turn 18 years old. Faced with few options, like costly day-activity centres or staying at home, this stark social isolation and lack of a national support system is likened to a cliff, where caregivers of autistic adults are often left on their own to find a better outcome. 

Through a series of photographs, videos and personal effects, Finding What’s Next presents the search for a future through the stories of 12 individuals and their families, gathered by three parent-advocates with autistic children. The process involved interviews with fellow parents and sheds light on the daily lives and societal challenges that autistic adults face. Lee hopes this project can be a bridge to encourage greater understanding of and empathy with autistic individuals and their caregivers. By showing what is frequently hidden, he hopes to galvanise fellow parents to be courageous with their efforts in connecting with the community and inspire more people to care and take action.

https://caring.sg

Caring SG is a registered charity whose mission is to connect, enable and empower fellow special needs caregivers by building an inclusive, compassionate and supportive community through innovative solutions. Caregivers for Caregivers, has Care Connect, Care Buddy and Care Well. 

https://knilt.arcc.albany.edu/Integrated_Co-Teaching_(by_Sarah_Kirchberger) 

Sarah Kirchberger is currently in her second semester of the CDIT program at UAlbany.  She has taught for the past 5 years in a school for children with an emotional disturbance. She has taught in a 6:1:1 and now is in currently in a 7th grade co-teaching classroom. She loves being both the lead teacher and an Integrated Co-Teacher. She also enjoys teaching other staff members what Integrated Co-Teaching is and how to be successful using different models! She came up with a course that explains exactly what Integrated Co-Teaching is, the background of Co-Teaching, how to incorporate it into the classroom, what Universal Design for Learning is and how to create a successful co-teaching classroom in order to meet students individual needs. An Integrated Co-Teaching classroom has two teachers in each class in order for students to receive their individualized needs. ICT is a way for students with disabilities to receive support in a general education classroom with their peers. They are also exposed to the general education curriculum and will receive specially designed instruction to meet their individual needs.

https://youtu.be/E2eZwku-QyM 

Teaching In The Inclusive Classroom Collaboration and Team Teaching

https://teachwithgive.org/resource/integrated-co-teaching-ict-classrooms/ 

ICT stands for Integrated Co-Teaching and is defined by the New York State Department of Education as, “the provision of specially designed instruction and academic instruction provided to a group of students with disabilities and nondisabled students.”

In other words, ICT classrooms provide students with disabilities the least restrictive environments in which to learn alongside their peers in a general education setting. The students are provided support to be successful in achieving their learning goals. The support structures, tools and learning goals specific to each student with a disability are outlined in their Individualized Education Programs or IEPs.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates that schools serve students with disabilities in the “least restrictive environment.” This means students must have the opportunity to participate in general education settings with non-disabled peers for as much of the day as possible, ideally in inclusion settings.

With long-time advocacy work, the signing of IDEA into law in 1975, and ongoing iterative legislation for updating and improving protocols in the education system to ensure students with disabilities have full access to robust education programs, Inclusion or ICT classrooms have become integral to providing an equitable education environment for students with disabilities. 

https://www.understood.org/en/articles/understanding-universal-design-for-learning 

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework developed by CAST, an Understood founding partner. UDL guides the design of learning experiences to proactively meet the needs of all learners. When you use UDL, you assume that barriers to learning are in the design of the environment, not in the student. UDL is based on brain science and evidence-based educational practices.

The ultimate goal of UDL is for all learners to become “expert learners.” Expert learners are purposeful and motivated, resourceful and knowledgeable, and strategic and goal-directed about learning.

Also, UDL may change how you think about what prevents students from learning. Instead of thinking that something needs to change about the students, UDL looks at the learning environment. The learning environment can include barriers to learning, like the design of the curricular goals, assessments, methods, and materials. In this way, the learning environment itself can be “abled” or “dis-abled.”

Universal design can be found just about anywhere you look — both inside and outside your school. Curb cuts change sidewalks so that they’re accessible to the greatest range of users, including people who use wheelchairs and those pushing strollers. Closed captions make television accessible to people who are deaf or who have hearing loss, as well as people at the gym or spouses who can’t agree whether or not to keep the TV on at night. No two forms of universal design are the same. 

Universal Design for Learning looks different in every classroom. But there are commonalities. To start with, there’s always a focus on building expert learning for all. Other common elements of a UDL experience include:

• All learners knowing the goal

• Intentional, flexible options for all students to use

• Student access to resources from the start of a lesson

• Students building and internalizing their own learning

In a UDL environment, students rarely do the same task in the same way at the same time. The flexible options will differ across developmental ages. But the framework for having clear goals and flexible options is consistent no matter the grade level or content areas. 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10474410903535380

Co-Teaching: An Illustration of the Complexity of Collaboration in Special Education by Marilyn Friend PhD , Lynne Cook PhD , DeAnna Hurley-Chamberlain  & Cynthia Shamberger MEd: 

https://www.hohschools.org/cms/lib/NY01913703/Centricity/Domain/8/ICT%20Jan%202017.pdf 

https://mobile.twitter.com/gr_inclusive/with_replies 

https://www.instagram.com/gr_inclusive/?hl=en 

One of of our circle members shared that the Integrated Co-Teaching in New York City by G&R Inclusive group was intermingling autistic kids with neurotypical kids in the mainstream programme. This was a breakthrough model for us because it would solve root cause of the problem of not finding enough volunteers for caregivers of persons with autism, segregation downstream after the children grow up and become adults. Each class would have more than 1 teacher or facilitator of which some would be special needs trained. Every instruction from the teacher would be given out in x different levels, so that they would cater to the x different learning pace or pathways of the kids profile in the classroom. We had never heard about such a radical model of schooling before. 

https://www.facebook.com/friendsofasdfamilies 

Developing a continuum of residential options for persons on the spectrum in Singapore is urgent and critical as many are edging towards adulthood. Their caregivers are also getting on in years, and with that comes a diminishing ability to care for and support their adult child on the spectrum in the family home. A greater range of residential living options will better cater to the wide continuum of needs among adults on the spectrum and will also alleviate the worries of ageing parents and caregivers about the long-term needs of their children on the spectrum after they pass on.

https://enablingmasterplan.autism.org.sg/priority-area-residential-continuum.php 

Developing a continuum of residential options for persons on the spectrum in Singapore is urgent and critical as many are edging towards adulthood. Their caregivers are also getting on in years, and with that comes a diminishing ability to care for and support their adult child on the spectrum in the family home. A greater range of residential living options will better cater to the wide continuum of needs among adults on the spectrum and will also alleviate the worries of ageing parents and caregivers about the long-term needs of their children on the spectrum after they pass on.

Below is a summary of the recommendations from https://enablingmasterplan.autism.org.sg/recommendations.php 

The Son-Rise Programme by the Autism Treatment Center of America since 1983 https://autismtreatmentcenter.org/what-is-the-son-rise-program

• Truly child-centered approach (for children and adults diagnosed with Autism and other related disorders) 

• We move with your child, instead of going against them. 

• This creates a deeply loving, deeply respectful learning environment, enabling both you and your child to build a joyful connection together.

• Using a step-by-step educational process, you’ll inspire a love of learning from your child. 

• We put parents in the driver’s seat as key teachers, therapists and directors of their own programs, utilizing the home as the most nurturing environment to help their children dramatically improve in all areas of learning, development, communication and skill acquisition.

• Rather than trying to force our children to conform to a world that they don’t yet understand, we enter their wondrous world first. 

• Instead of trying to stamp out repetitive behaviors, we see those behaviors as the doorway to connection. Our child shows us the way in and then we show them the way out.

• Many people see the passionate interests of children on the Autism spectrum as “obsessions” that are “in the way.” Actually, building upon these interests unlocks their unseen intelligence so they can be motivated and enjoy the process of learning.

• The most overlooked area of autism intervention is the attitude and the emotional state of the people working with your child. You will see the enormous effect that a non-judgmental, welcoming, and deeply loving and delighting attitude has on the responsiveness of your child.

The DPA outlines recommendations across the following themes in society: Education, Social, Political, Employment, Healthcare and Intersectionality. 

• https://dpa.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/DPA-2022-Parallel-Report.pdf

Disabled People’s Association’s Response to the Interim Report by the Tripartite Committee on Workplace Fairness

• https://dpa.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Disabled-Peoples-Associations-Response-to-the-Interim-Report-by-the-Tripartite-Committee-on-Workplace-Fairness.pdf
  
  

DPA's researc and policy blog

•  https://dpa.org.sg/our-works/research-policy-blog/

https://bilberriesblue.com by the Happy Heart School https://thehappyheartschool.wordpress.com) by Peng Ean

• has the mission of realizing fully inclusive schools worldwide. 

• where children discover, harness and express their true authentic voice

• a place where people can celebrate themselves, their gifts, foster friendships with people who enter the space, freely discover their interests and move freely, where the community decides how they want the space to become, including the rules for governing it or allocating resources. 

• In addition to placemaking, Peng Ean hopes that special needs children can be hospitable hosts, where they host people who are neuro-typical so that they can develop the confidence to participate in society.

• It is a school, a community that does not discriminate, is not afraid, and simply loves each child and each other to bits, to the fullest, and would do anything and everything, to build and hold this wonderful environment and world for our children and for ourselves to discover deeply and affectionately ourselves, our earth and our humanity. 

• And that we stop the vicious cycle of teaching our children to divide, to discriminate, to value human beings based on worth and ability, but we model and receive from our children to embrace frailty and vulnerability and how to love, support and empower this dynamism of growth and life that is a dance of frailty and strength.

• Keith already belongs in my heart, in his Daddy’s heart, his sister’s heart, his grandparents’ hearts, his aunts’ and uncles’ hearts...What we need to do then is to keep extending this world of hearts into a true community, with as large a mix of culture and communities, so that life for him and for us, is truly in celebration of diversity, in true knowing, love, support and empowerment, and living engagements that are deep and complete experiences of moral courage, peace, love and joy.  

• To truly receive the seed of one school is when we are able to participate in the sorrow of others, however momentary or however long, without bolting, without being afraid, and without doubting that there will come a time, a moment, however momentary or however long, when that sorrow will turn into joy, when a growth will unfold, and to endure and celebrate these pulses of heart beats, these moments, in complete faith and trust with full understanding that the cycle will churn again and again in the glorious cycle of growth and life, and living. And we endure, celebrate, endure, celebrate, endure celebrate and do a jazz of pulsing heartbeats with full gusto of living a life fully and completely, with others, in love, singing: “How Wonderful Life is While You’re in the World”." 

• Many are still thinking that children are to be groomed to go into the labour market or that children are trophies to be displayed or that our love for children is best served by enabling for them successful school performances. 

• A very much deeper awareness needs to be reflected upon and it really takes a lot of honesty and courage by parents to truly support the needs of children to unfold in their own time, and be celebrating just exactly that. 

• Some swing to the other extreme of unintentional neglect in the sense that there isn’t sufficient mediation or motivation for a full living, so a child does not receive sufficient boundaries of safety and security, personal growth, expectations of pro-community life skills. 

https://neuroclastic.com/what-therapy-for-autism/

Who has to power to decide what “lagging behind” and “getting ahead” mean? As a result, who has the power to decide who is “lagging behind” and who is “getting ahead” in society?

Neurodivergent children are developing on "different timelines", they are not "lagging behind mainstream or neurotypical children". No kid ever needs to be subjected to meeting certain standardized milestones. 

Autistic children do not have fewer neural resources, those resources are just distributed differently. Overtherapizing autistic children would cause them to internalize that they are inherently broken, thus interrupting their natural development by working against their neurology and prevent them from focusing their neural resources on the development skills they are wired to focus on during the timeframe they are wired to develop those skills.

http://isaac-singapore.org 

ISAAC - Singapore is the official Singapore chapter of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC). We are a community-run society that strives to increase Awareness of AAC use, be an Advocate for the AAC community, and encourage Collaboration amongst all stakeholders, including persons who use AAC, family and caregivers, professionals, and more!

Our Vision is that AAC will be recognised, valued, and used throughout Singapore, with persons who use AAC as an integral part of society.

https://www.mynicehome.gov.sg/hdb-how-to/buy-your-flat/5-things-to-know-about-the-community-care-apartments/ 

https://dementia.org.sg/2022/03/30/dementia-singapore-and-kebun-baru-launch-ideal115-a-first-of-its-kind-assisted-living-model-of-care/ 

https://www.bykido.com/blogs/playgrounds-and-more/a-handy-guide-to-inclusive-playgrounds-in-singapore 

http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/hts/v74n1/06.pdf 

Article on normative discrimination. Who has the power to describe what is normal and what is not normal?

https://dgilesphilosopher.medium.com/normative-discrimination-the-foundation-of-prejudice-b9e2b67a7b87

Minority stress theory extends the social causation hypothesis by suggesting that social situations do not lead directly to poor health for minority individuals, but that difficult social situations cause stress for minority individuals, which accrues over time, resulting in long-term health deficits.

Furthermore, minority stress theory distinguishes between distal and proximal stress processes. 

Distal stress processes are external to the minority individual, including experiences with rejection, prejudice, and discrimination. 

Proximal stress processes are internal, and are often the byproduct of distal stressors; they include concealment of one's minority identity, vigilance and anxiety about prejudice, and negative feelings about one's own minority group. 

Together, distal and proximal stressors accrue over time, leading to chronically high levels of stress that cause poor health outcomes.

https://www.denisephua.sg/content/2020/10/15/towards-full-participation-of-persons-with-disabilities-in-singapore-society-adjournment-motion-speech

https://www.snexplores.org/article/animal-emotion-behavior-welfare-feelings 

Animals like fish, cows and chickens have emotions and face stress, but they do not express their emotions and stress in way that humans can understand, but that does not mean that they do not deserve a voice and participation in societal decision-making. 

This can be used as an analogy to explain why we need to embrace neurodiversity in society. 

https://www.superherome.sg

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/07/the-philosopher-redefining-equality

In this article Elisabeth Anderson describes:

a. different types of fairness: procedural, distributive, representational 

b. In reference to FIshkin's trilemma (procedural justice, equality, family autonomy), an egalitarian society would prevent dominance in one sphere from transgressing into dominance into other spheres. So just because you have a lot of money, you shouldn't be able to dominate in the other spheres of meritocracy or education or health care. Likewise, just because you have gotten top grades in school, you shouldn't be allowed to dominate in getting housing or health care. So in their view, equality is about protecting the borders between the different realms of life. This concept of equality restricts some freedoms in order to protect everyone's freedom to live.

c. all forms of work should be equally valued e.g. carework
d. relational equality as an additional ideal to aim for on top of distributive equality.

To summarize she is proposing:

a. Equality and Freedom are not in conflict, they are interdependent.

b. Expand the range of values so everyone gets a piece of the scene.

c. Aim for relational equality and not distributive equality. Meeting as equals, regardless of where you were coming from or going to. If one person’s supposed freedom results in someone else’s subjugation, that is not actually a free society in action. It’s hierarchy in disguise.

d.  To be truly free, members of a society had to be able to function as human beings (requiring food, shelter, medical care), to participate in production (education, fair-value pay, entrepreneurial opportunity), to execute their role as citizens (freedom to speak and to vote), and to move through civil society (parks, restaurants, workplaces, markets, and all the rest). Egalitarians should focus policy attention on areas where that order had broken down. Being homeless was an unfree condition by all counts; thus, it was incumbent on a free society to remedy that problem. A quadriplegic adult was blocked from civil society if buildings weren’t required to have ramps. A society in which everyone had the same material benefits could still be unequal.

e. Social integration at all levels with systems that ensure all views and experiences are heard e.g. class, race, gender, etc.

f. Correct hierarchical oppression

These are some quotes from the book Spheres of Justice:

a. For all the complexity of their distributive arrangements, most societies are organized on what we might think of as a social version of the gold standard: one good or one set of goods is dominant and determinative of value in all the spheres of distribution. And that good or set of goods is commonly monopolized, its value upheld by the strength and cohesion of its owners. I call a good dominant if the individuals who have it, because they have it, can command a wide range of other goods. It is monopolized whenever a single man or woman, a monarch in the world of value—or a group of men and women, oligarchs—successfully hold it against all rivals.

b. Physical strength, familial reputation, religious or political office, landed wealth, capital, technical knowledge: each of these, in different historical periods, has been dominant; and each of them has been monopolized by some group of men and women. And then all good things come to those who have the one best thing. Possess that one, and the others come in train. Or, to change the metaphor, a dominant good is converted into another good, into many others, in accordance with what often appears to be a natural process but is in fact magical, a kind of social alchemy.

c. For we can characterize whole societies in terms of the patterns of conversion that are established within them. Some characterizations are simple: in a capitalist society, capital is dominant and readily converted into prestige and power; in a technocracy, technical knowledge plays the same part.

d. Monopolistic control of a dominant good makes a ruling class, whose members stand atop the distributive system—much as philosophers, claiming to have the wisdom they love, might like to do. But since dominance is always incomplete and monopoly imperfect, the rule of every ruling class is unstable. It is continually challenged by other groups in the name of alternative patterns of conversion.