ATMNE NH 2024

The disability rights movement is known as the last civil rights movement to enter the twenty-first century. While more than 13% of Americans have a disability (Houtenville, 2023), students are still facing discrimination and segregation in educational settings. Most students with disabilities spend a majority of the day in separate classrooms, away from their peers and general education teachers. However, research shows that inclusive education has social and academic benefits for both students with and without disabilities (Saunders & Wakemann, 2019). One of the many barriers to inclusive education is a lack of general education teacher training surrounding disability (Mader, 2017). As we move toward a more inclusive system, I aim to address the need for educator training and confidence with a multi-module professional development resource bank, titled: Inclusive Practices for Students with Disabilities: Improving Outcomes for All. First-hand experiences and research-based evidence were used to create each section. Module topics include the history of disability and schooling, humanizing disability, disability culture, Universal Design for Learning, future planning, and assistive technology. This talk will provide both justification for the importance of professional development in inclusive education as well as an overview of the professional development module topics. Attendees will have open access to the module resources discussed.