‘Buddy Walk’ set, seeks to promote acceptance

The CNMI Association of Families With Disabilities is sponsoring a fundraising walkathon dubbed “Buddy Walk” under a theme “Acceptance and Inclusion.”

The walkathon will be held on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 6:00am, starting from the Garapan Fishing Base across Kristo Rai Church to the 13th Fishermen Memorial and back to the Garapan Fishing Base.

All pledges or monetary contributions will be used to support activities or programs of the association affecting children with developmental and other disabilities in the community.

The CNMI Association of Families With Disabilities is a non-profit family support association whose members is comprised of parents or guardians with children having developmental and other disabilities. The association was established in 2004. Its president is Lisa A. Aldan.

What is inclusion?

In a growing number of schools across the United States, it is now possible to walk into elementary, middle and secondary classrooms and observe students with Down’s Syndrome and other cognitive and physical disabilities learning with their nondisabled peers. This practice of welcoming, valuing, empowering and supporting diverse academic and social learning among students of all abilities is called Inclusive Education.

Inclusive education is more than mainstreaming.

Mainstreaming implies that a student form a separate special education class visits the regular classroom for specific, usually non-academic, subject. Inclusion is an educational process by which all students, including those with disabilities, are educated together for the majority of the school day. With sufficient support, students participate in their neighborhood schools.
Inclusion is a philosophy of education based of the belief in every person’s inherent right to fully participate in society. Inclusion implies acceptance of differences. It makes room for the person who would otherwise be excluded from the educational experiences that are fundamental to every student’s development.

When Inclusion is effectively implemented, research has demonstrated academic and social benefits for all students: both those who have special needs as well as typical students. Friendships develop, nondisabled students are more appreciative of differences and students with disabilities are more motivated. True acceptance of diversity ultimately develops within the school environment and is then carried into the home, workplace and community.
While inclusive education is a highly effective educational approach, a fact that has been recognized for decades in federal disability rights and education laws- some students with special needs may benefit from other arrangements. There are many educational strategies and placements available to students with disabilities, including self-contained special education classes, resource rooms, mainstreaming, residential schooling and home instruction.

A Brief History of Inclusion

Until the late 1970s, students with disabilities were routinely placed in segregated educational settings, such as separated specialized schools of institutions.

Federal law followed parent’s growing demand for education of their children with disabilities in more inclusive settings. Established to grant states federal money to educate children with disabilities, the Education for All handicapped Children Act was instituted in 1975. Later renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1990, this law sought to end segregation and exclusion of this group from general education settings. IDEA Mandated that a “free and appropriate public education” be available to all school-age children with special needs, regardless if disability. An amendment in 1986 added children three to five years of age.

By 1990, this concept was further expanded and renamed: “Inclusive schooling or ” Inclusion”, the practice of welcoming all students into general education classrooms in their neighborhood schools with the necessary support, services, and curricular and instructional modifications. By 1993, almost every state was implementing inclusion at some level.

Today, the inclusion discussion has expanded beyond special education and has become part of the total school reform movement.

Therefore, the CNMI Association of Families With Disabilities wishes to invite the community to join the first-ever “Buddy Walk”

For more information, call Vicky O. Tudela at 664-7044, Rhea Ayne P. Chong at 664-7042, or Clarisa Tudela at 664-7044. (PR)