Conversations from the field: Stakeholders’ perspectives on inclusive education in western Kenya

Abstract

In this article, we critically examine issues related to disability inclusive education in the global South. Specifically, we discuss our work on inclusive education in western Kenya. We acknowledge how such practices are often framed within global North perspectives, and use methodologies and approaches from these same spaces and places. Such methodologies tend to be steered by powerful stakeholders and donors that may not always be sensitive to local contexts, concerns, and demands. In this article, we outline how we incorporate Critical Disability Studies (CDS) to address these concerns while working towards a bottom-up approach with multiple local stakeholders of inclusive education. Specifically, we discuss how we centred the stories of disabled and non-disabled students and their parents, teachers at special and primary schools and their respective head teachers, and disabled and non-disabled community members to create the foundations of a sustainable inclusive education system. We use quotes from various stakeholders to shape our discussions, and highlight spaces where applying foundations of CDS was useful in creating bottom-up approaches to disability inclusive education reform.