This book brings together academic work on Special Olympics and specifically, on the social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in various sport realms and other areas of life, by ways of both empirical research and theoretically informed papers. Inclusion in sport is a topic that is mostly explored in connection with the participation of people with disabilities. In public debates on inclusion and sport in the global society, participation is predominantly discussed in a normative way, e.g., in context of the campaign The Revolution is Inclusion by Special Olympics, describing it as an “all-out effort to end discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities”. With this international collection, the authors seek to contribute to an interdisciplinary understanding of Special Olympics in Context of Inclusion Debates and establish a foundation for future scholarship. The chapters in this book can contribute to a new research agenda on Special Olympics, particularly participatory approaches. The chapters in this book were originally published in Sport in Society.

Inclusion is primarily discussed in education. With the increasing number of member states of the United Nations ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, academics have vividly discussed inclusion in the context of other areas of life, such as the community at large, as 'social inclusion' in the context of work and employment, and with regard to the aspects addressed by Article 30.5 of the Convention, namely cultural life, recreation, leisure, and sport. This volume is organized around the topic inclusion in sport and has a particular focus on the participation of people with disabilities in sport. Typical barriers for people with disabilities to participate in sport include lack of awareness on the part of people without disabilities as to how to involve them in teams adequately; lack of opportunities and programmes for training and competition; too few accessible facilities due to physical barriers; and limited information on and access to resources. The chapters attribute central importance to the processes and mechanisms of inclusion that operate within sporting environments and to the question of either what happens or could happen to persons with disabilities who enter the playing field. The chapters were originally published in a special issue of Sport in Society.

Inclusion is primarily discussed in education. With the increasing number of member states of the United Nations ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, academics have vividly discussed inclusion in the context of other areas of life, such as the community at large, as 'social inclusion' in the context of work and employment, and with regard to the aspects addressed by Article 30.5 of the Convention, namely cultural life, recreation, leisure, and sport. This volume is organized around the topic inclusion in sport and has a particular focus on the participation of people with disabilities in sport. Typical barriers for people with disabilities to participate in sport include lack of awareness on the part of people without disabilities as to how to involve them in teams adequately; lack of opportunities and programmes for training and competition; too few accessible facilities due to physical barriers; and limited information on and access to resources. The chapters attribute central importance to the processes and mechanisms of inclusion that operate within sporting environments and to the question of either what happens or could happen to persons with disabilities who enter the playing field. The chapters were originally published in a special issue of Sport in Society.

This edited volume discusses UNESCO's contributions to inclusive education over the past 20 years, the normative and technical leadership roles this organization has been playing together with its peers and competitors in educational development, and the current status of this issue in academic debates, as well as conceptualizations from different cultures. The chapters reflect and critically discuss a range of positions on the relation between inclusive education, education for all, and special needs education and particularly express the role disability plays in these thematic contexts. The book brings to light that although the term inclusive education is commonly associated with people with disabilities, there are contexts - e.g., research strands on school development in the UK - in which inclusive education is considered as an approach in which the focus of special (needs) education is widened in terms of the target group, reaching out to the heterogeneity of learners, thus taking diversity as a starting point for educational theory and practice. This book highlights the differences in narratives of inclusive education in the United States and abroad and is intended to bridge the various approaches to the study of inclusive education and disability, particularly in the US, the UK, and the Nordic countries within Europe. Although academics and students in Disability Studies are the target audience, the book is also of high relevance to policy makers in the growing field of inclusive education, as well as being potentially interesting for practitioners in education and social work.

This edited volume discusses UNESCO's contributions to inclusive education over the past 20 years, the normative and technical leadership roles this organization has been playing together with its peers and competitors in educational development, and the current status of this issue in academic debates, as well as conceptualizations from different cultures. The chapters reflect and critically discuss a range of positions on the relation between inclusive education, education for all, and special needs education and particularly express the role disability plays in these thematic contexts. The book brings to light that although the term inclusive education is commonly associated with people with disabilities, there are contexts - e.g., research strands on school development in the UK - in which inclusive education is considered as an approach in which the focus of special (needs) education is widened in terms of the target group, reaching out to the heterogeneity of learners, thus taking diversity as a starting point for educational theory and practice. This book highlights the differences in narratives of inclusive education in the United States and abroad and is intended to bridge the various approaches to the study of inclusive education and disability, particularly in the US, the UK, and the Nordic countries within Europe. Although academics and students in Disability Studies are the target audience, the book is also of high relevance to policy makers in the growing field of inclusive education, as well as being potentially interesting for practitioners in education and social work.