Being there is not enough: Inclusion is both Deaf and hearing

Abstract

Australia and New Zealand are two South Pacific nations with a shared history of British colonisation and close links maintained through kinship, travel, shared media and business relationships. Our public education systems also reflect a shared history of educational ideasand responses to the challenbes of increasingly heterogeneous populations. In both countries, most deaf students are integrated into regular schools, and at the same time officila recognition has been given to native sign language. We illustrate the ways in which inclusion can expose and dismantle - or alternatively serve to fortify- the barriers of 'ableist' tenets; and ocntend that the presence of deaf students in regular classrooms must by underpinned by transformative practices that go beyond 'simple inclusion.