Inclusion as a Form of Surveillance

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Abstract

Since the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975, now known as IDEA, students with disabilities have gained unprecedented access to public education. While the law has provided important protections and opportunities, it also positions students with disabilities as subjects within a broader system of surveillance. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of the Panopticon, this paper argues that inclusion functions as a mechanism of control, where students with disabilities are constantly observed, measured, and reported on through Individualized Education Plans and the structures of special education. While IDEA frames inclusion as progress, it simultaneously normalizes the surveillance of disabled students, distinguishing them as “others” within the school system. This dynamic creates implications such as the construction of the “dangerous child” and the possibility of resistance to surveillance. Ultimately, this paper complicates the celebratory narrative of inclusion, urging consideration of how practices meant to support students may also constrain and regulate them. 

Author

• Rebecca Brown, Wayne State University