Students with disabilities may be in classrooms without being part of school communities. Physical presence in regular schools doesn't guarantee social belonging, peer relationships, or participation in school culture. True inclusion requires not just access to education but belonging in the social world of school—the friendships, activities, and community that make school meaningful for all students.
The Belonging Gap
>Research consistently shows students with disabilities report lower belonging in schools than their non-disabled peers. They have fewer friends. They're more likely to experience bullying. They participate less in extracurricular activities. The academic inclusion that policy mandates often doesn't extend to social inclusion.
>This belonging gap matters for wellbeing and outcomes. Social isolation affects mental health. Lack of peer relationships limits social skill development. Missing extracurricular involvement means missing developmental experiences. The belonging gap has consequences beyond feeling excluded.
>The gap varies by disability type, visibility, and school context. Some disabilities carry more stigma than others. Visible disabilities may attract different responses than invisible ones. School cultures vary in how welcoming they are. Individual experiences within the overall pattern differ widely.
Peer Attitudes and Understanding
>Non-disabled students' attitudes toward disability shape social climate. Positive attitudes create welcoming environments; negative attitudes create hostile ones. These attitudes reflect what students have learned—from families, media, schools themselves.
>Contact alone doesn't guarantee positive attitudes. Students may be in classrooms together without developing understanding or relationships. Structured contact with positive conditions—equal status, cooperative activities, supported by authorities—more reliably produces positive attitudes than mere proximity.
>Disability awareness education can build understanding, but quality varies. Some programs effectively increase knowledge and empathy; others are tokenistic or ineffective. Involving people with disabilities in awareness education—rather than teaching about them—tends to be more effective.
>Role modeling by school staff affects student attitudes. When teachers and other adults demonstrate respect for students with disabilities, treat them as valued members of the community, and address disability-related discrimination, they teach attitudes alongside academics.
Social Skill Support
>Some students with disabilities need direct support developing social skills. Understanding social cues, initiating and maintaining conversations, navigating group dynamics—these skills that some students develop naturally may require explicit teaching for others.
>Social skills instruction raises questions about the target of change. Should students with disabilities be taught to fit into existing social norms, or should those norms expand to include different ways of being? The tension between adaptation and acceptance affects how social skill support is conceived.
>Peers can play supportive roles when prepared to do so. Peer buddy programs, inclusive clubs, and structured interactions can build relationships that unstructured time might not produce. But peer relationships can't be manufactured—programs create opportunities but don't guarantee genuine connection.
>Natural supports—the informal help that comes from friendships and community membership—should be an inclusion goal. Dependence on adult support limits natural peer interaction. Creating conditions for natural supports to develop serves students better than permanent adult mediation.
Extracurricular Inclusion
>Sports teams, clubs, arts programs, and other extracurricular activities are where much school belonging develops. Students with disabilities are often absent from these activities—excluded explicitly, unable to participate without accommodations that aren't provided, or self-excluding because they don't feel welcome.
>Making extracurriculars accessible requires attention comparable to academic accessibility. Adapted sports, accessible rehearsal spaces, accommodation in club activities—the same principles that enable classroom participation should extend beyond the classroom.
>Leadership opportunities in extracurriculars should be open to students with disabilities. Student government, team captains, club officers—these positions build skills and signal belonging. When students with disabilities hold leadership roles, it changes perceptions of what's possible.
>Dedicated programs for students with disabilities—Unified Sports, special needs clubs—create participation opportunities but may reinforce separation. The balance between dedicated and integrated activities depends on what students want and what serves inclusion best.
Bullying and Harassment
>Students with disabilities experience higher rates of bullying than their peers. Disability-based harassment—mocking differences, excluding from activities, physical aggression—creates hostile environments that undermine belonging regardless of other inclusion efforts.
>Addressing bullying requires more than anti-bullying programs. Creating positive school culture, building understanding of disability, supporting peer relationships, and responding effectively when bullying occurs all contribute. No single intervention suffices.
>The intersection of disability with other marginalized identities compounds bullying risk. Students who are disabled and racialized, LGBTQ+, or otherwise marginalized face multiple axes of potential harassment. Responses must address intersecting identities, not just disability in isolation.
>Students with disabilities should have voice in anti-bullying efforts. Their experiences should inform understanding of the problem. Their perspectives should shape solutions. Nothing about them without them applies here too.
School Culture Change
>Changing school culture to be genuinely inclusive requires sustained, comprehensive effort. It's not a program but an ongoing commitment reflected in practices, attitudes, and relationships throughout the school.
>Leadership sets tone. When principals and administrators prioritize inclusion, model inclusive behaviour, and hold staff accountable, culture shifts. When leadership is indifferent, inclusion remains marginal regardless of individual teachers' efforts.
>Staff attitudes and skills matter throughout schools. Not just teachers, but office staff, cafeteria workers, bus drivers—everyone students encounter affects belonging. Whole-school approaches extend beyond classrooms.
>Student leadership for inclusion engages students as agents of change rather than only objects of inclusion efforts. Student-led initiatives, peer advocacy, and youth voice in inclusion planning build ownership and sustainability.
Questions for Reflection
>Should schools measure social belonging alongside academic outcomes for students with disabilities? What would such measurement look like?
>How can schools support peer relationship development without manufacturing friendships that feel inauthentic to students involved?
>What responsibility do non-disabled students have for creating inclusive environments, and how should schools cultivate that responsibility?