Recapturing Inclusive Education as a Shared Responsibility: Experiences of Women with Disabilities in Sri Lanka

Abstract

While the concept of inclusive education promotes access and equity for all learners, Sri Lanka still struggles to realize its full implementation, particularly for students with disabilities. This paper explores how women with disabilities in Sri Lanka experience and understand inclusive education as a shared responsibility, drawing on their dual identities as both individuals with physical disabilities and disability rights activists. The study is based on a qualitative pilot study conducted as part of a broader research project on Sexuality and Intimacy among Women with Disabilities in Sri Lanka. The research examined their experiences in educational settings and beyond using semi-structured interviews with six participants. Findings highlight critical gaps in the inclusive education framework in Sri Lanka, especially the tendency to focus on the mere placement of students with disabilities in classrooms without addressing structural, attitudinal, and institutional barriers. Participants emphasized that inclusive education must go beyond classroom integration. It should engage families, peers, educators, school administrators, and the broader community. The mainstream education system in Sri Lanka can be seen as shared responsibilities among stakeholders, and there is a lack of supportive infrastructure and positive attitudes towards students with disabilities. This paper argues that inclusive education should be recaptured as a shared, collective responsibility, spanning Policy, practice, and culture, rather than confined to a classroom-level goal. It calls for a reorientation of the mainstream education discourse in Sri Lanka. Social workers must continue to advocate for an inclusive education system that ensures the educational rights of all children, especially children with disabilities, emphasizing that every learner matters.

Education Rights, Inclusive Education, Women with Disabilities,
Shared Responsibility, Students with disabilities, Structural Barriers, social
workers