Cross-cultural perspectives on the rise of special education policy discourses

Notwithstanding global rhetoric around inclusive education, there has been a subterranean resurgence and consolidation of the special education status quo, which has been disguised and euphemized using an inclusive lexicon to masquerade the insidious rise of deficit-oriented special education discourses. This article problematizes national education policy reform efforts, allegedly aimed at promoting greater inclusion. It aims to address the reduction of inclusion to a special education artifact, through a cross-cultural policy dialogue, by undertaking a policy discourse analytic approach. The analysis lays bare the euphemisms, fallacies, silences, and ideological messiness of policy discourses that contribute to the paradoxical rise and consolidation of special education.