Normalization Principle: Acceptance in Society
Normalization Principle: Acceptance and Integration
The normalization principle emphasizes acceptance. It involves integrating people with disabilities into society, granting them equal rights, opportunities, and responsibilities. The goal is to provide conditions and lifestyles that closely resemble what is considered “normal” in society, allowing them to fully develop their personalities. This implies changing established social conditions. Only a different society can accommodate people who are different.
Normalization aims for a way of life and everyday conditions as close as possible to the lifestyles of the society to which it belongs. Our attitudes towards people with disabilities manifest in different ways: sympathy, hurt, rejection, among others. For Jimenez Staion, normalization does not mean the suppression of disability, but rather the recognition of the right of persons with disabilities to be different. It’s an attitudinal issue.
For a person with a disability to develop normally, they need to feel integrated into society. Therefore, the principle of normalization requires their social integration, with school integration being a key component.
School Integration
School integration is where the principle of normalization applies to education. It is the process by which a child with a disability is welcomed into mainstream school, where they participate in all educational activities. This enhances the development of their intelligence, personality, and social autonomy alongside their peers.
Trens Jimenez states that various arguments are typically used to defend the power of school integration. Notably, it enables both students with and without disabilities to meet, know, accept, and grow together. To achieve social integration, it is necessary to establish good relations during the school period.
There is a tight link between attention to diversity and school integration. Integration should be considered in terms of reforming the school system, with the goal of creating a common school that offers differentiated education for all, according to their needs, and within a single, coherent curriculum (UNESCO).
Garcia Pastor identifies integration with a school for all, encompassing children who are characterized by respect for differences, openness to the community, a willingness to rethink the conventional curriculum, and the inclusion of new services for students and teachers, among others.
School integration implies the need to adapt the organization of the middle class and the conditions for children, and to design a set of tasks to meet special educational needs. Specialist teachers are needed in therapeutic pedagogy, hearing and language, counseling care equipment, etc., to meet the needs of every student.
Areas of Action for School Integration (Infant Stage)
- Physical integration: Promotes participation and communication in the environment.
- Functional integration: Enhances the development of the same activities and tasks for all, whenever possible (adaptations must be made for students who need them).
- Social integration: Promotes positive peer relationships.
- Integration into the community: Creates equal conditions for all powers and duties.
Collaboration with families is essential, as they can provide additional information for early detection and early intervention on an individual basis.