We are back with part 2 of our episode: Parent perspectives. We continue talking to 5 mothers, who represent various contexts in the present education system. Join us as we explore tips and ideas on how to make inclusive education work.

Namita and Rakshita talk to 5 parents with varied experiences. Sahana has a teenage daughter with a disability who goes to a special school. Ashwini from Karnataka has an adolescent daughter with a disability going to a mainstream school. Ashwini from Hyderabad has a teenage son going to a mainstream school. Nimrita and Taruna are parents to nondisabled children who have disabled classmates. We focus on the challenges that parents of disabled children face and end by asking Nimrita and Taruna if their children, who represent the majority in any classroom, benefit from inclusive education too.

We start by referencing the fisherman community that Mythili mentioned in part 1. We move on to explore pain points for researchers in this field and finish with sooo many interesting points that Rakshita can't think of words other than thank you to close the episode.

In our first episode, we talk to 3 amazing scholars of education. The first is Dr Sridevi Rao - Professor, department of special education, language and literacy, College of new Jersey. She comes with a rich background in special education research and is based in the US.

Next is Dr N. Mythili - Associate professor, Indira Mahindra School of education, Mahindra University. Mythili has overseen multiple policy implementation programs of the Indian government and studied them academically too. Dr Tanushree Sarkar - Tanushree is a researcher based out of India studying inclusive education and disability in India.

The 5 of us discuss what latest research is teaching us about inclusive education, what trends we are seeing and what the ground realities are. We hope this episode gives you the much-needed foundation for defining inclusive education and understanding what equity and diversity in the Indian context looks like.

Write to us and let us know what you liked, what you didn't like, what your suggestions are and what your experiences with inclusive education have been.

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Sometime in August 2022, Namita and Rakshita met at an online networking session meant for professionals working towards social emotional learning and inclusion of children. (Thanks to Community of Practice, organised by Mumbai based Ummeed CDC and Apni Shala)

As they got talking more, they realized there was a dearth of information on lived experiences in this field. They wondered what barriers existed or were perceived as existing in educating disabled children. They not only wanted to listen and learn from the experiences of various stakeholders but also wanted to share their learnings with the wider community in an accessible manner. 

Over the next 6-8 months, they recorded their conversations with various people.

Daisies, Edelweisses and Irises (DEI) in education is the result of their novice effort at podcasting. They have attempted to provide a platform for a dialogue with all stakeholders including parents, children with disabilities, adults with disabilities, teachers, counselors, school leaders, researchers and other professionals.

It will be a series of 7 plus recorded episodes in which they will be discussing the politics, emotions, systemic injustices, aspirations, challenges, lived experiences, apprehensions, innovations and information on making active learning accessible to children with disabilities.