Inclusive education: "Children of Utopia" creates new perspectives

Tina Sander is the public relations manager for mittendrin e.V. and part of the "Children of Utopia" campaign team. In this interview with REHACARE.com, she revealed what makes the movie so unique and explained how this is designed to revitalize the inclusion debate.

What makes the movie "Children of Utopia" worth watching?

Tina Sander: The movie, along with its prequel called "Klassenleben" from 2005, spans twelve years. In doing so, it allows viewers to see inclusive education through a different lens: how does school prepare us for life? And how does inclusion at school benefit our society? Unfortunately, the latter is an aspect that tends to be completely ignored in the current debate. People overlook how a student’s life is fundamentally shaped by whether he/she learns alongside peers in his/her community – or in a special, separate system that barely allows contact and communication with society.

The second aspect that makes the movie so unique and worth seeing is that it finally allows those who are most affected by this issue to have their say: the – at this point former – students both with and without disabilities.

What do you expect from the nationwide action evening on 15 May?

Plus, we have also incorporated the interest and commitment of those who would like to see the movie in our campaign right from the start. Since December, interested parties can sign up on the www.diekinderderutopie.de website and indicate that they want to see the film in their city. Nearly 7,000 people had already signed up by the end of February. Backed by these numbers, the agency that brings the movie to the theaters has approached the respective movie venues. What’s more, we also have nearly 600 applications from so-called patrons: these are people who organize roundtable discussions on inclusion at schools after the movie screening. This means the movie launch sparks a real "grassroots movement" for inclusive education that is supported by broad social participation. Our film patrons include former students of inclusive schools, people with disabilities, clubs and associations, teachers, parents, political activists and many more. All of these people support us in communicating the campaign event and our subject matter to society.

Why is it so important for the campaign team to reexamine the inclusion debate in this way?

Sander: Unfortunately, the inclusive education debate has adopted a very destructive tone over the past years. We all felt that it was necessary to have the campaign create a space for people to discuss the issue in a more relaxed and solution-oriented mindset. That’s why the website features an editorial section called "Unter der Lupe: Inklusion" (English: Inclusion under the Microscope) where we highlight the different aspects of inclusive education in a variety of articles and guest posts. There is room for many voices. We also don’t exclude or ignore areas where there is still room for improvement. However, one thing we never do is question inclusive education as a human right.

What does inclusion mean to you?

Sander: It means for society to realize that there is not just one definition of "normal". For us to recognize that people with different talents, backgrounds and abilities can live well together, if we all accept shared social responsibility and that every community – whether it is at the childcare center, school or at the workplace – must continue to evolve and redefine what this means for them. Inclusion means that we need a strong legal framework that ensures protection from discrimination. Inclusion equals democracy.