Professor David Connor: New Publication

We recently sat down with David Connor to discuss his new book, A Child, A Family, A School, A Community: A Tale of Inclusive Education, which he co-authored with Diane Berman, an adjunct professor at the School of Ed. Connor’s driving force behind the book was to counter critics of inclusive education.

“Over the years Diane had shared creative ways in which the local school included her atypical son, Benny, alongside his brother Adam. This book is the result of our collaboration and is purposefully structured as a balance between narrative and commentary. Diane’s stories throughout grade levels reveal ways in which children, teachers, educational assistants, parents, and a principal came to know Benny―developing numerous ways to include him in their classrooms, school, and community. My own commentaries after each chapter link practice to theory, revealing how much of what the school community did is unconsciously simpatico with a Disability Studies in Education framework in which disability is viewed as normal. By illuminating multiple instances of success, along with some very real bumps in the road, we invite educators and families to envision further possibilities within their own contexts,” Connor said.