I believe that students with disabilities should be integrated into regular classrooms, provided that they have the physical resources and educators who have the necessary training.  That said, I also think that students with disabilities should have the option of attending a separate classroom/school.  

Inclusive classrooms can include students with physical, mental, processing, and learning disabilities, amongst others.  The expectation put on teachers, that they provide all things necessary for all of their students to succeed in meeting the curriculum’s expectations, when these students cover such a wide spectrum of abilities, is unrealistic.  The only way for this to occur is by having an expert share their knowledge with them.  Furthermore, I would argue that students with disabilities would greatly benefit from being in an environment that caters to their abilities.  The availability of specialized equipment could be improved by having it in a centralized location where the students could easily access it (equipment library) or having it all available in a specific class/school.  When students with disabilities already live their lives overcoming obstacles, improving their access to equipment and expert staff should be a priority.

From my experience, I have seen that several groups of students have already been segregated from the “regular classroom”.  Groups of students such as English language learners, exceptional students, artistic students, and athletic students are often segregated from the regular classroom and are grouped together for the same reasons that I believe students with disabilities should be segregated, for increased access to resources and expertise.  Perhaps what would make classes for the disabled more favourable would be to make them a choice, rather than an obligation.  Just like a star saxophonist can choose to attend the “music/arts” high school, a student with autism could choose to attend the class or school for the disabled.

If resources and expertise are made more readily available to students in regular classrooms, I believe that inclusion is a good practice to follow.  If these two things cannot be provided in a regular classroom, I would press for separate classrooms/schools to be made an option, where students, resources, and experts can be in the same physical location so that they can benefit from one another.