People with disabilities have often been discriminated against in higher education; however, many institutions of higher education find ways of providing access to higher education for those with most forms of disabilities. Progress has been made in providing such access but undoubtedly there is still a need for more disability awareness, anti-stigma, and anti-discrimination training. At the same time higher education requirements, by default, involve higher cognitive capabilities. Some disabilities, those involving severe limitations of cognitive functioning, face insurmountable difficulties in meeting these higher intellectual demands, even with the most reasonable accommodations. Teacher education, for example, requires special attention to the cognitive tasks for which students are being prepared. We, therefore, discuss the role of teacher education in higher education and its special relationship to the matter of disability and inclusion. We also consider perspectives on the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in various other aspects of higher education.

“Reimagination” is required to create a new vision of education that better serves individuals with disabilities. Imagination is a way of conceiving possibilities and probabilities. The future of special education is imagined within the limits of possibility and probability of “appropriate” education for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Education is reimagined for full inclusion without special education and an alternative reimagination of inclusive special education. Particular attention is given to the administrative structure of public education and to the training of teachers for the imagined approaches to special education. The importance of imagining special and inclusive education being based on science and rationality and the limitations of proposed approaches to including students with disabilities in education are explained.

Over the past decade, ever since the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UN-CRPD) in Germany, a morally charged debate has taken place about inclusive and special education. Special schools are under considerable attack and even special education is deemed responsible for the difficulties in implementing full inclusion in schools. The gravest accusation is that special education and special schools are even today a close connection to the Nazi era between 1933 and 1945, when children with disabilities were sterilized and murdered. Special education is seen as a symbol and guarantor of separation and exclusion and therefore incompatible with the idea of inclusion. This article will outline and analyze this claim and present other more compelling reasons why full inclusion has been difficult to implement in Germany. Following the analysis, we will describe a possible way forward for inclusion and special education.

This chapter adopts an integrative literature review to describe and analyze theories and empirical research on visual development, impairment, screening, and intervention. The purpose is to inform teachers on how to influence students’ education and social growth through understanding vision. Vision is especially essential for reading, accessing classroom materials, and learning. Yet, in many countries, vision problems in children are not assessed and thus not treated. The negative consequences for individuals and society are often significant. Though there is an abundance of eye health specialists in developed countries, not all visual problems that influence learning and reading are screened or treated effectively. This is worse in developing countries where eye health infrastructure often is lacking. Even screening and treatment given through the eye healthcare system is not always sustainable, since regular follow-up is lacking. The literature review shows that vision is a developing sense important for learning and that teachers can screen children’s vision and support visual development. It can be concluded that every child in the twenty-first century school should have teachers with knowledge in vision. An example of a higher education initiative is presented to illustrate possible further education for teachers in the area of vision.