[MUSIC] Despite global ethics to ensure education for all, there remain many barriers to quality education for children throughout the world. According to UNESCO, there are over 260 million youth and children out of school. Children, children living in poverty, and children in situations of conflict are among those who may be excluded from education. Even when they are present in school, some children may not participate fully if they do not receive teaching and adaptations suited to their specific learning needs. This applies in important ways to children with disabilities, as they experience additional barriers that require reasonable accommodation that they're able to learn. The challenge is to make learning environments inclusive so that all children can learn and participate. Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals, addresses this by referring to the need for inclusive and equitable quality education. And this is reflected in the pledge to leave no one behind. Inclusive practices need to be developed and planned for. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability guides this work. A key strategy for inclusion is the employment of teachers who understand the importance of and are able to use sign language, Braille, and alternative communication systems. Such teachers should also have a high level of disability awareness, and the necessary knowledge and skills to support people with disabilities. This course is one in a series that is aimed at addressing these teacher education needs. In this course, we will be asking what accommodations do children who are blind, have low vision, are deaf, or hard of hearing, or have a severe to profound intellectual disability, need? How can teachers begin to provide these accommodations and what do they need to know and be able to do to ensure equity in education for all children? Most importantly, we will be looking at how teachers can be supported and empowered to be agents of change to ensure that no one is left behind. My name is Judith McKenzie, and I am an Associate Professor in the disability studies division in the Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Cape Town. We have developed a project called Teacher Empowerment For Disability Inclusion, TEDI, in partnership with Christoffel-Blindenmission, CBM, to address these critical inclusion issues. We would like to welcome you on this course on Disability Inclusion Education Building Systems of Support, one of the series of online courses developed by TEDI. In this course we are joined by many experts in disability inclusion, and we hear the views of disabled people themselves about their experiences. We also look at how inclusive education accommodates the needs of children with disabilities, and what is special about special education. Growing on our own research within the TEDI project, we place the teacher at the center of this change process, and look at what support teachers need, and how they can be supported through education systems. We also drill down in more detail as to what exactly children's specific impairments might need in order to learn on par with their peers who do not have such impairments. And, to access similar opportunities in life. If you are an educator, school principal, education policy developer or education official interested in expanding access to education at the full curriculum in ordinary and special schools, for children with severe to profound hearing, visual, or intellectual disability, join us to explore how to exercise your own power for change through collaborative teaching and innovation. [MUSIC]