DEC at the Intersection: Re-Imagining Inclusion, Equity, and Social Justice in EI/ECSE

By its very nature, the field of early intervention and early childhood special education (EI/ ECSE) "should" be grounded in social justice, with an ongoing commitment to the pursuit of equity for young children with disabilities and their families. However, it must be reckoned with that this field is steeped in a deficit model of disability and centers norms based on White, monolingual, non-disabled, and middle-class children and families. It is important to recognize that although the fight for inclusion, equity, and social justice has perhaps gained prominence in the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (DEC) in the last few years, the work is not new. In this article, the authors share the work that has been happening across levels within the DEC and engage in re-imagining what the EI/ECSE field could look like with an inclusion, equity, and social justice mind-set.