WHERE SPECIAL NEEDS BECOME DISTINCT POSSIBILITIES At the Thompson Policy Institute, research drives inclusive strategies that help all kinds of learners. BY DAWN BONKER
Stephen Hinkle didn’t always love a good joke or pun. Humor and its indirect meanings eluded the Chapman University Ph.D. student, who has autism. But these days he’s a bit of a jokester himself. In a quiet campus meeting room, he flips open his laptop to share a cartoon of a man lamenting the “monkey on his back.” Scrolling to a new image, Hinkle reveals a cartoon of a man with … a monkey literally on his back. Hinkle bursts into laughter. Yes, that second image is an example of how he used to think about idioms, puns and playful jests. He smiles now, but imagine him as a 5-yearold whose mother was told to institutionalize him. See him as a schoolboy who recoiled in a noisy cafeteria and thought that when he was told to avoid strangers it meant to retreat from anyone his parents hadn’t introduced him to already, including classmates. Childhood for him was a lonely slog, compounded by the constant struggle to decode metaphorical language and nuanced meanings. Still, he learned, although extra help would have eased the way. Today, the opportunity to provide the help he once needed is at the heart of Hinkle’s work as a highly sought-after motivational speaker and advocate for people with disabilities, special needs and different learning styles. People with disabilities have more potential than most educational systems provide, he says. Hinkle aims to show that with awareness and support, they can flourish and lead full lives. “Let their own talents guide them to what they become. Don’t put low expectations on people,” says Hinkle, who has spoken on the topics of autism, inclusive education and disability policy in 24 states and Australia. Now he brings that teaching skill set and mission of inclusion to Chapman’s Thompson Policy Institute (TPI), where he works as a graduate research assistant as he earns a Ph.D. in the Attallah College of Educational Studies. Founded in 2015 with support from
“Let their own talents guide them to what they become.” Stephen Hinkle, Chapman Ph.D. candidate
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the William & Nancy Thompson Family Foundation, the institute conducts research and training aimed at improving policies and programs serving children and adults with disabilities.
DISABILITY SUMMIT Like Hinkle, TPI advocates on students’ behalf, but chief among the institute’s tools is research. TPI researchers present many of their findings at their annual Disability Summit, a signature event held each spring on the Orange campus. The event brings together scholars, educators and policymakers for a daylong consideration of inclusive education. Among the findings presented at this year’s summit was a report by TPI researchers that revealed problems of equity in special education. In an analysis of data from California school districts, researchers found that black students with disabilities had lower rates of inclusion in regular classroom settings than their white peers with similar learning challenges. Additionally, they saw that services vary greatly by location. In essence, the bigger the district, the less likely students are included in general-education classrooms. TPI shares such insights with policymakers, educators and families with the ultimate goal of creating schools that are more inclusive so that people like Hinkle can thrive. The rewards are far-reaching, says Don Cardinal, Ph.D., professor and director of TPI and one of the study’ s authors. “Sameness is comfortable for most of us. So we seek those who look like us and talk like us. The entire diversity movement is rooted in the notion that each of us can be greater when we have regular access to those who are different from us, broadening our thinking and increasing our range of possibilities. Disability is no exception,” Cardinal says. Hinkle, 40, speaks to that theme as well – “If we were all the same it would make the world really boring.” And he points out distressing statistics, such as the 73 percent unemployment rate among people with disabilities.
