This paper is concerned with the ways that theory informs practice in the dis/ability sector. It develops a discussion of the paradoxes present in the lives of people with dis/ability through policy and in education, as well as in scholarship. Underpinning inclusive education efforts internationally is a rights-based agenda, which seeks to legislate educational opportunities for people with dis/ability in particular (UNESCO, 1994; United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, 2006) rather than to consider the value of equitable access to education for all. Similar policy positions have been developed in many countries, furthered recently in Australia with the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) that provides for service users to have choice and control over the funded support that they require. As per the intent of the aforementioned policies, these developments are indicative of the increasing resonance of dis/abled people's voices in matters that concern them; a move that is reflected also in dis/ability research in the social sciences.

A paradox persists here, however, in the ways that people with dis/ability are framed in education, policy, and research: they are included in uneven and patchy ways—a complexity whose ambivalence presents barriers to effective inclusive reform.

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