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Education 3-13
International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education
ISSN: 0300-4279 (Print) 1475-7575 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rett20
An analysis of the cultural representation of
disability in school textbooks in Iran and England
Alan Hodkinson, Amir Ghajarieh & Ali Salami
To cite this article: Alan Hodkinson, Amir Ghajarieh & Ali Salami (2016): An analysis of the
cultural representation of disability in school textbooks in Iran and England, Education 3-13
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2016.1168861
Published online: 11 Apr 2016.
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An analysis of the cultural representation of disability in school
textbooks in Iran and England
Alan Hodkinson
a
, Amir Ghajarieh
b
and Ali Salami
c
a
Department of Disability and Education, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, England, UK;
b
Ershad Damavand
Institute of Higher Education, Tehran, Iran;
c
Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Tehran,
Tehran, Iran
ABSTRACT
The paper details the findings of a study which focused on the analysis of
the cultural representation of disability in school textbooks in Iran and
England. The paper argues that whilst inclusive education could
facilitate the incorporating of disabled pupils into mainstream schools,
there needs to be deeper examination as to how this transition should
take place for children aged 3–13. The paper suggests that in such
examinations, school textbooks might be of significance in familiarising
non-disabled pupils, teachers and authorities with the issues related to
disability and disabled pupils.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 25 February 2016
Accepted 13 March 2016
KEYWORDS
Disability; empowerment;
cultural analysis; Iran;
England; school textbooks
During the last decades of the twentieth century and the first of the twenty-first century, the world
stage was dominated by discussion of the inclusion of children with disabilities
1
into mainstream
primary, middle and secondary schools. Indeed, the emergence of inclusion was observed to be
grounded in the World Conference in special education held in Salamanca, Spain in 1994. At this con-
ference, 25 international organisations and 92 governments developed a ‘statement that called for
inclusion to become quite simply the norm’(Clough 1998, 2). A review of the last two decades of lit-
erature leaves one in no doubt that inclusion in general, and inclusive education in particular, has
become the new orthodoxy of educational thinking for children who attend primary and middle
schools (Allen 2008). In recent times, then, inclusion has supplanted integration as the educational
vogue in very many countries. Inclusion, then, is the ‘buzz-word’(Evans and Lunt 2002, 41) that
has gained high status and acquired international currency.
Inclusion has proven itself to be of great benefit to disabled pupils. Not only as an end in itself, but
also as a means of promoting greater social acceptance of difference and impairment. However,
despite positive outcomes, it remains the case that some children with disabilities placed in main-
stream educational settings are at an increased risk of bullying and teasing (Gray 2002), lower socio-
metric positioning in class (Zic and Igri 2001) and experience social distancing (Guralnick 2002). In
light of these findings, this paper suggests that teachers must employ effective measures to increase
the positive outcomes for all pupils who enter primary and middle schools. Such measures, we
suggest, should include the analysis of school textbooks.
This study therefore provides an analysis of the ‘visibility of disability’in Iranian and English edu-
cational texts. The paper examines whether textbooks provide all children with a representation of
the world which enables them to take on the identity of a learner as well as to feel a sense of belong-
ing within their school community (HSRC 2005). Whilst research into inclusion has been detailed, an
© 2016 ASPE
CONTACT Amir Ghajarieh amirbiglarbeigi@yahoo.com
EDUCATION 3–13, 2016
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2016.1168861
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analysis of the impact of textbooks upon inclusive education has not been well documented. The
paper, divided into three sections, will therefore
(1) consider how education and inclusion is formulated for pupils in Iran and England;
(2) detail the methodology that was employed in the study; and
(3) discuss the importance of textbooks in the development of inclusive education for primary- and
lower secondary-aged children.
First, however, the article provides some brief contextual detail of the education systems in
England and Iran.
The education system in Iran
Iran occupies 636,363 square miles (1,648,173 km²) of the Middle East region. It ‘has a population of
over 68 million which makes this country the sixteenth largest country in terms of population’(Daniel
and Mahdi 2006, 4). Iran possesses a long history of education and Article 30 of the Constitution of the
Islamic Republic of Iran states that everyone has the right to free education. The education system is
four-tiered starting with Dabestan (primary level of education) (grades 1–5), Rhanamai (secondary
level of education (grades 6–8), Dabirestan (high school level) (grades 9–11) and Pishdanshgah
(pre-university level) (grade 12). Schooling begins at the age of seven (Palls 2010).
Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the secular education system in Iran was replaced by an
Islamic system. The first phase towards Islamisation in the education system saw the removal of tea-
chers who were opposed to Islamic views (Chelkowski and Dabashi 2002). The move also saw the
enforcement of the hijab and Islamic dress codes for female pupils coupled with gender segregation
in educational settings (Chelkowski and Dabashi 2002). In the 1980s, the Islamic Revolution inaugu-
rated a complete revision of the curricula and textbooks in the Iranian education system. The con-
tents of geography, history, literature, civics, social sciences, religion and language textbooks were
rewritten grounded on the Islamic doctrine and the new social, political and economic status of
Iran (Azimi 2007). Textbooks for each subject in schools are authorised by the Ministry of Education
and Training (Babaii and Ansary 2003).
No reliable statistics are available in relation to pupils with physical and mental disability in Iran;
however, in 2006 and 2007 alone, nearly 30% of disabled pupils were integrated into mainstream
schools (State Welfare Organization 2009).
The English educational system
Education in England is overseen by the Department for Education, the Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills, but it is mainly schools themselves who implement educational policy. Edu-
cation is organised into four distinct sectors. These being primary, secondary, further and higher edu-
cation. Pupils are required to start primary school at five and are required to stay in compulsory
education until they reach 16 years of age. Most pupils move from primary school at age 11 and con-
tinue their education in state secondary schools (Royal Geographical society, n.d.).
Pupils with SEN and/or disability
Department for Education (DfE 2011) statistics show that one in five children is identified as having a
difficulty with learning that requires extra help to be given in class. In 2011, data also indicated that
16.4% of all pupils had a Special Educational Need (SEN) and that an additional 2.8% some 226,125
pupils had a learning difficulty so severe that they required the provision of a Statement of Need.
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The development of inclusive education in England
Throughout the early twenty-first century, educational development in England was controlled by a
New Labour government (Allen 2008). A central plank to this ideal was the establishment of learning
environments where stereotypical beliefs and attitudes towards disability were challenged. Of most
importance was that such environments were to be ones where the moral imperative was for children
and adults to not only understand but moreover view positively the differences in others (DfES 2004).
Whilst inclusive education is still presently a driving force in the English education system, maybe this
imperative will not remain so dominant. The coalition and subsequent Conservative Government, led
by David Cameron, have proposed reforms to inclusive provision. Speaking in 2010, the Government
proposed to remove the ‘bias towards inclusion’. Runswick-Cole (2011) relates this is a substantial
shift in policy and an attempt to re-narrate what Government sees as the ‘problem of inclusion’.
On the importance of textbooks
Within the primary and middle school system, a common ‘tool of the trade’(Wigginton 2005, 197)
has, ‘since the advent of typography’(Luke, De Castell, and Luke 1989, 245), been the textbook.
The significance of textbooks in the education of children aged 3–13 should not be underestimated.
Indeed, Olson (1989) accounts pupils, during their school career, may encounter at least 32,000 text-
book pages and spend 75% of their time engaging with the material presented within. Textbooks,
however, for young children are based upon ‘specialised forms’of institutionalised school knowledge
(Dowling 1996, 49). Taxel (1981, 33) argues that this knowledge is ‘dominated by a world view and the
ideology …of those occupying positions of socio-economic pre-eminence in society’. Crawford
(2004) supports this contention relating that textbooks are social constructions which employ a
‘selective tradition’(Williams 1961) to inculcate young children into the cultural and socio-economic
order of society with its inherent relationships of power and dominance.
Textbooks and inclusion
Over the last few years, great emphasis has been placed on the importance of inclusive curricula, in
an attempt to increase the visibility of so-called minority groups (Nind 2005). The importance of dis-
ability portrayal in primary and middle school education arises because the inclusion of disability
issues can influence positively the self-image and motivation of such pupils (Wieman 2001).
Among varied agencies in education, ‘the textbook is, in fact, the heart of the school and without
the ubiquitous text there would arguably be no schools, at least as we know them’(Westbury
1990; cited in Mohammad and Kumari 2007). Thus, finding instances of disabled people’s represen-
tation in textbooks employed with young children, we suggest, could be of significance.
It is our contention, then, that in respects to the creation of favourable inclusive learning environ-
ments in primary and middle schools, the portrayal of disability within textbooks has importance at
two levels. We suggest that importance firstly centres upon the recognition that textbooks can, and
do, reproduce the inequalities which exist in society (Ninnes 2002). Second, we believe, textbooks
have importance to inclusive practice because they enable children to identify with the social
world in which they live.
From this perspective, we argue, that the representation of the world, contained within textbooks,
impacts upon a child’s ability to take on the identity of a learner as well as to feel a sense of belonging
within their school community (HSRC 2005). Greenfield and Subrahmanyam (2003) support this
premise, arguing that learning materials are key to reshaping the identity of learners. This evidence
suggests that if teachers are to create enabling inclusive learning environments, where all pupils feel
valued and welcomed, then, all learners must be able to ‘find themselves and their world represented
in the books from which they learn’(HSRC 2005, 7).
EDUCATION 3–13 3
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Methodology
The research examined the scope of the representation and treatment of disability and disabled
people within the primary school textbooks employed in the English education system and textbooks
employed in the lower and upper secondary school in Iran. It should be noted at the outset that some
of the textbooks fell outside the pedagogical materials employed with children aged 3–13. The upper
secondary textbooks are included here as a point of interest as well as to suggest that the issue of
representation of disability discovered in the primary and early secondary schools textbooks might
be inherent throughout the range of textbooks employed by schools.
Within the study content, textual and discourse analysis were simultaneously employed. Through
such employment, the research attempted to uncover the explicit and implicit message conveyed
within the sample textbooks (Johnsen 1993). The overall aim of the analysis was to uncover the text-
books’subcutaneous (Johnsen 1993) layer by examining whether the sample books consciously or
unconsciously promoted or represented prejudices or stereotypical ideas in respects of disability
or disabled people (Fritzsche 1992).The analysis was based upon a sample of three secondary
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks for pupils aged 12–14 and four high school EFL text-
books for pupils aged 15–18 as well as 96 textbooks employed by primary schools in England.
Phase one of the research, the macro analysis, involved each textbook being read page by page
with images and text which referenced disability or disabled people being demarcated. Within phase
two, the microanalysis stage, the demarcated images were analysed to ascertain how disability was
located within the text and what model of disability was represented. In addition, demarcated sec-
tions of text were examined using linguistic analysis. Here, linguistic forms such as lexicon, agency
and action, voice, verbs and adjectives (Ninnes 2002), were analysed to reveal any ‘hidden assump-
tions’about disability and disabled people (Crawford 2004, 21). During this phase, a frequency and
space analysis were also conducted; simple counting and calculating of the discrete sections of
text examined how frequently disability or disabled people were mentioned.
Results
Despite the range of subjects within the sample, there was, however, a paucity of data referencing
disability. Indeed, in the English primary school textbooks, only one short story extract from a literacy
book published in 1976, half a page in relation to bullying in another literacy textbook, from 2000,
and finally three short sentences in a science textbook from 1994 were found. In Iran, only one
instance of text was found in a high school textbook. Whilst this lack of data is by itself interesting,
it did rather limit the linguistic analysis.
Linguistic analysis
Despite the limited sample, it is of interest to note that the contents of one book in England, from the
1970s, were still being made available to the children. This book was very much a product of its time
and as such employed language which did nothing to promote respect towards disabled people. For
example, a person with multiple disabilities was introduced to primary school children within one
story extract as ‘this blind, deaf and dumb person’. Additionally, three sentences within a science text-
book employed a photograph of a male with visual impairment to discuss ‘eyes that do not work
properly’. These descriptions seemingly located disability within the realms of the medical deficit.
The final textbook, from 2000, was a little better, in that it briefly discussed disability in terms of dis-
crimination and bullying. This text seemingly placed the understanding of disability more within the
realms of the social model.
In the Iranian texts, a case study of Thomas Edison was included in one textbook. The text referred
to Edison as having a ‘serious hearing problem’and that it was this that led to his poor educational
performance and that he often annoyed other pupils. Such a disability was presented as the reason
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for Edison’s removal from school. Furthermore, the hearing problem was depicted as the major cause
of not only Edison’s poor educational performance but also why he was bullied by his classmates. In
this text, then, an impairment was depicted as a construct dominated by medical deficit. This depic-
tion of disability cannot be observed as an empowering representation.
Analysis of the images
The analysis of the images in the textbooks revealed the limited portrayal of people with disabilities in
both sets of textbooks. Of the 4015 images illustrated, only 21 images of disabled people were found
and of these, only two represented children. In the Iranian texts, then, people with disabilities were
rendered invisible in each of the textbooks analysed in this research.
Of the 867 people shown in the English primary school texts, there were only seven people with a
disability. This represents only 0.8% of the total number of people shown. Furthermore, these four
images were contained in just two of the books: one published in 1993 and the other in 2000. In
total, then, in the English sample, only 0.28% of the sample portrayed images of disability.
The image of disability portrayed within the textbooks
The representation of disability in both data sets was then extremely limited. However, analysis of the
substantive context of the images provided some interesting data. A common theme in both Iranian
and English textbooks represented people hospitalised or ‘bedded’as a result of a car accident or,
arguably, a temporary sickness. These images, one might suggest, portrayed physical disability in a
transient form, that is, that the person might recover from their impaired mobility.
The remaining images, within the English sample, represented people with learning disabilities.
Also of note, was that four of the images specifically referenced disability, that is, visual impairment
to represent ‘difficulties with the eyes’or disability in context of discrimination. The remaining pic-
tures, all from books published in the 1990s, located disabled people within street scenes, for
example, a male with a visual impairment chatting to two women outside a butcher’s shop. On
these occasions, no text referred specifically to disability and disabled people. Interestingly, out of
the numerous images of playground and classroom scenes, represented within the textbooks, not
one image of a disabled person was observed. This was the case in Iranian textbooks as well.
Additionally, in the Iranian texts the majority of the images (seven) were confined to just one book.
Here, we observed one empowering image of disability. This was of disabled males playing volleyball.
Interestingly, no female actor was featured with disability in any of the analysed textbooks. This
suggests a double discrimination against women with disabilities on the grounds of their disability
and gender. In other words, the empowerment of disabled people was defined within a very
narrow perspective, which indicates the image of disabled people and empowering construct of dis-
ability is but a cultural whisper in Iranian school textbooks.
Discussion
The next section of the paper details two distinct lines of analysis. First, we analyse how the con-
structed representation of disability, found in both data sets, might influence pupils’concept of dis-
abled people. Second, we forward an argument that if governments –both democratic or otherwise –
are to formulate inclusive learning environments, which value all pupils, then we believe that inclus-
ive education policy has to examine how textbooks mediate and constrain the promotion of ‘cultural
democracy’.
What we may observe from the research detailed above is that the picture of disability in text-
books in Iran and in England is extremely limited. Although such representations do not provide a
‘cultural silence’(Crawford 2000, 1) they do, we suggest, serve to reduce the representation of disabil-
ity to that of a societal whisper. Of further concern, is that the limited construct of disability created
EDUCATION 3–13 5
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places disability within the realms of medical deficit as the prevalent image centre upon physical dis-
ability. This medical deficit construct, we believe, is problematic because it provides ‘an easily assim-
ilable version of a complex reality’(David 2001, 141). Moreover, this image of disability does not
enable all learners to ‘find themselves and their world represented’within the textbooks that may
be presented to them (HSRC 2005, 7). If pupils throughout their school career are presented with
a limited construct, and moreover omission, of disability what affect will this have on their concep-
tualisation of disabled people? Taxel (1989) suggests that consistently exposing children to limited
constructs, such as these, can lead to the development of negative attitudes. Furthermore, Com-
meyras and Alvermann (1996, 32) argue that whilst omissions and misrepresentation, of minority
groups, are insensitive, they also have serious consequences in that they legitimate, in the mind of
the reader, the constructed ‘social realities’contained within the textbook. We contend that such con-
structed realities are harmful to primary and middle school pupils because they provide a distortion
of the truth that leads the reader to conclude that ‘certain groups, and the individuals within them,
are not important members of society’(Taxel 1989, 341).
In summary, then, if one accepts the above line of analysis, it becomes reasonable to suggest that
the mediating role of the textbook, for pupils, is one of the promotion of a social construction of dis-
ability, which is seemingly based upon inexact scholarship, omission and imbalanced information
(David 2001). The result of this mediating influence, for young children it may be contended, leads
them inextricably into the formulation of negative attitudes (Taxel 1989) or, indeed, ‘ridiculous rep-
resentations’(Cai 1994, 180) of disabled people. Problematic, however, to the substantiation of this
line of analysis is that some researchers observe it to be formulated upon a simplistic contrived notion
of the role of the learner.
From these researchers standpoint, if one unreservedly accepts the line of analysis mentioned
earlier, then, one must also accept that the learner’s role in the information exchange is one of a
passive assimilation of the ‘social hieroglyph’of disability observed within the textbooks (Stray
1994, 1) .Whilst we accept, to some degree, that the modus operand of textbooks is the cultural trans-
mission of sanitised societal values, we do not accept that school pupils’role in the information
exchange is always the passive assimilation of the ‘social hieroglyph’(Stray 1994, 1). Therefore
whilst we recognise that ‘what is read does indeed influence the reader’(Zimet 1976, 10), there is
a‘light year difference’between simply reading a text and finding ‘out how people actually
respond to it’(Kell-Byrne 1984, 196). Central to our thinking then is that the learner is not passive
but is an ‘active, creative and dynamic’person who interacts proactively with texts ‘in the process
of meaning making’(Taxel 1989, 35). If the role of the textbook is as straightjacket to cultural trans-
mission, we must also acknowledge that other factors mediate the process of meaning making. For
example, Luke, De Castell, and Luke (1989, 241) relate the ‘school text is always the object of teacher
mediation’and that some ‘teachers make children aware of …the cultural geography of the knowl-
edge presented in textbooks’(David 2001, 140). As Apple (1992, 10) relates ‘we cannot assume what
is in the text is actually taught. Nor, can we assume what is actually taught is learnt’. Based upon this
premise, it may be contended, that the ‘exact role of the textbook in socialization of young children
becomes difficult to establish’(Podeh 2005). It is our contention, then, that the socialization of young
children, the role of the textbook in the process of cultural transmission remains unclear. Of greater
significance, we suggest, is what the social hieroglyph of disability presented within these textbooks
tells us of nature of cultural democracy within these operationalisation of governmental policies of
inclusion.
Cultural democracy, inclusion and textbooks
Whilst one might argue as to the immediacy of the role of textbooks in influencing children aged 3–
13 conceptualisation of disability, it is our contention that to truly understand the textbook’s mediat-
ing role, one must return to the foundations upon which inclusive education is built. Inclusion, many
argue, is founded upon the principles of human rights, democracy, equity and social justice with its
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ultimate goal being to develop schools ‘where all children are participating and treated equally’
(Sandhull 2005, 1). However, we suggest that inclusion in this guise although ‘widely accepted’
has problems in converting this ‘initial idea into reality’within schools (Churchill 2003, 13).
To substantiate our contention, let us take a moment to consider inclusion as formulated upon the
principles of human rights and democracy. From a human rights and democracy perspective, the
imperative of inclusion must be to ‘discrimination equality and to the status of vulnerable groups’
within society (Sandhull 2005, 4). In this form, inclusion becomes a form of cultural democracy and
as such, we suggest, becomes a moral concept which necessitates the expression of the values of
‘self-fulfilment, self-determination and equality (Carr and Harnett 1996, 40). However, for Bernstein
(1996), an essential pre-requisite, in the promotion of cultural democracy, is that the individual will
have the right to participate and to be included within society at a social, intellectual and cultural
level. Problematic to the pursuance of inclusion as a facet of cultural democracy is that the very
term itself suggest that ‘something smaller is included into something bigger’(Garcia and Metcalfe
2005, 34). For Garcia and Metcalf, then, the term inclusion brings into sharp focus the connotation of
dominant and subordinate groups within society, that is, those who include and those who are
included. We are minded, here, of Slee’s(2001, 387) contention that for inclusion to be effective,
‘we have to recognise that relations of dominance’exist in society. By doing this, it becomes apparent
that obstacles to effective ‘inclusion are embedded in simple everyday habits’and that schools as
‘integral parts of society’are controlled by the attitudes of its dominant members (Highbeam
2005, 1). Slee (2001, 386) contends that if inclusion is to be made effective, then educators must
‘recognise disablement as cultural interplay characterised by unequal social relations’. He suggests
a failure to recognise that disability is created, in such a manner, condemns inclusion to the
realms of resource allocation and the physical location of disabled pupils. It is our contention,
then, that if inclusion is to move beyond the ‘phenomena of structure’(Clough 2005, 74) and is to
be truly built upon human rights and the democratic imperative, then, it must give ‘preference to
strategies of empowerment over more service delivery orientated responses’(Sandhull 2005, 6).
We suggest, here, that it is in the pursuance of this democratic imperative where the mediating
role of the textbook for young children’s development of an understanding of disability becomes
most important.
Conclusions
The results, from this study, denote that the representation of disability within textbooks is limited.
Furthermore, it is apparent that the construct of disability that is observed is ‘infected with the notion
of child-deficit’(Clough 2005, 74). Clough (2005, 79) argues that curricula have always been a means
of exclusion, and we believe that textbooks, in the representation of disability, are likewise fulfilling a
similar exclusionary role for primary and middle school children. A text then could possibly reproduce
a‘cultural artefact that shapes the way we interpret the world’(Alverman and Commeyras 2005) and
arguably confirm or question assumptions about disability. All cultural artefacts, including textbooks,
could potentially ‘embody, reflect and mediate the views of the society from which they emerge’
(Leavy 2000, para. 4), thus extending the invisibility of people with disabilities in the wider society.
The Iranian and English textbooks we observed, as artefacts of society, reflect the social marginalisa-
tion of people with disabilities in these countries.
It is our belief that for inclusion to be truly effective, it must be ‘concerned with the well-being of
learners’(Sandhull 2005, 5) who are placed within primary and middle school settings. It must be
ensured, therefore, that within these settings, inclusion is formulated not just on the deliverance
of service-orientated responses but also by a confrontation of resources and facilities, so as to over-
come the ‘current injustice [within schools, which are] based upon continued practices of privilege
and power’(Highbeam 2005, 1). The limited construct of disability found within the textbooks is,
we contend, a clear articulation of the cultural dominance of non-disabled people within our
society. If we are to move forward with the important educational policy of inclusion within
EDUCATION 3–13 7
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primary and middle schools, then, we suggest, textbooks must be sensitively constructed. They
should seek to support a culturally responsive pedagogy that would observe disabled people
being more prominently and more positively located within the materials that support the teaching
and learning of pupils within our schools.
In conclusion, as many countries such as Iran and England have approved the principle of inclusive
education, educational settings need to enable the participation of minority groups, including people
with disabilities. Whilst the idea of including pupils with physical and mental disabilities in main-
stream schools may be attractive, without educating non-disabled pupils about their disabled
peers and raising their consciousness level regarding people with disabilities, the highest goals of
inclusive education cannot be achieved. Incorporating the issues of people with disabilities into
the textbooks of mainstream schools as proposed by this article could be a step towards reducing
the alienation of pupils with disabilities in regular schools. After all, these pupils’parents pay taxes,
and it is nothing short of an injustice to banish these pupils to special schools, whilst simultaneously
depriving them of the opportunities to integrate naturally with their non-disabled peers.
Note
1. People with disabilities is a common term employed in Iran.
ORCID
Amir Ghajarieh http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6101-8074
Ali Salami http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5926-6282
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