| Summary: | This research was of concern to the fields of inclusive education and educational equity, specifically investigating caregivers’ perceptions of educational services for their intellectually disabled children in China. The study adopted a constructivist perspective that emphasised the diversity of perceptions and self-constructed understanding of reality as an important information source to learn the social phenomenon. By employing Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus and capital, an in-depth understanding of the educational inequality and segregation towards children with intellectual disabilities (ID) was acquired within developing areas of China. Through the use of semi-structured interviews, the study collected perceptions from a purposive sample group of 19 caregivers whose children receive different types of primary education in a prefecture of Henan province. The results showed that almost all the caregivers experienced a challenging process in seeking appropriate education for their children due to limited schooling opportunities, scarcity of educational support, and public stigmas towards disability. These results suggest that the children with ID were disadvantaged in accessing, and benefitting from, formal education, despite their caregivers having sacrificed excessive family capital to improve the situation. Thus, these children and their families require more social support and public awareness to participate in schools and even in society. Caregivers’ perceptions should be taken into account as an indicator of the accessibility and quality of education for future service implementation and improvement.
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