This lecture explores current global commitments to promote equitable and inclusive quality education for all children. An autoethnographic lens is used to explore understandings of difference, disability and discrimination, beginning with stories and encounters in England, Austria and in southern Africa. Understandings of what it means ‘to include’ and ‘to be included’ will be explored in the context of research with ‘ordinary’ primary school teachers in Zambia, Tanzania and Malaysia who are adjusting to their role as inclusive teachers of disabled learners.