Search results

This chapter grapples with the relationship between dis/ability and narrative inquiry through the authors’ personal stories that push back at the cultural-historical, policy, and professional master narratives of dis/ability in order to contribute to efforts that theorize critical emotion praxis. We ask: what is the relationship between dis/ability and narrative inquiry? What are the lived experiences of those living within a variety of intersectional and emotional dis/ability narratives that resist and navigate the cultural-historical, policy, and professional master narratives of dis/ability at the intersections?

We use a Disability Studies in Education (DSE) paradigm to construct a collective autoethnography that challenges socially circulating cultural narratives of disability.

Our individual and collaborative narratives illuminate: (1) how master narratives impact self, (2) the ways that dis/abled women of color elevate human dignity and spiritual practices in ways that subvert and speak-back to master narratives, (3) the emotional impact of Learning Disability labeling, (4) forms of epistemic and personal experiences at various institutions of higher education, and (5) the liberatory practices manifest from co-created narratives with DSE students concerning disability identity within higher education.

This collaboration contributes to efforts that theorize critical emotion praxis with diverse positionalities of DSE scholars, teacher educators, and professionals within educational contexts. The chapter also suggests ways in which construction of collaborative narratives of resistance can point to paths for positive organizational change.

Higher education notices the need to support minorities and students with dis/abilities and may have additional programs to support their student populations, but students with a history of foster care are largely invisible in higher education. Using prismatic phenomenology, this study seeks to create a platform for the voices of adults in higher education who experienced the intersection of foster placement, ethnic minority, and dis/ability as children. This chapter focuses on the life story of one young woman. The goal of identifying these formative childhood experiences is to better understand how to respond to the inequities experienced as well as develop equitable practices to support students, whether in the higher educational classroom, in the preservice teacher classroom, or in K-12 educational arena.

Although special education was built upon the foundation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the discrimination that many racialized students receiving special education services experience cannot be denied. Many culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse students receiving special education services encounter labels that perpetuate racism and ableism and lead to inequitable access to services and resources necessary for more positive postsecondary outcomes. By honoring intersectionality and dismantling the singular identity, educators can become change agents and shift the historic oppressive narrative to create a system of empowerment as these individuals transition from transitional kindergarten to age 21 special education programs (TK-21) schools into adulthood.

In contextualizing critical race theory (CRT), this chapter utilized prismatic inquiry to analyze a researcher–participant's story at different levels in education through a DisCrit lens, offering the “what, why, and how” of DisCrit as an analytical tool important to the everyday lives of educators and students. Using prismatic inquiry and a DisCrit lens, the anecdotal experiences of an educator were gathered, transcribed, examined, and analyzed. Lessons from this educator's experiences that emerged were aligned to existing research literature, viewed and further analyzed through a DisCrit lens, and synthesized to offer insights in improving the training of current and future educators, classroom teachers, and school leaders.

The chapter accounts for the process of becoming of a changed practice within the area of disability care in the Municipality of Aalborg in Denmark.

Across a period of a few months in the fall of 2015, a group of employees across the organization and an action researcher from Aalborg University (the author) met and formed a research-practice group, and across this period a revised model for cooperation emerged that – upon realization – would reconfigure the intra-play of all relevant areas of the organization involved in disability care. The model included the grasping of disability as dis/ability and thereby the model opened the possibility for reworking the binary of ability/disability to the benefit of restorying the citizen’s ability in the practices of changing the disability care.

Written in dialogue form, the benefits and equality of Universal Design vs. Differentiated Design taking into account individual student needs will be explored while integrating literature, research, and both K-12 and higher education experiences. The danger of a singular lens is highlighted as well as the need for educators to be lifelong learners. Both Universal Design and differentiation theories will be tested against and/or aligned with disability studies, multicultural education, critical pedagogy, democratic education, LGBTQ voices, and educational leadership.

In this chapter, we consider how the character of Rob Titchener has been developed in The Archers, moving him from hero of the hour to villain of the piece. We draw on a critical disability studies’ perspective to argue that ability and disability have been crucial in turning the character of Rob from the desirable and attractive man who first arrived in the village into a national hate figure, despised by all. We begin this analysis by introducing critical disability studies and studies of ableism as fields of academic inquiry. We then draw on these resources to offer an analysis of the ways in which ability and disability were used as a narrative device to develop Rob’s character. We question the ways in which ability and disability are used to denote ‘good’ and ‘evil’ in the development of characters in cultural texts like The Archers, and end with a plea to scriptwriters to engage differently with dis/ability and to consider the impact of the stories we tell on the everyday lives of disabled people.

This chapter investigates how we have come to know what we know, in the United States, about the terms “ability” and “disability” through the story of Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy. What is the narrative of Helen Keller as told through children’s literature? How might the ways in which her life is presented contribute to stereotypes of what it means to be disabled? What, if any, are the ways in which authors of these books resist writing about her as someone who “overcame” her disabilities? How is Helen Keller’s relationship with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, portrayed and what might this representation contribute to the concepts of dependence and interdependence?

This project provides a sociological analysis of common themes through a content analysis of 20 children’s books on Helen Keller.

The theme of the widely circulating “story of the water pump moment” (when Keller realizes that hand movements signify language) depicts a one-sided relationship of Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy. This informs the narrative representations of Anne Sullivan Macy as “miracle worker” and Helen Keller as “miracle child.” Another theme is the “complexities of resistance,” which shows how these narratives uphold the stereotype that Helen Keller needed to “overcome” her disabilities while also resisting this notion and showing how she also helped Anne Sullivan Macy.

This demonstrates how widely circulating stories such as those about Helen Keller shape what we know about what it means to be abled or disabled, challenges simplistic binary understandings of the disability experience, and points to the power of narratives to shape systems of beliefs.

This chapter is based on compulsory school experiences of students diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and their parents in the educational context of Finland. Located in the theoretical framework of Disability Studies, the chapter aims to contribute to theory of inclusive education by initiating a new dialogue on conceptual foundations of inclusive schooling. In this regard, the chapter first deconstructs the concept of educational need that stems from the field of traditional special education as contradictory to the original ideals of inclusive education. It then moves on to reconstruct the concept of educational need in accordance with the foundational values of inclusion, that is celebration of human diversity and resistance to dichotomies of ab-/normality and dis-/ability and proposes an approach for future implementation of inclusive education.

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze gaps in effectiveness of Mexico’s labor legislation, in terms of equality in employment. Early adoption of progressive legislation should enable equal access for women, elder and disabled people to workplaces.

This chapter is based on an extensive review and examination of secondary data reports from reliable sources, as well as an analysis of primary data drawn from job boards operating in Mexico.

This study reveals a large gap between the legal framework and practice on diversity management in Mexico. Notwithstanding the existing legislation in Mexico to promote equity and equality in employment, age and gender are factors of discrimination in almost 60% of job offers. This study also shows that the intersection of different forms of diversity, such as gender, age, and disability, augment discrimination at work. Our analysis suggests that older women with disabilities suffer disproportionally from discrimination compared to older men and people with disabilities in general.

We outline practical implications for public policy and courses of action for managers interested in diversity management. Greater consideration should be given to those who face an intersection of factors related to discrimination.

This study contributes to the literature by exploring diversity management issues at workplaces in Mexico, which is an under-researched country. Furthermore, it attempts to combine macro-institutional and meso-organizational levels focusing on three characteristics traditionally related to increased marginalization: women, elders, and persons with disabilities. The results indicate that strong legal frameworks, though necessary, are not sufficient to ensure equality. Other crucial factors such as national and organizational cultural change, trust in government and enforcement mechanisms are necessary to improve diversity management practices.