A Critical Examination of Learning Disabilities in Mathematics: Applying the Lens of Ableism

Abstract

Introduction Background and Rationale Over half of the students who receive special education services are labeled as learning disabled (LD); they comprise approximately five to six percent of the entire K-12 student population (Hehir, 2005). Most students are labeled LD in reading; however, approximately twenty percent are either labeled as LD in mathematics or LD in both reading and mathematics (G. Williamson, personal communication on March 9, 2006). Therefore, it is likely that one in every one hundred students in American public schools carries the label of LD in mathematics. Many may perceive one percent to be a small and insignificant slice of the K-12 population and may wonder why I would choose to focus my on such a small group of students. My response is three-fold. First, federal legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001) and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA, 2004) require us to pay attention to the quality of all students' education and (probably more so) their academic performance. Second, not much literature exists in mathematics education on this topic. As a field, we have published mathematics education work relating to race, gender, and socioeconomic status, but on the subgroup of special education, particularly students carrying the label of LD in mathematics, we remain largely silent. Lastly, the social, emotional, educational and political realities for those involved--the labeled student him/herself, his/her parents, the labeled student's general education mathematics teacher as well as his/her special education teacher, the administrators and in fact the labeled student's entire school--are extremely significant. I am deeply concerned with issues of equity and the power differentials inherent in our society, and I want our schools to seek ways to eradicate practices in mathematics education that privilege some at the expense of others. Theoretical Perspective In this article, I apply a critical pedagogy (Kincheloe & McLaren, 1994; Freire, 1997) perspective looking through the lens of ableism (Rauscher & McClintock, 1977; Hehir, 2005) to examine current educational policy, research and practice regarding the identification of and labeling of students as LD in mathematics. Kincheloe and McLaren (1994, p. 453) state, inquiry that aspires to the name critical must be connected to an to confront the injustice of a particular society or public sphere within the society. A critical pedagogy perspective, then, seeks to uncover hegemonic (power) relations, ideologies, and inequities in education, critique instrumental rationality, and inspire a movement for toward social justice. The following are assumptions from a critical pedagogy perspective that are pertinent to this article: 1. Acknowledging schooling as a form of cultural politics that endorses only particular forms of knowledge, thus creating a dominant group of successful knowers and others (Brantlinger, 1997, 2001); 2. Challenging the traditional view of education as a neutral and just process, and instead, recognizing it serves as an oppressive social structure (Freire, 1997) for some students; 3. Believing that self and social empowerment should precede mastery of technical skills tied to the marketplace and that educators should attempt to see and experience education from the perspective of those who are not dominant and work towards positive social change (Pasco, 2003, p. 5). Hehir (2005) discusses how the ideology of ableism negatively affects the education of children labeled with disabilities and urges educators and policymakers to focus on making just and equitable decisions about the policies and practices that support the educational, emotional and social progress of individual children. In his book on eliminating ableism, he utilizes (and in this paper I adopt) the following definition for ableism: Ableism is a pervasive system of discrimination and exclusion that oppresses people who are perceived to have cognitive, emotional, and/or physical disabilities. …