“Cripping” the Curriculum Through Academic Activism: Working Toward Increasing Global Exchanges to Reframe (Dis)Ability and Education

Abstract

This article illustrates a work in progress about why and how a small yet growing network of international scholars have forged alternative frameworks for understanding what is termed “disability.” First, we discuss the definition of disability calling attention to its social contexts, including schools, and the hegemony of special education. Second, we critique the knowledge base of special education as insufficient for understanding the lived complexities of people identified as disabled. Third, we describe Disability Studies in Education (DSE) as an example of academic activism that counters the master narrative of deficiency. Fourth, we illustrate the global exchanges around disability explored through DSE. Fifth, we consider implications for DSE in theory, research, policy, and practice. Finally, given that DSE's academic activism is rooted in social justice, we discuss some of the tensions, paradoxes, and unresolved questions that broaden what constitutes diversity within classrooms.