Disability in the Context of Blackness: Is It a Manifestation of Past Sins or a Blessing in Disguise?

Abstract

This article conceptually examines constructions of disability within 3 philosophical models including the implications of these constructions on the author's experiences of negotiating and mediating familial and educational contexts as a deaf African American female. Following the introduction, the first section entitled The Religious Model: Blackness and Disability as Manifestations of Past Sins highlights biblical representations of people with disabilities within the historical, social, and cultural contexts of blackness. The second section entitled The Medical Model and the Overrepresentation of African Americans in Special Education is a continuation of her experiences as a deaf African American female but within educational contexts. The author discusses the influence of the Medical Model on the over-diagnosis of Black children in special education. The third section entitled The Social Model and Intercontextuality provides an examination of possibilities offered by the Social Model for African Americans with disabilities particular in regards to intersectionality and contextuality. The concluding section entitled Spirituality as Leadership: Disability as a Blessing in Disguise includes an examination of spirituality as an epistemological, subjective, and “in-motional” space through and in which contradictions, exaltations, and complexities of being an African American person with a disability is navigated, embraced, rejected, and redefined.