Disrupting Durabilities of Colonial Logics in the Field of Special Education: Toward Abolitionist Futures

Abstract

Background: The field of special education (SPED) has struggled with persistent equity problems in providing meaningful learning opportunities for students of color. These inequities are experienced by students navigating the intersection of race and disability, marginalizing and harming them. Critical scholars urge SPED to carefully consider its epistemic investments when attempting to address these injustices. Purpose: This essay demonstrates the connections between persistent equity issues in SPED and the colonial logics of placement and sorting. By drawing parallels between the epistemes that organize SPED and colonial logics, this essay argues that addressing equity issues in SPED must seriously consider its entanglements with colonial durabilities. Recommendations: This essay urges SPED to consider abolitionist praxis as a way of disrupting the persistent inequities faced by multiply marginalized students of color. Abolitionist praxis provides the necessary tools for dismantling the durability of colonial logics.