Double Consciousness: Postsecondary Experiences of African American Males with Disabilities

Abstract

Author W.E.B. Du Bois (1989) asserted the following in his analysis of the underlying identity crisis confronting African Americans in the 20th century:It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, the sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness . . . souls, thoughts, unreconciled strivings; warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keep it from being tom asunder, (p. 5)African American students with disabilities are not the specific subject of Du Bois' statement; however their educational experiences reflect the precarious intersections of disability, race, and cultural jeopardy. African Americans with disabilities face what Du Bois would characterize as a double-consciousness. Schools, primarily through teaching and socialization, have historically served to transmit the dominant language and cultural norms while cultural differences have been ignored (DeBose, 2007; Shockley, 2007). Historically, and at present, educational institutions have segregated students with disabilities from the general school population with the explicit intention to fix these defective students (Patton, 1998). Therefore, African Americans with disabilities often encounter the challenge of having to internally affirm the integrity of their disability and cultural identities while confronting the norms of an educational system that has been historically hostile to those identities.In this article the authors attempt to delineate the complex development of disability and cultural identity of African American male college students. Given the prevalence of deficit attributes associated with their intellect and academic performance, this investigation is characterized by the pressures portrayed by Du Bois. The first is the pressure to assume a cultural identity that disconnects from dominant narratives which construct African American men as criminals, irresponsible fathers, descendants of dysfunctional families, drug addicts, and selfdestructive misogynistic 'ballers'(Harper, 2009; Johnson, 2006). The second is the pressure to assert one's self as an academic achiever in a world that ascribes to individuals with a disability label of 'gimp', 'cripple', 'ill-of-form', or 'invalid' and, thereby, enter into two warring ideals- those of African American students labeled with disabilities added with the dominant cultural narrative that says he is less intelligent and pathological.In what follows, the authors will show how these double-consciousness pressures are displayed in the academic experiences of twelve African American male college students. In this article, it is demonstrated how the foundation of their academic persistence flows from a wide array of sources. This array of sources ranges from highly educated middle-class two-parent families; for others their source of motivation developed from the deep desire to overcome a challenging childhood of living in homeless shelters where they were responsible for the care of multiple younger siblings. The authors contend research is needed to explore the lived experiences of individuals whose identities reflect those of multiple marginalized groups, such as African American male college students and individuals with disabilities. Moreover, research studies are needed that provide a voice to individuals who have been historically and systematically deprived access to educational opportunities due to their racial/ethnic and disability identities.Educational Experience of African American Students with DisabilitiesOverwhelming evidence points to the historic and current practices that African American students are continuously at risk of being misidentified as having a disability due to unfair assessment methods and teacher subjectivity embedded in the eligibility procedures (Harry & Klinger, 2006; Neil et al. …