Disability Critical Race Theory Research Articles

DisCrit mothering: interrogating consequential education for our children’s lives and humanity

In this special issue, a collective of mother-scholar-activists focus on exploring the possibilities for an intersectional critical stance for motherhood. Building on and extending the field of Critical Race Parenting (ParentCrit), we propose a global DisCrit Mothering approach. We draw from Disability Critical Race Theory in Education (DisCrit) and Revolutionary Mothering, to forward DisCrit Mothering as politicized action (as opposed to biological function). Such politicized action is necessarily rooted in defiance and radical love for children dehumanized by intersecting oppressions (i.e., ableism, racism, linguicism, cisheteropatriarchy) in schools. Moreover, we view DisCrit mothering as an interdependent educational praxis that attends to the ways in which many of these intersecting oppression impact mothers themselves, often limiting their capacity to advocate for their children.

Postsecondary Planning Perspectives of Black Parents of Young Adults With High-Incidence Disabilities

Informed by disability critical race theory (DisCrit), this phenomenological study explored the perspectives of Black parents of young adults with high-incidence disabilities regarding their experiences with their children's postsecondary planning processes. Fourteen Black parents participated in semistructured interviews and shared recommendations for educator practices. Five overarching themes emerged from the phenomenological data analysis. Namely, Black parents (a) experienced invisibility by a lack of inclusive postsecondary planning, (b) felt marginalized due to collusive forces of ableism and racism, (c) persevered through postsecondary planning processes and beyond, (d) navigated inequities through social supports and other supports, and (e) enacted ongoing resistance and advocacy. Findings illuminate how Black parents experienced their child's postsecondary planning, and we provide recommendations for educators to advance the postsecondary planning needs of multiple marginalized students and their parents.

Perpetuating neoliberal pathologies: what teacher candidates believe students with disabilities should learn

Teachers’ beliefs impact student outcomes. Yet, regulatory agencies look to standardized accountability measures to establish a base for student improvement. This study examines other qualitative factors that impact student success by exploring teacher candidates’ beliefs about what students should learn. Specifically, it examines the beliefs of teacher candidates who were enrolled in a course on teaching students with disabilities. Education Journey Maps and interview data were conducted with 24 teacher candidates. Analyzed through a conceptual framework of Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) and neoliberalism, results indicate that teacher candidates possess an economic habitus that seeks standardization, commodifiable skills, and individualism. Teacher candidates implicitly understand that human capacity and diversity are multifaceted but believe that holding the same standards for everyone will rid our education system of discrimination against people with disabilities. This work has implications for wider debates on the impacts of standardization and neoliberalism in teacher education.

DisCrit Mothering As A Radical Act

Influenced by revolutionary mothering, activists of color, and radical feminists, this article explores Neurodivergent families through the lens of Disability Critical Race Theory. As a parent of an Autistic child, I embark on redefining my role by integrating art and design into community advocacy for Autistic communities. I challenge unjust stigmas by breaking visual cycles within social and clinical practices. This journey culminated in the creation of “KnoxRoxs,” a photo zine dedicated to my Autistic son, aimed at increasing visibility for children of color in Neurodiverse communities. I emphasize the multifaceted nature of Neurodivergent mothering, involving caregiving, community engagement, and creative resistance.

“Inclusion is definitely a possibility for all”: Promoting inclusive education through a critical professional development schools model

PurposeIn this article, we highlight ways in which disability critical race theory (DisCrit) (Annamma et al., 2013), inclusive education and community-based participatory research (CBPR) can be used within professional development schools (PDS) to provide students with disabilities with more access to inclusive classrooms. At a grade 4–6 elementary school, we developed a model of a critical PDS to promote inclusive education and facilitate the transition of students of color with disabilities from self-contained to inclusive classrooms. We conducted semi-structured interviews and used action plan meetings with school administrators, teachers, professionals and students with disabilities and their parents to assess the impact of our critical PDS model. Findings suggest this model had a positive impact on administrators’ and teachers’ critical consciousness, ideological and instructional practices, students of color with disabilities’ social, academic and personal outcomes, as well as a schoolwide culture of inclusion and social justice. This study can inform tailored professional development efforts to improve educators’ inclusive practices.Design/methodology/approachWe conducted semi-structured interviews and used action plan meetings with school administrators, teachers, professionals and students with disabilities and their parents to assess the impact of our critical PDS model.FindingsThe findings of this study suggest this model had a positive impact on administrators’ and teachers’ critical consciousness, ideological and instructional practices, students of color with disabilities’ social, academic and personal outcomes, as well as a schoolwide culture of inclusion and social justice.Practical implicationsThis study can inform tailored professional development efforts aiming to improve educators’ inclusive practices.Originality/valueWe developed a model of a critical PDS to promote inclusive education and facilitate the transition of students of color with disabilities from self-contained to inclusive classrooms.

To Mica With Love

A growing body of research exploring the lives of Black Canadian students largely focuses on achievement and disciplinary outcomes. Such scholarship centers the negative experiences of Black boys, overlooking the quotidian lives of Black Canadian girls in public schools. The lack of educational research engaging Black Canadian girls hinders scholars, educators, and communities from fully reimagining schools for liberation. Drawing from literature and personal stories, this arts-informed autoethnography investigates how I partnered with three Black Canadian girls to reconceptualize their role in research processes. The study relied on disability critical race theory (DisCrit), Black feminist notions of homeplace, and Endarkened storywork to share and analyze narratives of Black girl leadership and innovation. The study revealed how Black researchers and Black Canadian girls used the arts, storytelling, and space to reimagine research processes as homeplace. The study emphasized the need for scholars to engage in research that uphold marginalized Black girls as producers and leaders striving for social change.

Disability, model minority myth, and white supremacy: Struggling, reimagining, and becoming through mother–daughter counter storytelling

We – as daughter and mother – offer our stories humbly as a love letter to our Asian American community, our Black and Brown siblings, and the broader education community. White supremacy has weaponized the model minority myth – the belief that Asian Americans have “made it” despite obstacles – to invalidate claims of systemic racism and ableism. We draw on Disability Critical Race Theory and Asian American Critical Race Theory to center intersectionality and the interwoven nature of racialization, gendering, and disablement. Using collaborative storying, we showcase our (un)learning and (re)learning about normativity, identities, and belonging with and from each other as dialogic and reciprocal. Although both of our voices contribute to this dialogic storytelling, this paper centers on the stories of the first author – as a neurodiverse 15-year-old youth – as there is much we can learn from listening to our disabled youth of color and their resistance practices.

Marginalization at the Intersection of Language, Culture, and Disability: Systemic Contradictions Perceived by Special Education Teachers in Serving Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students with Disabilities in South Korea

ABSTRACT In 2018, 13.3% of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families with international marriages had at least one child with a disability enrolled in South Korean public schools. Increasing school diversity requires special education teachers to bring new professional knowledge(s) and identities to meet the unique needs of CLD students with disabilities. Drawing on an interdisciplinary lens informed by disability critical race theory and cultural-historical activity theory, we conducted an instrumental case study to investigate the systemic contradictions that special education teachers experience in serving CLD students with disabilities. The results highlight how the intertwining of ethnicity-based racism, monolingualism, and patriarchal ideology shapes (in)visible deficit ideologies that mediate teachers’ everyday interpretation, pedagogical practices, evaluation, and communication. Coupled with harmful deficit ideologies, the lack of systemic support in special education policies and practices consolidates the interlocking marginalization of CLD students with disabilities and their families at the intersection of language, culture, and other identity badges.

Welcome to the Destruction of Special Education in the Name of Ideology

ABSTRACT Special education stands at a pivotal juncture, confronting both existential challenges and transformational opportunities. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is not upholding its mandate of promoting the Individualized Education Program (IEP). I underscore the centrality of the IEP in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and argue that the continuum of alternative placements (CAP) is essential for delivering individualized, intensive instruction that may not always be feasible in general education settings. The emergence of Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) has added to the vulnerability of special education as a discipline. Special education is built on a long tradition of scientific research, and the unbridled assault by some DisCrit devotees on special education practices supported by research, such as positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) risks denying students the benefit of effective treatments. Ultimately, advocates for students with disabilities must support IDEA and its core components.

DisCrit noticing: Theorizing at the intersections of race and ability in mathematics education

AbstractWhile there is increased attention to power, privilege, and access in mathematics education, conversations around race and disability are often left out of the conversation. Disability in mathematics continues to be studied with a lens that focuses on behavior, rather than attending to the situated and sociopolitical context in which teaching and learning takes place. This paper specifically calls on the importance of an intersectional analysis of ability and the need for explicit conversation on the interwoven nature of race and disability to uncover exclusionary practices of hyper‐labeling, hyper‐surveilling, and hyper‐punishing for those outside notions of normalcy. Drawing on sociopolitical perspectives informed by Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) and DisCrit Classroom Ecology, I share a framework of DisCrit noticing to consider the interwoven nature of racism and ableism in mathematics classrooms, provide a context to develop preservice teacher DisCrit noticing during mathematics methods, and a case example to highlight implications and transformative possibilities for (re)organizing classrooms through the DisCrit noticing framework.

A Convergence of Violence: Structural Violence Experiences of K–12, Black, Disabled Males across Multiple Systems

In American schools, conversations about violence prioritize direct violence, while indirect violence is virtually ignored. This current emphasis overlooks the structural violence deeply embedded in America’s social, political, and economic institutions, which were intentionally designed to exclude, and position some groups to experience disproportionate levels of poverty, exploitation, and persecution. To understand the mechanisms of structural violence, the concepts of structural violence and total institutions, the tenets of Disability Critical Race Theory can be used as an analytical lens. This retrospective comparative case study does so by exploring similarities in the lived experiences of Black, Emotionally Disturbed males across metropolitan special education, juvenile justice, and medical systems. The findings demonstrate a “convergence of violence” in America’s juvenile justice, medical, and special education systems, collectively pushing K–12-aged participants into carceral sites, denying them voice and choice, and providing them with performative healthcare. Our study recommends that institutions designed to serve K–12-aged learners use cross-sector collaborations to meet holistic learner needs and mitigate pressures to engage in direct violence. Specifically, we offer the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model as a national approach to increase access to healthcare providers, social services, and mental health services, as well as engaging community stakeholders critical to understanding the cultural context of learners’ lived experiences.

“Parents don’t know they have the option to say no”: the experiences of Caribbean and Latin American parents navigating special education in Ontario

ABSTRACT This article examines ways Latin American and Black Caribbean parents navigate special education programs in Ontario’s education system. Based on qualitative interviews with parents, the findings suggest that racialized immigrant parents must find ways to navigate the system as newcomers while also addressing the intended and unintended effects of special education programs for their children. Parents described the exclusionary processes used in special education assessments and acknowledged that unequal access to resources excluded them from decision-making processes affecting their children’s learning. Using tenets of Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), this article centres on the intersections of race and ability to reveal how the normalcy of whiteness, coupled with systemic ableism embedded in Ontario’s education system, creates barriers for racialized parents who are trying to support their children’s learning. Importantly, newcomer parents must challenge deficit narratives to ensure that their children can access equitable opportunities for academic success.

Toward disability-centered, culturally sustaining pedagogies in teacher education

ABSTRACT Teacher education in the United States operates within the same politically polarized and tense contexts as schools. Research predominantly relies on the voices and experiences of scholars and professionals, despite the importance of community-engaged pedagogies and learning approaches. Collective work that bridges the roles of scholars and community activists requires a shift in how teacher education is conceptualized for a new generation of intersectionality-focused anti-racist and anti-ableist teachers and teacher educators. Centering the knowledge of disabled activists, poverty scholars, and community scholars in partnership with educational professionals, we introduce Disability Centered Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies (DCCSPs), a conceptual framework and pedagogical application integrating Disability Critical Race Theory and culturally sustaining pedagogies in teacher education. We outline the critical need for this theory in teacher education in the United States and globally, opportunities for practical integration, and conclude with future directions.

A call for critical PDS: infusing DisCrit into the nine essentials

PurposeThe field of Professional Development Schools (PDS) continues to evolve with promising implications. As part of advancing practice, the National Association for Professional Development Schools has updated its nine essential guiding principles, which now includes an explicit expectation for all PDS partners to advance equity, anti-racism and social justice. This article is a call for critical professional development work which infuses Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) practices into achieving the Nine Essentials.Design/methodology/approachIn this call-to-action article, the authors argue that it is imperative for the whole of PDS work to establish a priority for inclusive practice that recognizes and responds to all aspects of diversity in education from the outset, including disability. The authors suggest that PDS work must be guided by an intersectional approach that is operationalized to achieve equity in education by dismantling both racism and ableism in education. The authors use an action-based example from our PDS work to exemplify these elements in practice.FindingsIn this article, the authors put forth two arguments that they urge their PDS colleagues to consider. First, the authors call for practices within PDS to give attention to improving student learning in ways that specifically address disability and intersectional considerations related to disability. Second, the authors urge that PDS work must be conceptually and practically inclusive in order to achieve the social justice impact put forth in the comprehensive mission of the Nine Essentials.Originality/valueThere is a growing body of literature around PDS that addresses theory to practice research and best practices in PDS settings. While some recent publications address inclusive PDS practices, the authors were not able to identify any works related to DisCrit in the PDS literature to date.

Classrooms as Healing Spaces

Classrooms are at the nexus of societal trauma and systemic interlocking oppressions. Fluency with trauma-informed practices is well-recognized as imperative for teachers, however, the connections of trauma to interlocking oppressions is less acknowledged. This paper uses a Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) framework to interrogate discursive entanglements of trauma with other identity markers and the ways in which these have historical and material implications that harm students. This paper explores the way that trauma as a construct is not free from becoming entangled with the systemic impacts of racism and ableism and interrogates some of the assumptions that underpin such use. This paper situates the teacher’s role historically, illustrating how knowledge of the social construction of race, disability, and trauma affects classroom structures, teacher identity, and pedagogical decisions towards creating conditions for healing.

Disrupting Discipline: A DisCrit Critique of Behavior “Management” in the Art Room

Utilizing a required training module on restraint and seclusion as an example for analysis, this article employs a Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) lens to critique dominant classroom management practices that negatively and disproportionately affect disabled students, particularly disabled students of color. This article suggests that critical disability studies holds potential for informing counter-practice in the art classroom, connecting the radical politics of Disability Art with resistance to special education’s influence on art pedagogy. In suggesting disability studies as an alternative paradigm to inform art education, the article concludes by proposing art teachers can disrupt school-based cycles of harm.

Presidential Address, 2022-Dismantling Systemic Barriers: Re-Envisioning Equity and Inclusion.

Presidential Address, 2022-Dismantling Systemic Barriers: Re-Envisioning Equity and Inclusion.

A DisCrit Analysis of Quality in Early Childhood: Toward Pedagogies of Wholeness, Access, and Interdependence

Background: In U.S. contexts, the language of “quality” early childhood education is widely invoked to evaluate the “goodness” of teaching and learning and is often leveraged in attempts to ameliorate inequities. Likewise, efforts to define and achieve generalizable conceptualizations of early childhood quality often guide what takes place in teacher education. Though objections to quality reform efforts and the ways they uphold white supremacy have been extensively discussed, less work has explicitly examined how ableism intersects with racism in the ways quality is defined and applied in early childhood. Purpose: The purpose of this conceptual article is to extend prior critiques of quality to critically examine intersections of racism and ableism in the definitions, measurements, and enactments of quality early childhood teaching and learning. We bring disability critical race theory (DisCrit; Annamma et al., 2013) into conversation with literature on quality in early childhood to examine how traditional notions of early childhood quality position and affect multiply-marginalized children, families, and teachers. We emphasize how dominant notions of early childhood quality are reinforced and can be disrupted in teacher preparation. Interpretive Analysis: We utilize DisCrit’s seven interrelated tenets to analyze how ableism and racism mutually reinforce notions of early childhood quality by: (1) predefining universal goals for teaching and learning; (2) reducing the complexity of teaching and learning; and (3) discarding the wisdom of multiply-marginalized children, families, and teachers. Each of these technocratic processes rely on one another (and at times, overlap) to uphold whiteness and ableism in both early childhood practice and teacher education; exposing them allows us to imagine alternate ways of conceptualizing and enacting meaningful early education. Through DisCrit praxis, we offer an alternative language of evaluation that centers multiply-marginalized young children, families, and teachers using pedagogies of wholeness, access, and interdependence. Conclusions: At the nexus of ableism and racism, standardized notions of early childhood quality create myriad forms of harm for multiply-marginalized children, families, and teachers. Although the language of quality pervades the field, we know it is not the only way. We implore teacher educators to support teacher candidates in developing a DisCrit praxis, as we engage in such processes of reflection and action ourselves. When teaching and learning are rooted in principles of wholeness, access, and interdependence, we put multiply-marginalized communities at the heart of our work, reclaiming and enacting meaningful pedagogies in early childhood.

Tensions as opportunities for transformation: Applying DisCrit Resistance to early childhood teacher education programs

Efforts to “professionalize” early childhood through professional standards, licensure requirements, and standardized assessments have aimed to support effective practice and rectify the pay inequities experienced by early educators. However, such initiatives can inadvertently reinforce hegemonic developmentalism and have largely served to advance white, able-bodied norms and narrow views of teaching and learning. Teacher educators endeavoring to combat racism and ableism, therefore, can encounter several tensions that result from trying to apply critical perspectives while preparing pre-service teachers for graduation and certification in the current personnel preparation landscape. In this article, the authors employ Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) Resistance to explore these tensions and offer potential ways they can serve as key opportunities for supporting equity. They discuss how teacher educators can enact DisCrit Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Solidarity to diversify the knowledge(s) that are represented in content; center and affirm the identities and gifts of multiply marginalized teachers of color; and disrupt power hierarchies to honor relationships and interdependence.

Reconceptualizing Education Grounded in the Multimodal Discourses of Girls of Color Labeled with Significant Cognitive Disabilities

The experiences of girls of color labeled with significant cognitive disabilities in middle school and high school have historically been excluded from educational research. This study sought to better understand how girls of color labeled with significant cognitive disabilities navigated multimodal discourses and classroom practices as well as how they were impacted by them. Using Disability Critical Race Theory and critical discourse theory, six students were focal participants and eight educators were secondary participants. Multiple case studies were used with primary (i.e., observations, audio/video recordings) and secondary (i.e., interviews, focus groups) data sources. Findings revealed how focal participants showed their discursive resourcefulness, despite absent communication supports and prioritization of oral/aural communication. Students also repositioned themselves in response to marginalization through talk and actions. Implications for research and practice are discussed. This study underscores the necessity of centering the experiences of girls of color labeled with significant cognitive disabilities in educational research to improve their school experiences.