A Moral Conversation on Disability: Risking the Personal in Educational Contexts

Abstract

The author explores disability in K-12 schools where attitudes, beliefs, and practices shape the school culture and influence enduring perceptions about disability among school professionals, students, and their families. Drawing on recent conversations among moral philosophers who view disability as a central feature of human life that has yet to enrich understanding of ourselves and others, the author encourages the practice of reform grounded in a process that begins with a “suspicion of the self” and a willingness to risk the personal.

Toward a Globally Sensitive Definition of Inclusive Education Based in Social Justice

“…Furthermore, as a direct result of the increasingly quantifying field of education, many schools' approaches toward inclusion and its verification come mainly as a result of accountability of time spent in the regular education environment. According to Ware (2002):…”

Creative Socialist-feminist Space: Creating Moments of Agency and Emancipation by Storytelling Outlawed Experiences and Relational Aesthetic

“…17 Coburn discusses the effect that adherence to class as the primary system of oppression has on considerations of lived experience and intersectionality (2014,(4)(5)(6) 18 For discussion on how the Oprah Effect (Oprah's self-belief and success) overcomes adversity see Janice Peck (2013). 19 See also, Roman 1988Roman , 2004Ferri 2008;Taylor 2004;Ware 2002. non-normative embodiment such as asymmetric embodiments, for and answerable to able-bodied society and repeatedly for the able-bodied (2009b, 684-686).…”

“Why I Am Not a Painter”: Developing an Inclusive Classroom

“…Despite the fact that the IEP was developed to ensure equity, 5 in most classrooms I've observed, its translation into practice tends to marginalize the children who receive it. 6 As Alicia Broderick, Heeral Mehta-Parekh, and Kim Reid note, "Historically, the United States has met legal mandates for educational inclusion by bringing first black, then disabled, then non-English-speaking students into public schools, but keeping them separate." 7 Dividing students into "regular" and "IEP kids" (to use the term often applied in schools) tends to mean that the unique capacities of all are not only ignored but, when someone is identified as having a unique way of seeing the world, this is also seen as problematic.…”

“…8 The term "disability" not only distinguishes some as marginalized, but the discourse around disability also suggests that differences are "limitations" and indicate increased "need." 9 In this paper, I seek to make the opposite claim: that differences, what Susan Gabel refers to as "ability diversity," 10 should be looked upon as assets and contributions. 11 I do not believe that the terms "disability," "special needs," "regular," "normal," or "gifted" describe children.…”