“I Didn’t Know People With Disabilities Could Grow Up to Be Adults”: Disability History, Curriculum, and Identity in Special Education

Abstract

The present qualitative interview study explored disability identity development, a unique aspect of identity, and its relationship to school and special education. Adults with disabilities ( n = 9) reflected on their schooling experiences in special education through a life history interview and semi-structured interview about their schooling experiences. The participants identified a lack of disability representation in curriculum, lack of connections to disability community, and lack of teachers and school community members as important factors to their sense of disconnection from disability identity and distancing themselves from their disability label during school. This study suggests the power and potential of special education to develop disability community and identity in students with disabilities. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Exploring disability identity with adolescents.

“…The majority of articles that touch on pediatric disability identity or disability self-concept are primarily focused on learning disability. One recent retrospective life history interview study involved adults reporting back on their schooling experiences and those impacts on their disability identity development (Mueller, 2021). This work pointed to the lack of tangible connections to the disability community as well as the lack of overall disability representation in the curriculum they encountered.…”

The Importance of Disability Identity, Self-Advocacy, and Disability Activism

“…Teachers can encourage this kind of engagement in political action in a few important ways. First, inclusion of disability in curriculum, particularly in ways that show people with disabilities advocating for community change, represents an important shift in the ways people with disabilities are depicted in school environments (Mueller, 2021). Second, teachers can include disability community issues, including ones described earlier, in larger discussions about social justice or current events.…”

Access Needs: Centering Students and Disrupting Ableist Norms in STEM

“…Just as active learning without attention to equity can actually further marginalize gendered and racially minoritized students (Ernest et al, 2019;Shah et al, 2020), active learning without attention to access and equity for disabled students can similarly have negative consequences. To truly make progress toward a STEM education that is meaningful for disabled students, it is necessary to reframe how disability is conceptualized (Mueller, 2021).…”

“…1 For example, a recent review of disability-focused work in mathematics education revealed that much of the research framed disabled students as a “problem” to be solved and focused only superficially on student sense-making ( Lambert and Tan, 2017 ). In this way, the stigma associated with disability can be a marginalizing factor in itself, even in efforts that are ostensibly designed to help disabled students ( Artiles, 2019 ; Mueller, 2021 ). Because such work is grounded in a deficit view of disabled students, it obscures their unique strengths ( Fox et al.…”

“…, 2020 ), active learning without attention to access and equity for disabled students can similarly have negative consequences. To truly make progress toward a STEM education that is meaningful for disabled students, it is necessary to reframe how disability is conceptualized ( Mueller, 2021 ).…”