The Discursive Practice of Learning Disability

Abstract

This article serves as an invitation to rethink and to broaden the scope of learning disabilities (LD) research and practice. We begin with 3 assumptions: Education in a representative democracy is inevitably a political enterprise; social justice is everyone's responsibility, but educators have a special role to play; and segregated schooling is neither equal nor equitable. After an analysis of the primary extant discourses, we argue for a more comprehensive and more openly political vision of the LD field, which we think is supported by Disability Studies in Education. Finally, we draw 3 conclusions relevant to our collective work as researchers and educators. First, learning disabilities are not objective fact; they are historically and culturally determined. Second, disability is both a personal and a societal attribute. Finally, learning disabilities are not and have never been immutable. We contend that we are ethically bound to transform educational practices to both welcome and accommodate everybody's children.

The University Experiences of Students with Learning Disabilities

“…This model involves interactions between the student’s characteristics and experiences prior to postsecondary enrollment (e.g., demographic characteristics, academic preparation, and personal and social experiences), the postsecondary context itself (e.g., faculty culture, policies, academic and co-curricular programs), and the peer environment in which the individual student’s experiences in and out of the classroom are embedded. The recognition that successful outcomes depend not only on the student but also on the interaction between the student and the social and academic context of the postsecondary institution is compatible with conceptualizations of LD as a social construction rather than a deficit that resides specifically within the individual (Reid & Valle, 2004). …”

Effect of Inclusion Versus Segregation on Reading Comprehension of EFL Learners with Dyslexia: Case of Lebanon

“…In addition, some students who become labeled 'disabled' get to be stigmatized and consequently excluded from the workforce since they are not perceived as competent (Reid & Valle, 2004). According to Riddick (2002), dyslexia is a 'hidden' disability, since sometimes it is not easily diagnosed.…”

Who “Owns” Dis/ability? The Cultural Work of Critical Special Educators as Insider–Outsiders

“…In previous decades, critical special educators were often outliers with an idea that piqued the field's interest or pricked its conscience, such as Heshusius's (1989) desire to imagine viewing difference from non-mechanistic paradigms, Gallagher's (1998) questioning of basic assumptions, Skrtic's (1991) structural analysis of inequities, and Reid and Valle's (2004) reframing of learning dis/ability. There is now a critical mass of scholars offering an alternative framework of conceptualizing dis/ability (for tenets of DSE, see Connor, Gabel, Gallagher, & Morton, 2008).…”