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Connor, D. & Gabel, S. (2013). "Cripping" the curriculum through academic activism: Working toward increasing global exchanges to reframe (dis)ability and education. Equity & Excellence in Education, 46(1), 100-118.

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Intersectional analytical frameworks were created in the late 1980s and early 1990's by American feminist analysts, so these ideas are not very old!

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Kulkarni, S., Nusbaum, E. & Boda, P. (2021). DisCrit at the margins of teacher education: Informing curriculum, visibilization, and disciplinary integration. Race Ethnicity and Education, 24(5), 654-670.

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The term 'intersectionality' was coined by the American Critical Race theorist Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989. Crenshaw explored the ways in which sex, race, and class overlapped to oppress women, particularly Black women.

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Liasidou, A. (2013). Intersectional understandings of disability and implications for a social justice reform agenda in education policy and practice. Disability & Society, 28(3), 299-312.

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Many students with disabilities are excluded or oppressed within the education system. One of the ways in which they can be excluded is lack of accessibility into spaces where learning takes place (ex. classrooms and playgrounds).

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On the left, all three children have the same size box to stand on, while on the right, they each have what they NEED in order to see the baseball game.

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This shows an example of how teachers need to focus on treating their students fairly rather than equally.

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Intersectionality is where the "notion of 'normailty' plays a pivital role in constructing categories and excluding groups of people who deviate from culturally mediated norms" (Liasidou, 2013, p. 300).

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Intersectionality explores the multiple forms of oppression experienced by people based on their ethnic, social, cultural, religious, sexual and ability characteristics (Liasidou, 2013, p. 300).

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Teachers need to challenge power inequities and hierarchical subject positions within their classrooms.

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Teachers need to BREAK DOWN THE STEREOTYPES, BIAS, PREJUDICE, and DISCRIMINATION around minority groups, such as those with a disability.

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Teachers need to use the following steps to ensure transformative changes:

1. obtaining the knowledge/learning about the issues

2. acting on that knowledge (conscientiously and in a positive way)

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Teachers need to understand that fair does not always mean equal.  This idea is outlined in the above cartoon.

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Educators need to understand the difference in their classrooms between treating students fairly or equally. In most cases, treating students equally does not promote positive change, it just continues to favor specific students which in turn gives them privilege.

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Treating women and other minority groups unequally "has been legitimized by attributing disability to them" (Liasidou, 2013, p. 302).

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"Disability is compounded when disabled individuals belong to 'multiple minority groups'" (Liasidou, 2013, p. 303).

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You will notice with the above statistics, that 89% of published books still have a focus on being able-bodied rather than being disabled.

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You will note that disabled main characters are not even listed in the percentages above.

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Teachers need to use resources that encompass many different types of characters. When looking for classroom resources, they should ask themselves:

1. Who's still not here yet?

2. What knowledge is of most worth?

3. Who decides?

4. Who benefits (from this resource)?

(Kulkarni et al., 2021, p. 659)

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The purpose of Universal design for learning (UDL) is to enhance educational accessibility for all students (Liasidou, 2013, p. 304).

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UDL helps teachers in creating environments that consider all of their students' abilities (Connor & Gabel, 2013, p. 108). These accommodations are thought out in advance of the lessons.

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What is lost and gained by using disability labels? (Connor & Gabel, 2013, p. 112)

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What is lost and gained by using disability labels? (Connor & Gabel, 2013, p. 112)

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To what degree does the term "disability" enforce the hegemony of normalcy? (Connor & Gabel, 2013, p. 112)

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To what degree does the term "disability" enforce the hegemony of normalcy? (Connor & Gabel, 2013, p. 112)

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In what ways can disability be a source of pride, like other markers of identity? (Connor & Gabel, 2013, p. 112)

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In what ways can disability be a source of pride, like other markers of identity? (Connor & Gabel, 2013, p. 112)

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Teachers need to question one size fit's all models of education that include standardized testing, and fast-paced curriculum that does not have time to provide in-depth learning around the history, culture, and differing levels of disability within society (Connor & Gabel, 2013, p. 111).

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Teachers often 'water down' curricular outcomes or have lower expectations of students within minority groups. This way of 'differentiation' is wrong and needs to end (Liasidou, 2013, p. 306).

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Many students that fall outside of the 'norm' are excused from standardized testing in fears that the teachers reputation will be ruined or the school results will be affected in a negative way.

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Students in special education programs are integrated in the following ways:

1. They attend whole school liturgies and assemblies.

2. These students are integrated into classrooms that are age-appropriate.

3. Regular education classes buddy up with the special education classes to help students learn more about disability, decrease stigma, and also learn the importance of language use when referring to these students.

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What is considered 'normal' and who decides this?

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What is considered 'normal' and who decides this?

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Believes that "all of us have degrees of disability, able-bodiedness, and extraordinariness, depending upon the context, task and interactions" (Connor & Gabel, 2013, p. 103).

In other words, we all have gifts and talents and we need to work together in order to capitalize on these.

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What are appropriate teaching practices to use for students with disabilities? (Connor & Gabel, 2013, p. 104)  Are these teaching practices covered in student teacher training courses?

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What are appropriate teaching practices to use for students with disabilities? (Connor & Gabel, 2013, p. 104)  Are these teaching practices covered in student teacher training courses?

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Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory (DisCrit)

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Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory (DisCrit)

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DisCrit "is a theory focused on how schools and larger socio-cultural commitments sustain and mirror systems and structures that uphold the normativity of whiteness and able-bodies/minds" (Kulkarni et al., 2021, p. 655).

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DisCrit informed curriculums would "include a balance of historical and current ideas" which would "actively address the issues of redlining, judicial decisions, and how race, disability and deficit have resulted in exclusionary or punitive practices for multiply marginalized students" (Kulkarni et al., 2013, p. 656).

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Students that study DisCrit would understand that "disability is varied" and that "there is a need to learn about disability and ableism" (Kulkarni et al., 2013, p. 656).

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DisCrit gives people the "language and resources through which to advocate for educational justice" which overall can be very transformative (Kulkarni et al., 2013, p. 657).

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What can my school do to provide a more inclusive education for students within our special needs programs?

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What can my school do to provide a more inclusive education for students within our special needs programs?

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DisCrit curriculum would "extend to examining gatekeeping mechanisms, such as admissions tests, financial costs, and hidden curriculum" that have kept white able-bodied persons in control (Kulkarni et al., 2013, p. 658).

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Disablism makes up only ONE part of the "web of power, marginalization and social disadvantage" (Liasidou, 2013, p. 301).