Institutionalized Ableism and the Misguided “Disability Awareness Day”: Transformative Pedagogies for Teacher Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: Identifying Ableism in K-12 Schooling and Postsecondary Contexts

Abstract

Despite acknowledgement among social justice educators about the need to infuse anti-bias lessons in K-12 curricula, discussions of disability oppression are silent in schools. Token efforts at addressing the topic of disability generally manifest as “disability awareness day(s)” and often include “disability simulations,” which are condemned by disability rights activists as ableist in nature. In this paper, we discuss a qualitative inquiry which examines shifts in the perceptions of graduate students enrolled in a course informed by critical disability studies perspectives, with regard to the pedagogical use of disability simulations for teaching children about disability. The findings indicate transformations in students’ thinking about the ableism implicit in disability simulations. Implications of this inquiry for social justice education are discussed.

Authors

• Priya Lalvani, Montclair State University

• Alicia A. Broderick, Montclair State University