Squeaky Wheels, Mothers From Hell, and CEOs of the IEP: Parents, Privilege, and Inclusive Education

• In Event: 63.063 - Disability Studies in Education: Toward Justice Through Educational Reform and Practice in K–12 Schools

Abstract

In this paper, we examine parents’ advocacy for inclusive education as a site wherein the constructed meanings of disability are negotiated within ableist discourses and practices in schools. Based on existing literature on parents’ perceptions of a “struggle” to access inclusive learning environments for their children, we explore why parents continue to believe that they need to “fight” for inclusive education and we raise concerns about which parents would be most equipped to takes on this “fight.” Highlighting the extent to which many parents draw on their cultural and economic capital to negotiate their children’s educational rights, we problematize a special education system in which access to inclusive education for students with disabilities is linked with socioeconomic privilege

Authors

• Priya Lalvani, Montclair State University

• Chris Hale, College of Staten Island - CUNY