At the Intersections of Social Theory and Empiricism

• In Event: Boundary Brokers at the Intersections of Disability Studies in Education and Special Education: Toward a More Radical Conceptualization and Enactment of Inclusive Education

Abstract

I have typically identified as a non-disabled woman of color who teaches in a Social and Cultural Studies in Education Program with the primary focus of my work being in disability studies. Over the last year a medical diagnosis of diabetes and a non-specific auto-immune disease seemingly propelled me to hover at the boundary between the disabled/non-disabled world. As someone who has taught about disability as a non-disabled woman, it has been interesting to think and teach through and with my body in the context of my present medical conditions. However, having said that, I am very clear that in the context of insider/outsider research, I do not claim a "crip" identity because I argue that identity is historical. Even if I identify as disabled now, I have not experienced ableism on a daily basis nor have I been part of a history of exclusion in my educational career, my employment trajectory, or my every day social life. Rather, I attempt in the best possible way to be an ally to my friends in the disability community.

The central focus of my work in the Social and Cultural Studies in Education has been in theorizing educational practices at the intersections of race/class/disability/queer identities. Since I teach in a an Educational Leadership program and teach courses in the Social Foundations of Education, Ethics in Education and Multicultural Education, I have the unique opportunity for modeling how disability is central to all our deliberations in education. This unfortunately has placed me at odds with some colleagues in Special Education who while not hostile are definitely not enthusiastic about disability studies scholarship that is not what they think of as “evidence-based research.” This is a tricky because since their students need State certification, they feel compelled to adhere to traditional research that is bound to medical notions of disability as opposed to the socio-political conceptualizations I had alluded to earlier. And in response, I argue that on the contrary, “evidence-based research” should be research conducted by and with disabled people themselves.

Having witnessed the struggle of disabled students and their parents to access a very exclusionary and oppressive public (and private) educational system, I argue that the one way to resolves the tensions/contradictions between disability studies and special education is to focus on listening to the disability community (empiricism) and use our research and technical skills to address the challenges they face in acquiring an education rather than focus on our (non-disabled teachers, peers, parents) challenges teaching disabled students. It would require that we increase the number of disabled teachers, administrators, special education faculty employed in education. Also, thinking about disability in the context of race, class, gender, and queer identities, will also expand the relevance of special education in general education contexts – not in the problematic context of mere service provision – but as architects of pedagogies that have transformative potential for all students in public education.

Author

• Nirmala Erevelles, The University of Alabama