"The More I Use the Technology, I Know What I'm Capable of Doing": Access and the Discourse of Capacity

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Mapping the Places of STEM Education

Abstract

Although assistive technology (AT) has been shown to be an important mechanism for affording students with disabilities access to learning, it remains deeply underutilized in schools. Focusing on the experiences of a high school AT user labeled intellectually disabled, this paper shifts attention from the capability of technological tools to the significance of the discursive context in creating (in)accessible spaces. We draw on spatial theory to understand accessibility as a dynamic social and spatial process. Specifically, we identified how differing conceptions of Maria’s capacity as a learner produced different kinds of learning spaces. Accessibility as a construct assumed vastly different meanings via the social relations within in-school and out-of-school spaces.

Authors

• Srikala Naraian, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Katherine Newhouse, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Rae Leeper, Institute for Urban and Minority Education - Teachers College - Columbia University