Dismantling Ableism: The Moral Imperative for Preparing School Leaders

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: Breaking Down and Unlearning Abled/Disabled Binaries

Abstract

While social justice leaders are expected to promote inclusive and culturally responsive pedagogy, policies, and structures, they must ground their work in compelling critiques of ableism. In New York and New Jersey, analysis of placement data for students with disabilities makes this an urgent necessity, given vast and persistent disproportionate classification of students of color in overly restrictive settings. Leadership preparation for social justice engages critiques of two prominent facets of ableism: (1) the LRE continuum, and (2) the positivist logic of ableism that obfuscates institutional racism. Implications for leadership preparation include suffusing the critique of ableism and institutional racism in all facets of such programs, such as admissions, core competencies and performance indicators, as well as course content.

Authors

• Joshua Bornstein, Felician University

• Holly M. Manaseri, SUNY College at Cortland