"Like Nailing Jell-O to a Wall": Constructing Disability and Giftedness

• In Event: 35.054 - Intersectionality and Social Contexts: What Does It Means to Live at the Intersections?

Abstract

How do teachers form the perception that a child may need more extensive supports through special or gifted education? What leads them to begin the intervention process for these children? Answering these questions will reveal how disability and giftedness are constructed in schools, facilitating better understanding of how different populations are sorted into special education and gifted services. In this paper, we use interviews with parents and teachers to examine how this suspicion arises, exploring how student skills, abilities, and behaviors take on new meaning as potential disability or giftedness. We pay particular attention to ways race and gender might influence suspicion of disability and giftedness.

Authors

• Rachel Elizabeth Fish, New York University

• Evan Johnston, New York University