A Health and Well-Being Reframing for the Persistent Issue of Disproportionality in Special Education

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Teaching and Schools

Abstract

This study bridged special education’s contentious past with medicine by borrowing from the socially constructed medical field of population health to reframe the persistent issue of disproportionality in special education. Utilizing this reframing of disproportionality and a multiple case study design, I examined the environmental factors impacting the learning, and health and well-being, experiences of Black learners in the classroom; the interaction between these factors; and the policy implications of outcomes for this group of learners. The collective use of DisCrit, Intersectionality, and Universal Design for Learning supported my argument that the symptoms of comorbid chronic health conditions and adverse psychological effects in Black learners are being misinterpreted as educational deficits in classroom settings established on ableist and racist norms.

Author

• Gayitri Kavita Indar, Molloy College