Attaining a Just Future? A Disability Studies Analysis of Functional and Life Skills Curricula

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Ten
  In Roundtable Session: Using Disability Studies and Social Justice Perspectives to Explore Ability in Schools (Table 16)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the history, assumptions, and role of functional and life skills curricula in the education of students with significant disability labels. First, we provide an overview of current literature showing how functional and life skills curricula are currently used in secondary and transition educational systems. Through a lens of disability studies and DisCrit, we employ critical qualitative and discourse analysis tools to analyze ten commonly used and packaged functional curricula. Findings unveil explicit curricular themes primarily related to watered down participation in the capital economy and implicit values such as White, middle class heterosexual, gendered, and compliance-oriented norms that are reinforced throughout the curriculum. The session will offer alternative inclusive and socially just frameworks for youth with IDD labels.

Authors

• Jessica K. Bacon, Montclair State University
  Presenting Author

• Danielle M. Cowley, Alfred University
  Presenting Author