SPEDing the Fairy: Special Education and Queer BIPOC Students in New York City

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Awareness and Agency at Intersections of Identity As/Including Disability (Table 22)

Abstract

This paper explores the connection between Special Education (SPED) and Queer Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (QBIPOC) students in New York City's public schools. Using Foucault's analysis of educational institutions as generators of disciplined subjects, the study contends that such systems tend to segregate and reshape individuals whose behaviors or identities challenge prevailing norms of heteronormativity, whiteness, and colonialism. QBIPOC students with diverse sexual and racial identities experience dual marginalization, resulting in overrepresentation in SPED referrals. The paper investigates the SPED referral process in NYC schools and its impact on QBIPOC students. It emphasizes the need for reevaluating this process to address the lasting traumatic effects on their mental well-being and sense of belonging in society.

Author

• Jocardo E Ralston, University of Pennsylvania