Navigating Global Definitions of Disability Within U.S. Special Education: Lessons Learned From Perceptions of Disability and Diagnosis in the Dominican Republic

• In Event: Bilingual Special Education for the 21st Century: Reimagining the Future

Abstract

Global perceptions of disability play a significant role when it comes to special education referrals and services for multilingual, transnational children in the United States. This presentation extends a book chapter that is rooted in qualitative research with two schools and one university in the Dominican Republic on perceptions, attitudes, and policies towards disability–and special education–in the DR. The findings are situated in a US context to support US-based educators in navigating conversations with transnational families and students around fears, expectations, assumptions, hopes, resistances, and possibilities for special education. The tools offered as a result are geared towards educators, with an explicit focus on what disability means and signifies for racialized youth and families rooted in multiple nation-states and cultures.

Author

• Lilly Padia, Erikson Institute