Whose Rainbow? An Analysis of Inclusion, Labor, and Futurity in Special Education Work-Based Learning

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 9:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Inclusion and Equity in Career and Technical Education and Workplace Learning

Abstract

In this study, we employ Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) and the Ford-Harris/Bloom-Banks Matrix to analyze the curriculum of the Beautiful Rainbow Cafe, a work-based learning program where students with intellectual disabilities operate a restaurant in Gadsden, AL. While the program enables students to learn critical employability and life skills, our analysis examines whether the curriculum centers disability culture and student voices or primarily serves to make students "employable" within capitalist structures that devalue disabled labor. Our analysis seeks to understand how the program curriculum positions participating students as workers and learners, assessing whether the model provides rigorous and culturally relevant education, particularly for non-white learners, and examines intersections of forms of oppression within educational frameworks.

Authors

• Kioshana LaCount Burrell, The Ohio State University

• Amber N Johnson, Pennsylvania State University