Beyond Compliance: Disability Justice and Rights-Based Research Ethics in Language Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 9:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Cripping the Research: Innovative Methodologies of Disability Justice

Abstract

This paper proposes an emancipatory, rights-based framework for applied linguistics and language education research ethics that centers the perspectives and participation of disabled and neurodivergent people in knowledge production. In language education research, Institutional Review Boards rely on procedural compliance that marginalizes and harms individuals framed as “vulnerable” or “deficient.” In response, we offer a five-part framework grounded in disability justice: respect; representation and reciprocity; informed consent; privacy and confidentiality; and accessibility. These principles challenge deficit-informed practices in language education research, and foreground ethical accountability and epistemic inclusion across research design, participation, authorship, and representation. This work contributes to reimagining research ethics in ways that affirm disabled and neurodivergent language learners, and supporting just and equitable research futures.

Authors

• Rosa Dene David, University of British Columbia

• Alexandra Ross, University of British Columbia