“Broken in its Infancy:” Special Education Policy Reifies the Subaltern

• In Event: Disability in Society Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 4. Education and Work

Abstract

In the decades since special education’s inception, it’s clear not all students have benefitted equally from this mandate. Researchers have investigated the overrepresentation of Black students in the high-incidence classifications and the resegregation of Black and other minoritized students through special education processes. These students leave school unprepared for additional educational or employment opportunities and are funneled from special education into the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Legislative attempts to remedy these inequities across reauthorizations of the law have largely failed to produce more equitable outcomes for Black students in special education. Such attempts will always fall short because despite its stated ideals and lawmakers’ good intentions, IDEA is rooted in ableism, racism, and white supremacy. Using qualitative methods, this paper illustrates how special education policies are implemented at the micro, or individual level, in ways that lead to inequitable outcomes for Elijah, a Black middle schooler at an urban charter school.

Author

• Armineh Hallaran, The City College of New York