Same as It Ever Was: The Nexus of Race, Ability, and Place

• In Event: "What's Disability Got to Do With It?" Social Contexts of Education and Its Intersectionalities

Abstract

Lack of access to general education placements for students with disabilities, particularly students with extensive support needs, students of color, and students from low-income households highlights the continued educational inequities for students with these intersecting identities. In this session, we present findings of a geospatial analysis of the intersections of race, socioeconomic status, disability labels, and their geographies with levels of inclusion in one urban school district. Findings show trends in segregated placements that mirror historical “redlining” practices associated with access to housing, suggesting the persistence of generational redlining that reinforces and perpetuates disparate wealth that is enacted systematically and systemically in differential placements across disability categories. Results suggest the need to examine student-level placement data in the context of race, class, disability label, and geography to identify and address inequities in access to general education contexts.

Authors

• Julia M. White, Syracuse University

• Siqi Li, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

• Christine Elaine Ashby, Syracuse University

• Qiu Wang, Syracuse University

• Beth A. Ferri, Syracuse University

• Paul Bern, Syracuse University

• Meghan E. Cosier, Chapman University