A DisCrit Analysis of Self-Advocacy in Schools

• In Event: Forging Community Through Intersectional Disability Studies in Education

Abstract

Objectives
The development of self-advocacy skills by students with labeled disabilities is proposed by its supporters as a means of overcoming barriers to educational access and gaining membership within a dominant group. Proponents of self-advocacy (Test, et al. 2005) view it as a potential counterforce to institutional dependency and a means of challenging inequitable and discriminatory systems. This paper presents a conceptual examination of self-advocacy as a “normalizing text” in the curriculum (Erevelles, 2005; 2011). The purpose of this paper is to a) explore the history of self-advocacy; b) examine of self-advocacy as a lever for inclusion of students at the intersections of race and dis/ability, and c) offer a critical analysis of the implications of self-advocacy in light of neoliberal trends in education. We argue that self-advocacy as a means to inclusion in an existing order absolves institutions and their members from addressing conditions that might inhibit the full membership of all persons.

Theoretical Framework
We draw on DisCrit theory (Annamma, Connor, & Ferri, 2013), which emphasizes racism and ableism as intersectional and normalizing forces in schools and society. In the process of normalization, students are viewed as possible contributors to a capitalist system that assigns value based on the potential for economic productivity (Erevelles, 2011). In such a context, self-advocacy may be proposed as an inclusive strategy for students with non-heteronormative bodies and identities. DisCrit “seeks to understand ways that macro-level issues of racism and ableism, among other structural discriminatory processes, are enacted in the day-to-day lives of students of color with dis/abilities” (Annamma et al., 2013, p. 8).

Modes of Inquiry
Our study presents a historical review of self-advocacy as it arose from disability rights discourse and was adapted within a curricular literature intended for k-12 teachers and their students with labeled disabilities and intersecting non-dominant identities. A critical analysis of the evolution of the dominant self-advocacy discourse in educational settings contrasts it with its roots in disability rights activism.

Results
Our analysis finds that the curriculum of self-advocacy demands personal disclosure as a means of access to benefits held and determined by an empowered mainstream. It thus reifies a neoliberal social order by framing educational goals in terms of membership within a competitive academic environment. Students are coached to represent their interests forcefully in the school setting or be denied opportunities on the basis of this perceived “weakness.” Consequently, adoption of self-advocacy as a goal or curricular feature may contribute to a sorting process that further delineates degrees of ‘fitness’ for inclusion’ based on norms of ability, race, and gender identities (among others).

Significance
Conceptually, the goal of self-advocacy fails to account for systemic deficiencies within educational environments, and instead situates responsibility for access within individual students. However, we are able to observe important alternatives principles of self-advocacy in the work of advocacy groups based in disability communities. We see opportunities for future study of how school language and practices surrounding self-advocacy expectations may reproduce or, in some cases, subvert institutional tendencies toward exclusion.

Authors

• Katherine K. Ginn, University of New Hampshire

• Beth S Fornauf, Plymouth State University