DSE and Inclusive Education

This innovative textbook, Disability Studies in Inclusive Education, aims to boost teachers' confidence in mainstream and special schools, enabling them to effectively engage with learners with disabilities in the classroom and address their diverse learning needs. It originates in the Disability Studies in Education (DSE) course initiated in 2017 in the Division of Disability Studies at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and was developed by the Including Disability in Education in Africa (IDEA) research unit. The DSE course development process prioritised inclusivity and active involvement from academics, teachers, parents, persons with disabilities, and community stakeholders, including NGOs. Through a consultative and co-design process, the course convenors brought together a diverse range of skills and expertise from scholars in Disability Studies and specialist educators proficient in reasonable accommodation for meeting the learning needs of learners with disabilities. This textbook is an outcome of that collaborative process. In the context of SDG4, which promotes quality, inclusive education for all, the textbook explores the challenges of equitable education through the lens of Disability Studies in education. The authors discuss the impact of specific impairments on individuals and their learning, along with strategies for addressing these challenges through an enabling learning environment, incorporating curriculum adaptation and reasonable accommodation for learners with disabilities. The textbook provides a foundational understanding of Disability Studies and its application in inclusive education. Relevant policy is examined globally, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries from a decolonial perspective. Adopting the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, the textbook provides a systematic approach to maximise flexibility in the curriculum, allowing all learners to flourish by choosing learning pathways that best suit them, to achieve their goals. The authors recognise that UDL alone is insufficient for ensuring full participation of learners with disabilities and emphasise the importance of reasonable accommodations tailored to the specific needs of learners with impairments as well as the importance of engaging families and communities in circles of care to support the learner. The Disability Studies in Inclusive Education textbook serves as a valuable resource for learners, teachers and teacher educators, either as part of a formal course or independently as needed. The design of the textbook adheres to UDL principles, with a strong focus on accessibility and interactive engagement, featuring links to video, further reading and other multimedia. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, this work can be freely hosted, reused, adapted, or translated by educators and learners in other contexts, on condition that proper attribution is given to the authors. This textbook was developed and published by the IDEA research unit in collaboration with the Digital Open Textbooks for Development initiative in the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at UCT.

This paper articulates our desire for new humanisms in a contemporary cultural, economic and global context that has been described as posthuman. As researchers committed to modes of radical, critical, politicised and inclusive education, we are mindful of the significance of social theory and its relationship with articulations of social justice. Whilst sympathetic to the potentiality of posthuman thought we grapple with the imperative to embrace new humanisms that historicise and recognise global inequalities that concurrently exist in relation to a myriad of human categories including class, age, geopolitical location, gender, sexuality, race and disability. We focus in on the latter two categories and draw on ideas from postcolonial and critical disability studies. Our argument considers the problem of humanism (as a product of colonial Western imaginaries), the critical responses offered by posthuman thinking and then seeks to rearticulate forms of new humanism that are responsive to the posthuman condition and, crucially, the political interventions of Postcolonial and Critical Disability Scholars. We then outline six new humanist projects that could productively feed into the work of the Journal of Disability Studies in Education.

In Understanding the Boundary between Disability Studies and Special Education through Consilience, Self-Study, and Radical Love, the authors explore what it means to engage in boundary work at the intersection of traditional special education systems and critical disability studies in education. The book consists of fifteen groundbreaking accounts that challenge dominant medicalized discourses about what it means to exist within and around special education systems that create space for new conceptions of what it means to teach, lead, learn, and exist within a conciliatory space driven by radical love and disability justice principles. The book pushes readers to consider how their own personal, professional and programmatic future transformational actions can be driven by disruption and the desire for freedom from the hegemony of traditional special education and White and Ability supremacy.

In a recent themed issue of Journal of Teacher Education (JTE 63.4) about of disability, diversity, and teacher education, guest editors Marleen Pugach, Linda Blanton, and Lani Florian (2012) invite readers to participate in honest, difficult, and much needed dialogue across the many diversity constituencies in teacher (p. 235). In this commentary, I extend the dialogue begun in this special themed issue by considering the affordances of a Disability Studies in Education (DSE) perspective for understanding the intersectional nature of diversity, disability, and the social, cultural, and political production of educational inequities. guest editors of JTE 63.4 are to be commended for gathering and presenting a collection of voices that seek to position identifications of alongside other markers of diversity in a conversation about preparing teachers to foster educational equity. Collectively, the articles represent an important first step toward disrupting the process of ability profiling (Collins, 2003, 2013), that is, the process of educationally marginalizing or segregating based on perceived differences in race, ethnicity, linguistic repertoire, social class, gender, and dis/ability. However, the articles in this issue also illustrate that the disciplinary discourses we bring to bear in identifying, locating, and responding to perceived differences and dis/abilities shape the voices that are heard and, subsequently, the understandings that are created. In this commentary, I draw on research in DSE to clarify some of what is obscured by the disciplinary lenses represented in JTE 63.4. I begin with a brief overview of the articles in JTE 63.4 and the foundations of DSE. I then move to more deeply explicate a DSE perspective on two important concepts, disability labels as a social and political response to difference and personal narrative as decolonizing methodology. After introducing a DSE perspective on each of these points, I contrast it with those represented in JTE 63.4. I conclude with a discussion of the perspectives that a DSE lens affords relative to teacher education and educational equity that are not otherwise addressed in the special issue. A Brief Overview of the Articles in JTE 63.4 authors of the five centerpiece articles in JTE 63.4 each foreground different aspects of the complex relationship between diversity and disability in teacher education. issue begins with Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Curt Dudley-Marling (2012) presenting an overview of the issues that divide general and special teacher educators, including the disciplinary roots of general and special education, deficit perspectives on difference (which they locate within special education), and access to the general curriculum for all students. authors also discuss those areas where connection seems possible, including teacher inquiry within preparation programs. Two of the remaining four centerpiece articles explicate specifically situated perspectives on diversity and disability in teacher education. In The 21st Century Teacher: A Cultural Perspective, Robert Rueda and Jamy Stillman (2012) foreground of cultural (in)congruence between teachers and and argue that teachers must become informed observers of all students (p. 250). In Complex Relationships Between Multicultural Education and Special Education: An African American Perspective, Jacqueline Jordan Irvine (2012) calls attention to the disproportionate representation of of color in general and of African American boys in particular in special education. She argues for an approach that would prepare all teachers to enact culturally relevant pedagogy as means of disrupting the deficit thinking that shapes overrepresentation. other two centerpiece articles, Preparing Teachers to Work in Inclusive Classrooms: Key Lessons for the Professional Development of Teacher Educators from Scotland's Inclusive Practice Project by Lani Florian (2012) and Enacting Diversity in Dual Certification Programs by Marleen C. …

<i>Literary Bioethics: Animality, Disability, and the Human</i> by Maren Tova Linett

Using disability studies in education to move from individualized assessment to partners in pedagogy

Volume 9: Inclusive Education and Disability Studies in Education

The purpose of this study, grounded in rightful presence and disability studies in education, was to examine contextual factors and teacher candidates’ agentic moves when transforming schools towards inclusive education, particularly for students with complex support needs. A critical phenomenological design was used focusing on 11 teacher candidates who were concurrently teaching and pursuing a master's in special education. Narrative analysis yielded the following themes: signifying spatiality, identifying gatekeeping, and mitigating control. Implications for research and practice are discussed, which together form a roadmap for future policy development. This study illuminates the challenges, complexities, and possibilities when disrupting (or attempting to disrupt) beliefs, policies, and practices that inherently repress students with complex support needs.

Much emphasis has been put on the inclusivity of educational opportunities in international agreements, conventions, and declarations, with the valuable work that continues to be done globally. However, one area needs more attention for disability-inclusive international development, that is, higher education, which is still limited and not fully inclusive or accessible for individuals with disabilities globally (Covas &amp; de Luna, 2019). This chapter presents a case study of the Aksaray University in the Republic of Türkiye. This chapter aims to deconstruct the Turkish social system with emphasis on education and employment first and show an example of how the current system is disrupted to ensure the proper application of international agendas that Türkiye is officially and legally a part of. For this chapter an eclectic approach is used combining a wicked problem frame with disability studies in education from a reconceptualist perspective. This chapter is arranged into four sections, including (a) background on education and employment in the Turkish legal and social system to understand the foundation of current systems that is a gateway or product of higher education for individuals with disabilities; (b) recent understanding of the inclusive, accessible, and nondiscriminatory higher education and where the Turkish higher education system stands in it for individuals with disabilities; (c) a case example of Aksaray University for how to disrupt the system by provision of the disability support services within the university; and (d) conclusion with future implications for policy, research, and practice.

This special issue of the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies brings together 19 articles by scholars and activists across broad academic disciplines and activist communities— from disability studies to inclusive education, early childhood education, decolonial studies, feminist anti-violence organizing, community health and more—as well as geopolitical locations.

Disabled children and young people are among the most marginalized in education. Understanding ableist power is necessary to address educational exclusion, but it is not always sufficient. Intersectional analysis shows that disability is co-constructed by other axes of oppression and that there is a compounding impact of multiple de-valued identities. A case-study of South Africa illustrates the inequalities that are wrought by the intersections of ableism, racism, economic power and sexism. Intersectionality is a generative contribution to disability studies in education, but is diminished without key concepts such as power, historicity, a theory of knowledge, geography, justice, relationality, embodiment and agency.

This book will be written primarily for graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and professionals in the fields of school psychology, special education, and other areas of education, as well as the health professions. We see the book as being a viable textbook for courses in research design, applied statistics, applied behavioral analysis, and practicum, among others. We would not assume of the readers any prior knowledge about single subjects designs, nor any prior statistical experience. We will provide an introductory chapter devoted to basic statistical concepts, including measures of central tendency (e.g., mean, median, mode), measures of variation (e.g., variance, standard deviation, range, inter-quartile range), correlation, frequency distributions, and effect sizes. In addition, given that the book will rely heavily on R software, the introductory chapter will also devote attention to the basics of using the software for organizing data, conducting basic statistical analyses, and for graphics. The R commands used to carry out these analyses will be largely automated so that users will only need to define the range for their data, and then enter it into the R spreadsheet. We envision these tools being available on the book website, with instructions for using them available in the book itself.We envision the book as being useful either as a primary text for a course in educational research designs, school psychology practicum, applied behavioral analysis, special education, or applied statistics. We also anticipate that individuals working in schools, school districts, mental health facilities, hospitals, applied behavioral analysis clinics, and evaluation organizations, as well as faculty members needing a practical resource for single subject design research, will all serve as a market for the book. In short, the readership would include graduate students, faculty members, teachers, psychologists, social workers, counselors, medical professionals, applied behavioral analysis professionals, program evaluators, and others whose work focuses on monitoring changes in individuals, particularly as the result of specific treatment conditions.We believe that this book could be marketed through professional organizations such as the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the National Association of School Psychologists, the National Association of Special Education Teachers, the Association for Professional Behavior Analysis, the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association for Psychological Science, and the American Evaluation Association. Within AERA, the following special interest groups would have particular interest in this book: Action Research, Classroom Observation, Disability Studies in Education, Mixed Methods Research, Qualitative Research, and Special Education Research. The book could also be marketed to state departments of education and their special education and school psychology divisions. Currently, many state departments of education require documentation for Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) procedures for individual students. The method taught in this proposed book would allow educators and student support personnel to document the effectiveness of interventions systematically and accurately.

This book will be written primarily for graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and professionals in the fields of school psychology, special education, and other areas of education, as well as the health professions. We see the book as being a viable textbook for courses in research design, applied statistics, applied behavioral analysis, and practicum, among others. We would not assume of the readers any prior knowledge about single subjects designs, nor any prior statistical experience. We will provide an introductory chapter devoted to basic statistical concepts, including measures of central tendency (e.g., mean, median, mode), measures of variation (e.g., variance, standard deviation, range, inter-quartile range), correlation, frequency distributions, and effect sizes. In addition, given that the book will rely heavily on R software, the introductory chapter will also devote attention to the basics of using the software for organizing data, conducting basic statistical analyses, and for graphics. The R commands used to carry out these analyses will be largely automated so that users will only need to define the range for their data, and then enter it into the R spreadsheet. We envision these tools being available on the book website, with instructions for using them available in the book itself.We envision the book as being useful either as a primary text for a course in educational research designs, school psychology practicum, applied behavioral analysis, special education, or applied statistics. We also anticipate that individuals working in schools, school districts, mental health facilities, hospitals, applied behavioral analysis clinics, and evaluation organizations, as well as faculty members needing a practical resource for single subject design research, will all serve as a market for the book. In short, the readership would include graduate students, faculty members, teachers, psychologists, social workers, counselors, medical professionals, applied behavioral analysis professionals, program evaluators, and others whose work focuses on monitoring changes in individuals, particularly as the result of specific treatment conditions.We believe that this book could be marketed through professional organizations such as the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the National Association of School Psychologists, the National Association of Special Education Teachers, the Association for Professional Behavior Analysis, the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association for Psychological Science, and the American Evaluation Association. Within AERA, the following special interest groups would have particular interest in this book: Action Research, Classroom Observation, Disability Studies in Education, Mixed Methods Research, Qualitative Research, and Special Education Research. The book could also be marketed to state departments of education and their special education and school psychology divisions. Currently, many state departments of education require documentation for Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) procedures for individual students. The method taught in this proposed book would allow educators and student support personnel to document the effectiveness of interventions systematically and accurately.

Aiming to place disability studies in conversation with other antioppressive educational frameworks, this article “crips” human rights education (HRE), a field that, by definition, teaches people about equality, dignity, and respect. A theoretical sampling of HRE journals and an online library database uncovers that human rights scholarship largely overlooks disability outside a medical or legal framework, though disability scholars consistently reference human rights in their work. We argue that these absences exemplify the active erasure of disability at the ontological level, and in response we urge scholars to reconceptualize where and how politics, activism, and social change take place. This “visibilizing” project follows Baxi's dictum that HRE must constantly adapt to people’s localized experiences and the needs of future generations. We offer a reading list to begin this “visibilizing” project in undergraduate university settings, proposing that teachers use “Disability and Human Rights Praxis: Intersectional, Interdisciplinary Readings for Educators” to conceptualize how they might pair disability studies in education and HRE texts to facilitate interdisciplinary class discussions and student projects.

In 1975, Congress enacted a law eventually known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which ensures that children with disabilities receive a free, appropriate, public education. Since then, scholarly and popular debates about the effectiveness of inclusive education have proliferated and typically focus on the ability or inability of students with disabilities to succeed in so-called regular classrooms. These debates reflect widespread assumptions that the regular classroom is rightly the province of nondisabled students and a neutral, value-free space that students with disabilities invade and disrupt via their very presence and their costly needs for adaptation. But as many scholars in the field of Disability Studies in Education (DSE) have argued, these discussions often fail to recognize that the space of the regular classroom, far from neutral, is constructed for a nondisabled, neurotypical, white, male, middle-class "norm" that neither reflects nor accommodates the wide range of diverse learners within it, regardless of whether these learners have been diagnosed with a disability. A DSE perspective sees the educational environment, not students with disabilities, as the "problem" and calls for a Universal Design for Learning approach to education, or the design of instructional materials and activities that allows the learning goals to be achievable by individuals with wide differences in their abilities and backgrounds. Agreeing with this DSE perspective, this article uses an autoethnographic approach to reexamine inclusive education and to consider how university classrooms, pedagogy, and curricular materials can be improved in order to accommodate all students, not just those with disabilities. Ultimately, the article argues that Universal Design for Learning has the potential to radically transform the meaning of inclusive education and the very concept of disability.