Location

Nessmith-Lane Atrium

Session Format

Poster Presentation

Research Area Topic:

Education & Learning - Curriculum & Instruction

Abstract

Theoretical framework: Critical pedagogy, disability studies & postmodernity. Disability studies is a burgeoning field in its nascency. Questions of identity and what is normal through the eyes of people that live in what society calls a disability, calls into question the deficit-medical model and what is worthwhile learning. It re-embraces the origins of disability rights in the civil rights movement. Only through focusing our outlook wider in a critical manner and a postmodern lens can educators build awareness, empowerment and enable equitable education for people with Dis/Abilities. Methodology: Literature review of the important theoretical frameworks, literature, and scholarship relating to this Equity in education issue. Scholarship of Paulo Freire, Thomas Skritic, Simi Lintom, Susan Gabel and Nirmala Erevelles will be examined. Educational /Field Significance: Special education from its inception has focused students in a deficit model of society by comparing the lack of skills, and abilities to a norm. This very rigid and dominant system of comparison forms the basis of a very teacher-oriented and technically-focused model enshrined in federal laws. The medical and educational deficit model is functional for the day-to-day practitioner in schools. But by looking through the lenses of critical pedagogy, and postmodernity, the idea of what a Irregular education' or typical student is, knows, and shows is widened to be more constructivist. The decentered interaction between teacher and student and sharing of what is important knowledge in that constructed manner is a hallmark of postmodern thought and studies. Proposed Significance: Examining critical pedagogy and emerging scholarship in disability studies through a postmodern lens can give researchers a new way to view people with Dis/Abilities and their own liberation and celebration of their unique identities. By widening that lens we open up new areas of research and further study and empowerment.

Keywords

Education, Disability, Disable, Inequity, Postmodern, Identity

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Presentation Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

Start Date

4-16-2016 2:45 PM

End Date

4-16-2016 4:00 PM

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Apr 16th, 2:45 PM Apr 16th, 4:00 PM

Being Critical: (In)Equity in Education for Students with Disabilities

Nessmith-Lane Atrium

Theoretical framework: Critical pedagogy, disability studies & postmodernity. Disability studies is a burgeoning field in its nascency. Questions of identity and what is normal through the eyes of people that live in what society calls a disability, calls into question the deficit-medical model and what is worthwhile learning. It re-embraces the origins of disability rights in the civil rights movement. Only through focusing our outlook wider in a critical manner and a postmodern lens can educators build awareness, empowerment and enable equitable education for people with Dis/Abilities. Methodology: Literature review of the important theoretical frameworks, literature, and scholarship relating to this Equity in education issue. Scholarship of Paulo Freire, Thomas Skritic, Simi Lintom, Susan Gabel and Nirmala Erevelles will be examined. Educational /Field Significance: Special education from its inception has focused students in a deficit model of society by comparing the lack of skills, and abilities to a norm. This very rigid and dominant system of comparison forms the basis of a very teacher-oriented and technically-focused model enshrined in federal laws. The medical and educational deficit model is functional for the day-to-day practitioner in schools. But by looking through the lenses of critical pedagogy, and postmodernity, the idea of what a Irregular education' or typical student is, knows, and shows is widened to be more constructivist. The decentered interaction between teacher and student and sharing of what is important knowledge in that constructed manner is a hallmark of postmodern thought and studies. Proposed Significance: Examining critical pedagogy and emerging scholarship in disability studies through a postmodern lens can give researchers a new way to view people with Dis/Abilities and their own liberation and celebration of their unique identities. By widening that lens we open up new areas of research and further study and empowerment.