TY - JOUR
T1 - Disability studies in education
T2 - The need for a plurality of perspectives on disability
AU - Baglieri, Susan
AU - Valle, Jan W.
AU - Connor, David J.
AU - Gallagher, Deborah J.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - This article asserts that the field of special education, historically founded on conceptions of disability originating within scientific, psychological, and medical frame works, will benefit from acknowledging broader understandings of disability. Although well intended, traditional understandings of disability in special education have inadvertently inhibited the development of theory,limited research methods, narrowed pedagogical practice, and determined largely segregated policies for educating students with disabilities. Since the passage of P.L. 94-142, along with the growth of the Disability Rights Movements, meanings of disability have expanded and evolved, no longer constrained to the deficit-based medical model. For many individuals, disability is primarily best understood within social, cultural, and historical contexts. As career-long educators, the authors describe the emergence of Disability Studies in Education, illustrating ways it offers them the means to engage with longstanding tensions, limitations, and promises within their chosen field of special education-helping to reframe, accurately ground, and define their own research and practice. The authors call upon the field of special education to acknowledge and accept a greater plurality of perspectives about the nature of disability, recognizing the profound implications this raises for research, and viewing it as a welcome opportunity for ongoing dialogue.
AB - This article asserts that the field of special education, historically founded on conceptions of disability originating within scientific, psychological, and medical frame works, will benefit from acknowledging broader understandings of disability. Although well intended, traditional understandings of disability in special education have inadvertently inhibited the development of theory,limited research methods, narrowed pedagogical practice, and determined largely segregated policies for educating students with disabilities. Since the passage of P.L. 94-142, along with the growth of the Disability Rights Movements, meanings of disability have expanded and evolved, no longer constrained to the deficit-based medical model. For many individuals, disability is primarily best understood within social, cultural, and historical contexts. As career-long educators, the authors describe the emergence of Disability Studies in Education, illustrating ways it offers them the means to engage with longstanding tensions, limitations, and promises within their chosen field of special education-helping to reframe, accurately ground, and define their own research and practice. The authors call upon the field of special education to acknowledge and accept a greater plurality of perspectives about the nature of disability, recognizing the profound implications this raises for research, and viewing it as a welcome opportunity for ongoing dialogue.
KW - disability studies
KW - inclusion
KW - research
KW - special education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79959808776&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0741932510362200
DO - 10.1177/0741932510362200
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79959808776
SN - 0741-9325
VL - 32
SP - 267
EP - 278
JO - Remedial and Special Education
JF - Remedial and Special Education
IS - 4
ER -