Special education teachers of color and their beliefs about dis/ability and race: Counter-stories of smartness and goodness

Abstract

Teacher beliefs about race and dis/ability¹ are important in understanding how teachers educate and support students of color with dis/abilities. This is particularly critical because of the overrepresentation of students of color in special education, irrelevant curriculum, and poor post-school outcomes which continue to impact students of color with dis/abilities in US public schools. Using qualitative counter-stories of goodness and smartness, this study highlights the expressed beliefs of two special education teachers of color, Leena and Leonardo, who were completing a special education teaching credential program at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in Southern California. The teachers were asked to compose a series of short and long reflections as part of two courses centering dis/ability and race. They also participated in follow-up interviews in which they reflected on their beliefs and experiences with the intersections of dis/ability and race. Courses were intentionally restructured using Dis/ability Studies and Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), and analyses specifically focused on how participants were positioned through the framework of smartness and goodness. Findings revealed how the experiences of special education teachers of color across time and space were filled with examples of racism and ableism that shaped their beliefs and identities as teachers of color and teachers committed to racial and dis/ability justice. Each counter-story also highlights the challenges special education teachers of color face because of their experiences of multiple and intersecting oppressions.

Keywords:

• DisCrit
• special education
• teacher beliefs
• smartness
• goodness
• counter-stories

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Like several authors, I use dis/ability to “call attention to ways in which the latter overwhelmingly signals a specific inability to perform culturally-defined expected tasks (such as learning or walking) that come to define the individual as primarily and generally ‘unable’ to navigate society … The ‘/’ in dis/ability disrupts misleading understandings of dis/ability, as it simultaneously conveys the mixture of ability and dis/ability” (Annamma et al., 2013, p. 24).

2 Critical perspective was defined as a commitment to using asset-based framings of communities of color (Yosso & Burciaga, 2016) and a desire to work and build alongside communities of color (Kohli & Pizarro, 2016), with which the participants both identified.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Saili S. Kulkarni

Saili S. Kulkarni (she/her/hers) is an Associate Professor of Special Education at San José State University. Her research seeks to understand the intersections of disability and race as they inform teacher education. She is interested in learning how special education teachers of color enact resistance to racism and ableism in classrooms. Her research also examines humanizing and restorative practices to eradicate harsh and exclusionary disciplinary practices for young children of color with disabilities. Dr. Kulkarni currently serves as the Co-Chair for the American Educational Research Association Disability Studies in Education Special Interest Group. She was a Curriculum Inquiry Writing Fellow during the summer of 2018 and would like to thank her cohort, especially Eli Kean, Cassie Brownell, Noreen Rodriguez and Abby Rombalski for their continued support!