It’s a diagnosis for the rich: disability, advocacy and the micro-practices of social reproduction

Abstract

A considerable body of sociological literature has examined the role that education plays in the ongoing reproduction of class-based inequalities. However, there is a relative lack of research that has focused on the reproduction of inequalities linked to the combined influences of disability and social class. Based on a qualitative study of 19 Australian families, this article examines how the strategies that mothers adopt to advocate for their dyslexic children are shaped by social class. We argue that the expectation by schools that mothers will advocate for their child reproduces inequality because advocacy hinges on mothers having access to specialised cultural capital and considerable financial capital. Our findings also indicate that there is a reliance on mothers to advocate for their child in order to get support. We argue that this reliance on advocacy shifts responsibility for inclusion from the state to mothers, further reproducing a system that is exclusionary of students with disabilities.

Keywords:

• Disability
• advocacy
• micro-processes and practices of reproduction
• responsibilisation
• dyslexia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Ethics approval number 2019/RA/4/20/5755.

2 All participants were given pseudonyms.

3 Cheryl is referring to The School of Special Educational Needs: (SSEND). SSEND builds the capacity of Western Australian public schools to ensure students with disability are able to access the curriculum on the same basis as their peers.

4 Wendy is referring to Synthetic phonics, a method of teaching English reading which first teaches the letter sounds and then builds up to blending these sounds together to achieve full pronunciation of whole words.