Beth Ferri
Syracuse University, Disability Studies and Inclusive Education, Faculty Member
- School Desegregation, Disability Studies, Critical Special Education, Feminist Disability Studies, Disability Studies in Education, Inclusive Education, and 23 moreWomen's Studies, Bakhtin, Critical Discourse Studies, Narrative Inquiry, Critical Discourse Analysis, Cultural Studies, Special Education, Discourse, Intersectionality, Critical Disability Studies, Intersectionality and Social Inequality, Disability Theory, Special Education Needs and Inclusive Practice, Inclusion, Race and Ethnicity, Critical Disability Studies, Queer Theory, Intersectionality Theory, Feminist Theory, Disability, Black Feminist Theory/Thought, Special Educational Needs, Qualitative Research (Education), and Autoimmunity (Derrida)edit
- Beth A. Ferri, Ph.D. is an Associate Dean for Research and Professor in Disability Studies and Inclusive Education at... moreBeth A. Ferri, Ph.D. is an Associate Dean for Research and Professor in Disability Studies and Inclusive Education at Syracuse University. She has published widely on the intersection of race, gender, and disability. In addition to over 70 articles and chapters, she has published six books: Enacting Disability Critical Race Theory: From the Personal to the Global (2023, Routledge, co-edited with Annamma & Connor); DisCrit Expanded: Inquiries, Reverberations & Ruptures (2022, Teachers College Press, co-edited with Annamma & Connor); Stories from our Classrooms: How Working in Education Shapes Thinking about Dis/Ability (2021, Peter Lang, co-edited with Connor); DisCrit: Critical Conversations Across Race, Class, & Dis/ability (2016, Teachers College Press, co-edited with Connor & Annamma); Righting Educational Wrongs: Disability Studies Law and Education (2013, SU Press, co-edited with Kanter); and, Reading Resistance: Discourses of Exclusion in Desegregation and Inclusion Debates (2006, Peter Lang, co-authored with Connor).edit
This book purposefully connects practice to research, and vice versa, through the use of deeply personal stories in the form of autoethnographic memoirs. In this collection, twenty contributors share selected tales of teaching students... more
This book purposefully connects practice to research, and vice versa, through the use of deeply personal stories in the form of autoethnographic memoirs. In this collection, twenty contributors share selected tales of teaching students with dis/abilities in K-12 settings across the USA, including tentative triumphs, frustrating failures, and a deep desire to understand the dynamics of teaching and learning.The authors also share an early awareness of significant dissonance between academic knowledge taught to them in teacher education programs and their own experiential knowledge in schools. Coming to question established practices within the field of special education in relation to the children they taught, each author grew increasingly critical of deficit-models of disability that emphasized commonplace practices of physical and social exclusion, dysfunction and disorders, repetitive remediation and punitive punishments. The authors describe how their interactions with children and youth, parents, and administrators, in the context of their classrooms and schools, influenced a shift away from the limiting discourse of special education and toward becoming critical special educators and/or engaging with disability studies as a way to reclaim, reframe, and reimagine disability as a natural part of human diversity. Furthermore, the authors document how these early experiences in the everydayness of schooling helped ground them as teachers and later, teacher educators, who galvanized their research trajectories around studying issues of access and equality throughout educational structures and systems, while developing new theoretical models within Disability Studies in Education, aimed to impact practices and policies.
Research Interests: Teacher Education, Disability Studies, Teachers' professional development, Disability Studies in Education, Special Educational Needs, and 14 moreSpecial Education Teacher Education, Learning Disabilities, Special Education Teachers, Preservice Teacher Education, Teachers Careers, Teachers Lives and Careers, Early Career Teachers, Teachers' lives, identities and work, Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, Personal Narratives, Teacher Narratives, Comparative Studies In Special Needs Education, Teachers, Collective Narratives, and Diversity of Students
This groundbreaking volume brings together major figures in Disability Studies in Education (DSE) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) to explore some of today’s most important issues in education. Scholars examine the achievement/opportunity... more
This groundbreaking volume brings together major figures in Disability Studies in Education (DSE) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) to explore some of today’s most important issues in education. Scholars examine the achievement/opportunity gaps from both historical and contemporary perspectives, as well as
the overrepresentation of minority students in special education and the school-to-prison pipeline. Chapters
also address school reform and the impact on students based on race, class, and dis/ability and the capacity of law and policy to include (and exclude). Readers will discover how some students are included (and excluded) within schools and society, why some citizens are afforded expanded (or limited) opportunities in life, and who moves up in the world and who is trapped at the “bottom of the well.”
the overrepresentation of minority students in special education and the school-to-prison pipeline. Chapters
also address school reform and the impact on students based on race, class, and dis/ability and the capacity of law and policy to include (and exclude). Readers will discover how some students are included (and excluded) within schools and society, why some citizens are afforded expanded (or limited) opportunities in life, and who moves up in the world and who is trapped at the “bottom of the well.”
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This groundbreaking volume brings together major figures in Disability Studies in Education (DSE) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) to explore some of today’s most important issues in education. Scholars examine the achievement/opportunity... more
This groundbreaking volume brings together major figures in Disability Studies in Education (DSE) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) to explore some of today’s most important issues in education. Scholars examine the achievement/opportunity gaps from both historical and contemporary perspectives, as well as the overrepresentation of minority students in special education and the school-to-prison pipeline. Chapters also address school reform and the impact on students based on race, class, and dis/ability and the capacity of law and policy to include (and exclude). Readers will discover how some students are included (and excluded) within schools and society, why some citizens are afforded expanded (or limited) opportunities in life, and who moves up in the world and who is trapped at the “bottom of the well.”
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" Reading Resistance confronts longstanding exclusionary practices in U.S. public schooling. Beth A. Ferri and David J. Connor trace the interconnected histories of race and disability in the public imagination through their nuanced... more
" Reading Resistance confronts longstanding exclusionary practices in U.S. public schooling. Beth A. Ferri and David J. Connor trace the interconnected histories of race and disability in the public imagination through their nuanced analysis of editorial pages and other public discourses, including political cartoons and eugenics posters. By uncovering how the concept of disability was used to resegregate students of color after the historic Brown decision, the authors argue that special education has played a role in undermining school desegregation. In its critical, interdisciplinary focus on the interlocking politics of race and disability, Reading Resistance offers important contributions to educational research, theory, and policy.
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In this review, we explore how intersectionality has been engaged with through the lens of disability critical race theory (DisCrit) to produce new knowledge. In this chapter, we (1) trace the intellectual lineage for developing DisCrit,... more
In this review, we explore how intersectionality has been engaged with through the lens of disability critical race theory (DisCrit) to produce new knowledge. In this chapter, we (1) trace the intellectual lineage for developing DisCrit, (2) review the body of interdisciplinary scholarship incorporating DisCrit to date, and (3) propose the future trajectories of DisCrit, noting challenges and tensions that have arisen. Providing new opportunities to investigate how patterns of oppression uniquely intersect to target students at the margins of Whiteness and ability, DisCrit has been taken up by scholars to expose and dismantle entrenched inequities in education.
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[In French] The disproportionate placement of students of color in special education has been a persistent problem in the U.S. and beyond. In this article, we trace the historical contexts, as well as contemporary trends associated with... more
[In French] The disproportionate placement of students of color in special education has been a persistent problem in the U.S. and beyond. In this article, we trace the historical contexts, as well as contemporary trends associated with disproportionality. We then discuss ways that overrepresentation has relied upon problematic legacies of deficit thinking and frustrated attempts toward inclusion. Finally, we document promising developments in theory, research, and practice that seek to undue the harmful effects of racially divided schools and society.
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The response to an uncontrolled spread of disease often incites a commingling of medical, moral, and political panic. Whether in the context of threats presented by early plagues, to contemporary super viruses, to lead toys, contagion,... more
The response to an uncontrolled spread of disease often incites a commingling of medical, moral, and political panic. Whether in the context of threats presented by early plagues, to contemporary super viruses, to lead toys, contagion, via transmission , makes interconnections visible, among and across peoples, cultures, objects, forms of commerce, and more. In this article, I use an intersectional disability studies framework to first discuss how, faced with the bio-insecurity of contagion, responses typically invoke discourses of war, empire, and what Priscilla Wald calls " medical nativism " (2008, 9). I then discuss how metaphors of autoimmunity often simply shift this discourse from concerns about external terror to that of internal terror (Sengupta 2014). Viewing autoimmunity from this vantage point, the body/nation is still viewed as vulnerable to attack, but the victim and the villain are the self/same. In the final section, I posit that a reimagined ethic of autoimmunity could offer new and fruitful ways to think about self/other relations that rely on mutual recognition and reject the binary, oppositional stance that undergirds annihilation. Keywords: autoimmunity / contagion / intersectional disability studies / metaphors of disease and illness / war metaphors
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Rapidly institutionalized within educational policy and practice, Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tier whole school approach to universal screening, targeted evidence-based intervening, and progress monitoring for students who... more
Rapidly institutionalized within educational policy and practice, Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tier whole school approach to universal screening, targeted evidence-based intervening, and progress monitoring for students who are struggling to keep up with grade level or behavioral standards. Although RTI has quickly become institutionalized in policy as a " best practice " and widely adopted in the U.S., there remains persisting concerns about the model. In this paper I critically examine both the RTI model and the assumptions that undergird its practices. I conclude by proposing ways to make an RTI model more responsive to the context of teaching and learning in today's classrooms.
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The history of inclusive school policies and practices in both Italy and the United States suggest that inclusion is not something we achieve once and for all, but instead must continually be won. In this chapter I describe some of the... more
The history of inclusive school policies and practices in both Italy and the United States suggest that inclusion is not something we achieve once and for all, but instead must continually be won. In this chapter I describe some of the challenges that both US and Italy have faced in enacting inclusive policies. I argue for the need to be mindful of the ways schools are sites in which the grav-itational pull towards exclusion must be persistently countered and resisted by an ever-expanding impulse toward inclusion. I conclude the article by suggesting ways that disability studies in education can provide important insights for how to counteract the tenacious pull toward exclusion and to enact an expanded and more robust vision of inclusion.
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In F. Dovigo (Ed.). Special Educational Needs and Inclusive Practices: An International Perspective. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers. DOI:10.1007/978-94-6300-857-0_2
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The continuously evolving standards-based reform (SBR) movement is one of the most prominent features of today's educational policy landscape. As SBR has continued to drive educational policy, local schools and districts have adopted many... more
The continuously evolving standards-based reform (SBR) movement is one of the most prominent features of today's educational policy landscape. As SBR has continued to drive educational policy, local schools and districts have adopted many approaches to comply with legal mandates. This paper critically examines one particular resultant phenomenon of the SBR movement—the emergence of a new track of self-contained classes called Prioritized Curriculum classes, designed to provide students with disabilities access to standards-based general education curriculum, but in a segregated class. In this article we document the emergence of such courses and critically analyze the rationales and policy loopholes that have led to their creation.
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The continuously evolving standards‐based reform (SBR) movement is one of the most prominent features of today's educational policy landscape. As SBR has continued to drive educational policy, local schools and districts have adopted many... more
The continuously evolving standards‐based reform (SBR) movement is one of the most prominent features of today's educational policy landscape. As SBR has continued to drive educational policy, local schools and districts have adopted many approaches to comply with legal mandates. This paper critically examines one particular resultant phenomenon of the SBR movement—the emergence of a new track of self‐contained classes called Prioritized Curriculum classes, designed to provide students with disabilities access to standards‐based general education curriculum, but in a segregated class. In this article we document the emergence of such courses and critically analyze the rationales and policy loopholes that have led to their creation.
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In this article, we critically review the work of Morgan et al. (2015) and offer Disability Studies in Education (DSE) as an alternative conceptualization to traditional research within special education. We fi rst unpack many of Morgan... more
In this article, we critically review the work of Morgan et al. (2015) and offer Disability Studies in Education (DSE) as an alternative conceptualization to traditional research within special education. We fi rst unpack many of Morgan et al.'s (2015) assumptions, which are grounded in defi cit discourses about children, family structures, economic status, and home cultures. Next, we identify fl aws in their research design and methodology. Finally, we elaborate on how, through naming and making visible the workings of ableism and racism, DSE offers a way to counter the defi cit discourses and inaccurate abstractions of lived realities upon which Morgan et al.'s (2015) work rests.
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Research Interests: Critical Theory, Special Education, Disability Studies, Critical Disability Studies, Critical Race Theory, and 4 moreCritical Race Theory and Whiteness theory, Disability, LatCrit Theory, and Critical Race Theory (CRT & LatCrit) Educational Access & Equity Campus Racial and Gender Climate Critical Media Literacy Racial and Gender Microaggressions
Research Interests: Special Education, Disability Studies, Critical Disability Studies, Critical Race Theory, Disability History, and 3 moreCritical Race Theory and Whiteness theory, Disability, and Critical Race Theory (CRT & LatCrit) Educational Access & Equity Campus Racial and Gender Climate Critical Media Literacy Racial and Gender Microaggressions
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In the 30 years since the passage of the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (PL. 94-142) in 1975 (subsequently the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) special education in the USA as an institutionalized practice has... more
In the 30 years since the passage of the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (PL. 94-142) in 1975 (subsequently the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) special education in the USA as an institutionalized practice has become solidified. Over the years, however, the practice of segregating students because of disability has come under increased scrutiny. Beginning in the late 1980s, an increasing number of parents advocated that their children with disabilities be put in mainstream general education classes. Emotionally charged debates over the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms ensued. In this paper we look at the public debates over inclusion and expose some of the paradoxes within special education that serve to hinder the integration of individuals with disabilities into general classes and, by extension, society at large. (Contains 2 notes.
Because of its long commitment to inclusive/integrated education, Italy leads the world in educating the largest percentage of its students with disabilities in gen- eral education classes. It also boasts the fewest special classes and... more
Because of its long commitment to inclusive/integrated education, Italy leads the world in educating the largest percentage of its students with disabilities in gen- eral education classes. It also boasts the fewest special classes and schools. Inclusion in Italy is based on a principle that disability is not a problem, but rather a positive force in the classroom. Focused on developing the competencies of each student, inclusion/integration shares a belief in the capacity for growth of all learners and an assumption that non-disabled and disabled peers, even those with the most significant learning needs, learn in mutually reinforcing and reciprocal ways. Integrazione scolastica is not, therefore, simply a moral or ethi- cal project but has led to increased achievement for learners with and without disabilities. Yet, despite progressive laws and policies and a 30-year history of inclusive education, there remains a need to be hypervigilant to pressures to revert back to the status quo of segregated education. The problem is not a lack of a US-centric approach, as advocated by Anastasiou, Kaufman, and Di Nuovo (2015), which is increasingly out of step with international policy and deeply mired in racial inequalities and a overall lack of efficacy, but rather to find ways to recommit to fully inclusive practices in an era of increased diversity, diminished economic resources and increasing pressures of neoliberal reforms.
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In this article, we combine aspects of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Disability Studies (DS) to propose a new theoretical framework that incorporates a dual analysis of race and ability: Dis/ability Critical Race Studies, or DisCrit. We... more
In this article, we combine aspects of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Disability Studies (DS) to propose a new theoretical framework that incorporates a dual analysis of race and ability: Dis/ability Critical Race Studies, or DisCrit. We first examine some connections between the interdependent constructions of race and dis/ability in education and society in the United States and why we find it necessary to add another branch to Critical Race Theory and Disability Studies. Next, we outline the tenets of DisCrit, calling attention to its potential value as well as elucidate some tensions, cautions, and current limitations within DisCrit. Finally, we suggest ways in which DisCrit can be used in relation to moving beyond the contemporary impasse of researching race and dis/ability within education and other fields.
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Scholars in disability studies in education, like scholars in other critical fields of inquiry, increasingly draw on a more interdisciplinary range of texts in their research and teaching, including art, fiction, film, and autobiography.... more
Scholars in disability studies in education, like scholars in other critical fields of inquiry, increasingly draw on a more interdisciplinary range of texts in their research and teaching, including art, fiction, film, and autobiography. Contemporary disability life writing can and should be read as challenging a tangle of oppressive ideologies and destabilizing any claim to a normative or fixed center. Autobiography as a genre, however, requires a particular set of critical reading practices to fully illuminate myriad ways in which these texts can serve as important and politically grounded counternarratives to the dominant discourse. Read critically, these texts have the potential to unravel the myth of normalcy that undergirds so many of the exclusionary practices in education. Thus, a critical disability studies approach requires more than the infusion of different kinds of texts; it also requires the incorporation of diverse methods of analysis and theoretical framing of those texts in order to fully appreciate their transgressive potential.
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In this article we examine some of the omnipresent yet unacknowledged discourses of social and economic disadvantage and dis/ability within schools in the US. First, we document ways that social class, race, and dis/ability function... more
In this article we examine some of the omnipresent yet unacknowledged discourses of social and economic disadvantage and dis/ability within schools in the US. First, we document ways that social class, race, and dis/ability function within schools to further disadvantage and exclude already marginalized students. Next, we show how particular ways of talking about student ability and achievement rarely addresses this important connection. We then illustrate specific ways that race, social class, and dis/ability are elided even within more critical academic dis- cussions. Finally, we argue for a more critical and sustained scholarly engagement that would necessarily entail reaching out margin-to-margin in order to fully understand and interrupt the myriad ways that race, economic disadvantage and dis/ability work to justify exclusion and inequality in schools.
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It is estimated in the world today, that more than one billion people have a disability (World Health Organization, 2011). Many people with disabilities receive no education, and, of those who do, few receive an education on an equal... more
It is estimated in the world today, that more than one billion people have a disability (World Health Organization, 2011). Many people with disabilities receive no education, and, of those who do, few receive an education on an equal basis with their non-disabled peers. In 2006, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The CRPD seeks to achieve equality for people with disabilities in all areas of life, including education. Article 24 of the CRPD specifically calls upon States Parties to “ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning” (United Nations, 2006, Art.24, para. 1). In this article, the authors provide an overview of the right to inclusive education under international law prior to the CRPD, followed by a discussion of Article 24 of the CRPD. The authors then discuss the role of inclusive education in Italy, which has long been regarded as a leader in the field of inclusive education. The authors conclude the article with a discussion of lessons learned from the Italian experience that may help other countries as they work towards implementation of Article 24's mandate of an inclusive education system.
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Special education critics’ vigorous appraisals of the social model of disability, along with their analysis of its implications for special education, provide a valuable forum for meaningful dialogue about how educators are to understand... more
Special education critics’ vigorous appraisals of the social model of disability, along with their analysis of its implications for special education, provide a valuable forum for meaningful dialogue about how educators are to understand the nature of disability. In this article, we offer our response to their recent articles. As advocates of the social model, we find their critiques intriguing, at moments a bit provocative, but more importantly we find in their work an opportunity to advance beyond the far too incessant schism between those who support the medical model of disability and those who endorse its alternatives.
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The potential of technology to connect people and provide access to education, commerce, employment and entertainment has never been greater or more rapidly changing. Communication technologies and new media promise to ‘revolutionize our... more
The potential of technology to connect people and
provide access to education, commerce, employment
and entertainment has never been greater or
more rapidly changing. Communication technologies
and new media promise to ‘revolutionize our
lives’ by breaking down barriers and expanding
access for disabled people. Yet, it is also true that
technology can create unexpected and undercritiqued
forms of social exclusion for disabled
people. In addition to exploring some of the ways
that even (or especially) assistive technology can
result in new forms of social exclusion, we also
propose alternative ways of thinking about inclusive
and accessible (as opposed to assistive) technology
and provide some very practical ways that accessible
technologies would promote greater access
and flexibility for disabled students and adults. We
contend that technology should be conceived of as
a global, accessible and inclusive concept, not one
that requires a qualifier based on who it is for.
provide access to education, commerce, employment
and entertainment has never been greater or
more rapidly changing. Communication technologies
and new media promise to ‘revolutionize our
lives’ by breaking down barriers and expanding
access for disabled people. Yet, it is also true that
technology can create unexpected and undercritiqued
forms of social exclusion for disabled
people. In addition to exploring some of the ways
that even (or especially) assistive technology can
result in new forms of social exclusion, we also
propose alternative ways of thinking about inclusive
and accessible (as opposed to assistive) technology
and provide some very practical ways that accessible
technologies would promote greater access
and flexibility for disabled students and adults. We
contend that technology should be conceived of as
a global, accessible and inclusive concept, not one
that requires a qualifier based on who it is for.
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The field of learning disabilities (LD) has a complex and complicated history. Tensions over definitions, eligibility criteria, service delivery models, and best practices, as well as epistemological debates, bave been a part oftbat... more
The field of learning disabilities (LD) has a complex and complicated history. Tensions over definitions, eligibility criteria, service delivery models, and best practices, as well as epistemological debates, bave been a part oftbat history from its inception. Given our collective struggles, as well as the current realities facing tbe field, there could not be a more critical moment for a conversation about how it is that we go about knowing what we know. In tbis concluding essay, we consider how, by focusing so intently on what works, we, as a field, may inadvertently lose sight of what matters. In other words, contrary to the push for narrowing wbat counts as evidence or knowledge, we examine tbe potential value in opening up tbe field to a more diverse range of methods for students who struggle academically. We also challenge taken-for-granted assumptions in the push toward evidence- or research-based practice. Finally, we highlight several compelling themes that we take away from the contributors of this special double issue.
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This article serves as an introduction to a special double edition of Learning Disabilities Quarterly that seeks to engage the field in a respectful exchange about the need to expand research methodologies. In this article we identify... more
This article serves as an introduction to a special double edition of Learning Disabilities Quarterly that seeks to engage the field in a respectful exchange about the need to expand research methodologies. In this article we identify three interrelated concepts of interest to researchers in the field of LD—Learning, Disability, and Research—and examine how the cultural location(s) of each serve to influence decisions about and possibilities for researching learning disabilities. Subsequently, we urge the greater use of a plurality of methods than is currently reflected in traditional LD research, sharing examples of what knowledge is currently lost, minimized, disregarded, or omitted, while articulating examples of what could be gained. Finally, by relating research on LD to schools, classroom life, and individuals identified as having learning disabilities, we advocate for more responsive research, and a greater acceptance of epistemic reflexivity within the LD research community.
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DSQ Special Issue: “Why is There Learning Disabilities?”— Revisiting Christine Sleeter’s Socio-political Construction of Disability Two Decades On Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ) is the journal of the Society for Disability Studies... more
DSQ Special Issue: “Why is There Learning Disabilities?”— Revisiting Christine Sleeter’s Socio-political Construction of Disability Two Decades On
Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ) is the journal of the Society for Disability Studies (SDS). It is a multidisciplinary and international journal of interest to social scientists, scholars in the humanities, disability rights advocates, creative writers, and others concerned with the issues of people with disabilities. It represents the full range of methods, epistemologies, perspectives, and content that the multidisciplinary field of disability studies embraces. DSQ is committed to developing theoretical and practical knowledge about disability and to promoting the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in society.
Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ) is the journal of the Society for Disability Studies (SDS). It is a multidisciplinary and international journal of interest to social scientists, scholars in the humanities, disability rights advocates, creative writers, and others concerned with the issues of people with disabilities. It represents the full range of methods, epistemologies, perspectives, and content that the multidisciplinary field of disability studies embraces. DSQ is committed to developing theoretical and practical knowledge about disability and to promoting the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in society.
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This article serves as an introduction to the special edition of Disability Studies Quarterly dedicated to revisiting Christine Sleeter's germinal 1987 publication, "Why is There Learning Disabilities? A Critical Analysis of the Birth of... more
This article serves as an introduction to the special edition of Disability Studies Quarterly dedicated to revisiting Christine Sleeter's germinal 1987 publication, "Why is There Learning Disabilities? A Critical Analysis of the Birth of the Field in Its Social Context." In this introductory essay we first highlight the influence of Sleeter's work in historicizing disability and normalcy, learning and schooling, asking readers to consider social class and race in the construction of learning disability. Second, we position her in a community of other critical special educators who troubled existing beliefs and practices within the field of special education. Third, we briefly review the thirteen articles featured in this special issue, noting how each engages with ideas from Sleeter's original analysis. Fourth, we trace how Sleeter and other researchers influenced the emergence of disability studies, and particularly disability studies in education (DSE). In closing, we acknowledge the ongoing schism between DSE and traditional special education, taking strength from the work of Sleeter and other critical special educators who have gone before us, and remain ever optimistic for a more open dialogue.
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Since its inception, the field of early childhood special education has been steeped in deficit model understandings of disability. From this vantage point, disability has been reduced to a set of problems or deficiencies inherent in... more
Since its inception, the field of early childhood special education has been steeped in deficit model understandings of disability. From this vantage point, disability has been reduced to a set of problems or deficiencies inherent in individuals’ bodies. Entangled with problematic ideologies of racism and classism, disability labels soon became a tool for othering “other people’s children.” Recently, however, scholars in Disability Studies in Education have begun the task of troubling these shared histories of exclusion and rewriting the very text of dis/ability. Central to this work involves troubling taken-for-granted ideas about diversity and difference as well as our responses to difference in the classroom. In this chapter we explore what it might mean to embrace a disability studies perspective in early childhood special education. Specifically, we show how this shift would entail: (1) confronting ableism in theory and practice; (2) adopting an ethic of belonging and becoming; and (3) moving beyond inclusion toward honoring disability identity, culture, and politics.
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[Invited Keynote Presentation]. Disability Studies and Inclusive Education conference. Rome, Italy (May, 2017).
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Excerpts from Reading Resistance: Discourses of Exclusion in Desegregation & Inclusion Debates are performed by actors and students for a fundraiser of the CHIME Institute Fundraiser (March 9, 2013). Produced by Amy Brenneman.
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Dr. Beth A Ferri discusses disability life writing and embodied epistemologies at the Ph.D. Forum lecture series in the College of Educational Studies at Chapman University. This presentation was filmed by Panther Productions.
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Blog post about Response to Intervention (RTI)
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Reid and Valle (in this issue) illustrate how discourse within the field of learning disabilities (LD) determines what can and cannot be said and shapes what counts as knowledge or truth. Because basic assumptions about disability often... more
Reid and Valle (in this issue) illustrate how discourse within the field of learning disabilities (LD) determines what can and cannot be said and shapes what counts as knowledge or truth. Because basic assumptions about disability often remain unquestioned, Reid and Valle ask us to focus on the epistemological foundations of the field of LD. They demonstrate how discourse, far from being simply an academic or abstract theoretical pursuit, has direct material consequences for people labeled as having LD. In this response, I highlight some of the ways that the discourse in the LD field is getting in the way of truly transforming education for all learners and impeding our ability to ask the hard questions about our own complicity in issues such as the overrepresentation of students of color and the inaccessibility of general education learning environments.
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Middle grades education has been the object of efforts to remediate US education to address an array of social problems. Districts have sought out K-8 models to create smaller learning communities, require fewer school transitions, and... more
Middle grades education has been the object of efforts to remediate US education to address an array of social problems. Districts have sought out K-8 models to create smaller learning communities, require fewer school transitions, and allow sustained student connections. This paper offers a historical analysis of K-8 schools, drawing on statistical and spatial methods and a DisCrit intersectional lens to illustrate how creating K-8 schools produced enclaves of privilege in one urban school district. K-8 schools in our target district became whiter and wealthier than district averages. Students with disabilities attending K-8 schools tended to be placed in more inclusive classrooms, where they were more likely to be integrated alongside nondisabled peers than counterparts attending traditional middle schools. We consider how the configuration of K-8 schools, which could be considered an administrative decision to better serve students, has obscured interworkings of power and privilege.
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In this first decade of the 21st century, we mark two milestones in education history: the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 2004, and the 30th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (... more
In this first decade of the 21st century, we mark two milestones in education history: the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 2004, and the 30th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ( IDEA) in 2005. Both Brown and IDEA asserted the need for increased educational opportunities for once excluded groups of students and asserted that segregation was inherently harmful and unequal. However, although we might wish to celebrate, there is also a need to critically examine the unfulfilled promise of both these efforts toward integrated education. In this article, we focus on one of the most long-standing critiques of special education practice: the disproportionate placement of students of color in special education programs, referred to in the education literature as overrepresentation. We then trace some of the origins of the current problem of overrepresentation by tracing the tangled relationship of special education and resegregatio...
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Page 1. 137 The principal distortion, of course, is the institutional practice of special education, which reaffirms the paradigm by removing students for whom it does not work. In effect, this prevents teachers from recognizing anomalies... more
Page 1. 137 The principal distortion, of course, is the institutional practice of special education, which reaffirms the paradigm by removing students for whom it does not work. In effect, this prevents teachers from recognizing anomalies ...
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ABSTRACT Brantlinger's [2004b. “Ideologies Discerned, Values Determined: Getting past the Hierarchies of Special Education.” In Ideology and the Politics of (in)Exclusion, edited by L. Ware, 11–31. New York: Peter Lang... more
ABSTRACT Brantlinger's [2004b. “Ideologies Discerned, Values Determined: Getting past the Hierarchies of Special Education.” In Ideology and the Politics of (in)Exclusion, edited by L. Ware, 11–31. New York: Peter Lang Publishing] critique of hierarchical ideologies lays bare the logics embedded in standards-based reform. Drawing on Brantlinger's insightful analysis, we trace how hierarchical ideologies impacted inclusive practice at one urban elementary school, deemed ‘failing’ under the No Child Left Behind Act. Drawing on the qualitative analysis of data from interviews, public forums, and documents, we chart some of the negative effects of hierarchical ideologies on inclusive practice. We illustrate, for instance, how the school instituted a variety of segregated programmes aimed at increasing test scores. We also uncover how grade-level expectations and the need for content modification were used to justify exclusion. Finally, we examine how graduation requirements negatively impacted students with disabilities.
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It is estimated in the world today, that more than one billion people have a disability (World Health Organization, 2011). Many people with disabilities receive no education, and, of those who do, few receive an education on an equal... more
It is estimated in the world today, that more than one billion people have a disability (World Health Organization, 2011). Many people with disabilities receive no education, and, of those who do, few receive an education on an equal basis with their non-disabled peers. In 2006, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The CRPD seeks to achieve equality for people with disabilities in all areas of life, including education. Article 24 of the CRPD specifically calls upon States Parties to “ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning” (United Nations, 2006, Art.24, para. 1). In this article, the authors provide an overview of the right to inclusive education under international law prior to the CRPD, followed by a discussion of Article 24 of the CRPD. The authors then discuss the role of inclusive education in Italy, which has long been regarded as a leader in the field of inclusive education. The authors...
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College students with documented learning disabilities (N=292; 172 male and 120 female) participated in this study, which was designed to investigate the interaction of gender and ability on cognitive, language and achievement variables.... more
College students with documented learning disabilities (N=292; 172 male and 120 female) participated in this study, which was designed to investigate the interaction of gender and ability on cognitive, language and achievement variables. A cluster analysis was first conducted, resulting in three clearly defined ability groups (low, average, and high). A series of multiple analyses of variance (MANOVA) were then used to evaluate group and gender differences at the construct level using a crystallized/fluid model of ability. Finally, 2-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) were examined for each measure included in the current study. Not surprisingly, the majority of measures were strongly related to general cognitive ability. Gender differences were found only for general short-term memory on one cognitive measure and the visual-processing construct. Discussion of the impact of this for evaluation and service is reviewed
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In this chapter we trace some of the intersecting discourses of race and ability in US history and their impact upon schools. In particular, we focus upon on how the emergence of specialized forms of education served to shore up notions... more
In this chapter we trace some of the intersecting discourses of race and ability in US history and their impact upon schools. In particular, we focus upon on how the emergence of specialized forms of education served to shore up notions of competency and normalcy in times of increased diversity and social change. Through this retelling of special education history, contextualized through a much wider lens than is typically brought to bear on the subject, we highlight the broad concept of disability as an elastic, shifting classification saturated in racial, ethnic, and class divisions, influenced by powerful societal notions of what constitutes a “normal”/desirable citizen. In many ways, this version of history appears in stark contrast to traditional renderings of special education as a field that is benevolent, progressive, and undergirded by science (Dorn, Fuchs, and Fuchs). By placing the history of special education in the context of myriad social forces, we illustrate how it performed important cultural work in demarcating the line between normalcy and difference in an increasingly divided social landscape. In researching how race, ethnicity, and class influenced notions of difference, and the growth of disability categorizations from their inception to the present day, we trace the roots of current practices of special education, showing the interconnected logics for how students of color became disproportionately placed within special education classrooms.
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Since form cannot be separated from content-the form of the story being (integral to) the story itself-there is no other way to say it without reforming it (that is, unintentionally modifying, augmenting, or narrowing it). -Trinh T... more
Since form cannot be separated from content-the form of the story being (integral to) the story itself-there is no other way to say it without reforming it (that is, unintentionally modifying, augmenting, or narrowing it). -Trinh T Minh-ha Introduction Our analysis of the 1997 film The Sweet Hereafter explores the formal techniques employed by director Atom Egoyan in his "retelling" of Russell Banks's 1991 novel of the same title. We focus on how Egoyan's use of interruption, haunting, and visual and aural simultaneity does more than push viewers to acknowledge their active role in meaning-- making-these formal techniques also allow space within the narrative for oppositional consciousness and for reconfigured power relationships. Our interpretation combines insights from both women's studies and disability studies to enable us to attend to the political and theoretical implications of the film's form and content and thus explore one of the central paradoxe...
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Righting Educational Wrongs brings together the work of scholars from the fields of disability studies in education and law to examine contemporary struggles around inclusion and access to education. Divided into three parts, the volume... more
Righting Educational Wrongs brings together the work of scholars from the fields of disability studies in education and law to examine contemporary struggles around inclusion and access to education. Divided into three parts, the volume explores the intersections between disability studies, law, and education in part one. Contributors in this section forge a theoretical framework for thinking about educational access. Part two takes a critical look at some of the histories of exclusion in education and ways that these exclusions have been upheld by a variety of educational policies and practices. Part three reflects on the ways that the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act is experienced by students with disabilities and their families.
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Reading Resistance confronts longstanding exclusionary practices in U.S. public schooling. Beth A. Ferri and David J. Connor trace the interconnected histories of race and disability in the public imagination through their nuanced... more
Reading Resistance confronts longstanding exclusionary practices in U.S. public schooling. Beth A. Ferri and David J. Connor trace the interconnected histories of race and disability in the public imagination through their nuanced analysis of editorial pages and other public discourses, including political cartoons and eugenics posters. By uncovering how the concept of disability was used to resegregate students of color after the historic Brown decision, the authors argue that special education has played a role in undermining school desegregation. In its critical, interdisciplinary focus on the interlocking politics of race and disability, Reading Resistance offers important contributions to educational research, theory, and policy.
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Background/Context In this paper we draw on an intersectional critical framework to analyze and account for the simultaneous interworkings of race and dis/ability. Specifically, we draw on this framework to examine two aims of modern... more
Background/Context In this paper we draw on an intersectional critical framework to analyze and account for the simultaneous interworkings of race and dis/ability. Specifically, we draw on this framework to examine two aims of modern science: (a) to identify distinct biological markers of race and (b) to locate biological and neurological origins of Learning Disabilities (LD). These aims persist despite evidence that both race and LD are socially and politically constructed categories. Purpose/Objective By reviewing historical and contemporary attempts by researchers to locate race and LD as immutable features embodied by individuals, we reveal how the science behind these categories shares similar underlying systems of logic; both efforts attempt to locate social problems within bodies and illustrate what Samuels (2014) calls “fantasies of identification,” or culturally embedded desires to definitively identify and categorize bodies. Research Design This is a historical analysis Co...
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In this chapter we consider the link between two important topics, Culturally Responsive Research (CRR) and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies (CSP) within the context of inclusive education in the USA. We explore these connections to... more
In this chapter we consider the link between two important topics, Culturally Responsive Research (CRR) and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies (CSP) within the context of inclusive education in the USA. We explore these connections to illuminate some of the complexities of inclusive research and practice. By joining insights from the discourses of both CRR and CSP we ultimately seek to increase authentic ways of including all students from diverse backgrounds (Lawrence-Brown & Sapon-Shevin, 2015). First, we discuss the benefits of educational researchers acknowledging their own personal biases and attending to how these biases might influence their research on inclusive practices. Second, we challenge the notion of culture-free research, highlighting ways in which the failure to acknowledge culture has inhibited reducing inequalities. Here, we advocate for increased pluralism of research methodologies that situate the context of the research, recognize the needs, desires, and interest...
Research Interests: Special Education, Disability Studies, Pedagogy, Inclusive Education, Culturally relevant pedagogy, and 6 moreDisability Studies in Education, Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning, Special Education Needs and Inclusive Practice, Univesal Design for Learning, Culturally Responsive Leadership, and Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices
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... Beth Ferri, Ph.D Associate Professor Programs in Teaching and Leadership, Cultural Foundations of Education, & Disability Studies Syracuse University 150 Huntington Hall Syracuse, New York 13244 E-mail: baferri@syracuse.edu.... more
... Beth Ferri, Ph.D Associate Professor Programs in Teaching and Leadership, Cultural Foundations of Education, & Disability Studies Syracuse University 150 Huntington Hall Syracuse, New York 13244 E-mail: baferri@syracuse.edu. Abstract. ...
... What we see in disability life writing is a conscious rendering of altered physicality in prose (Kuusisto, 2005, p. 150 ... As Mollow's (2002) analysis of the book Willow Weep for Me by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah illustrates,... more
... What we see in disability life writing is a conscious rendering of altered physicality in prose (Kuusisto, 2005, p. 150 ... As Mollow's (2002) analysis of the book Willow Weep for Me by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah illustrates, however, engaging with texts that don't necessarily assume ...
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Integration and Inclusion-A Troubling Nexus: Race, Disability, and Special Education. by David J. Connor , Beth A. Ferri There are perhaps five million children in the United States who are colored. There are close to five million othe.
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This article serves as an introduction to a special double edition of Learning Disabilities Quarterly that seeks to engage the field in a respectful exchange about the need to expand research methodologies. In this article we identify... more
This article serves as an introduction to a special double edition of Learning Disabilities Quarterly that seeks to engage the field in a respectful exchange about the need to expand research methodologies. In this article we identify three interrelated concepts of interest to researchers in the field of LD—Learning, Disability, and Research—and examine how the cultural location(s) of each serve to influence decisions about and possibilities for researching learning disabilities. Subsequently, we urge the greater use of a plurality of methods than is currently reflected in traditional LD research, sharing examples of what knowledge is currently lost, minimized, disregarded, or omitted, while articulating examples of what could be gained. Finally, by relating research on LD to schools, classroom life, and individuals identified as having learning disabilities, we advocate for more responsive research, and a greater acceptance of epistemic reflexivity within the LD research community.
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The potential of technology to connect people and provide access to education, commerce, employment and entertainment has never been greater or more rapidly changing. Communication technologies and new media promise to... more
The potential of technology to connect people and provide access to education, commerce, employment and entertainment has never been greater or more rapidly changing. Communication technologies and new media promise to 'revolutionize our lives' by breaking down barriers and expanding access for disabled people. Yet, it is also true that technology can create unexpected and undercritiqued forms of social exclusion for disabled people. In addition to exploring some of the ways that even (or especially) assistive technology can ...
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Abstract. The purpose of this study was to investigate the similarities and differences across state agencies serving ado-lescents and adults with learning disabilities in relation to their definitions and eligibility criteria for... more
Abstract. The purpose of this study was to investigate the similarities and differences across state agencies serving ado-lescents and adults with learning disabilities in relation to their definitions and eligibility criteria for services. Significant differences were noted within and across ...
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The purpose of this study was to analyze the assessment profiles of two groups of adults with learning disabilities. The first group comprised 48 adults (34 men and 14 women) demonstrating giftedness and a learning disability profile... more
The purpose of this study was to analyze the assessment profiles of two groups of adults with learning disabilities. The first group comprised 48 adults (34 men and 14 women) demonstrating giftedness and a learning disability profile (G/LD). The second group of 46 adults (31 men and 15 women) demonstrated a learning disabled profile without giftedness (NG/LD). Both groups of participants were either attending or planning to attend college and sought testing at a university-affiliated learning disabilities center. Participants' mean age was 20 years, and all were White and from middle to upper-middle class backgrounds. Findings indicate that, as a group, the adults demonstrating a G/LD profile tended to be identified later and have more discrepancy among cognitive assessment profile scores than the NG/LD group. Cognitive subtest scores showed significant differences between the groups, but also several areas of weakness evident in both groups regardless of the presence of giftedn...
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Page 1. http://ldx.sagepub.com Journal of Learning Disabilities DOI: 10.1177/ 002221949803100510 1998; 31; 517 J Learn Disabil Nöel Gregg and Beth A. Ferri Hearing Voices, Witnessing Pain: In Response to "Why Does My Stomach... more
Page 1. http://ldx.sagepub.com Journal of Learning Disabilities DOI: 10.1177/ 002221949803100510 1998; 31; 517 J Learn Disabil Nöel Gregg and Beth A. Ferri Hearing Voices, Witnessing Pain: In Response to "Why Does My Stomach Hurt?" ...
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EJ624836 - Influence of Gender and Ability on the Performance of College Students with Learning Disabilities.
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[Article in French] The disproportionate placement of students of color in special education has been a persistent problem in the USA and beyond. In this article, we trace the historical contexts, as well as contemporary trends associated... more
[Article in French] The disproportionate placement of students of color in special education has been a persistent problem in the USA and beyond. In this article, we trace the historical contexts, as well as contemporary trends associated with disproportionality. We then discuss ways that overrepresentation has relied upon problematic legacies of deficit thinking and frustrated attempts toward inclusion. Next, we document promising developments in theory, research, and practice that seek to undo the harmful effects of racially divided schools and society. Finally, we urge for a continued commitment to researching and better understanding the issue of disproportionality through interdisciplinary fields of study.