ERIC Number: EJ1432526
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Aug
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1938-8926
EISSN: EISSN-1938-8934
Available Date: N/A
Crip Places: Dismantling Disability Discourse in the 2-Year College Literature
Brett Ranon Nachman; Kirsten R. Brown
Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, v17 n4 p634-647 2024
Representations of disabled students -- by both disabled and abled people -- are vital to disabled futures because they hold important implications for how abled people conceive of, and thereby support, disabled students. For years, scholarship on disability in postsecondary education has failed to interrogate the problematic narratives perpetuating inequities for disabled students. In this study, we used critical concepts of place and techniques of diversity management to analyze how disability is represented in existing scholarship. We engaged in a systematic literature review to locate 72 articles on disability and 2-year colleges and then selected 15 articles as data for a Critical Discourse Analysis. Our findings surfaced four themes that enable scholars to determine what narratives are given legitimacy: "justification stories; disability as binary; localized power asymmetries;" and "accommodations as solution." Our findings suggest that existing scholarship uses justification stories to reinforce the idea that smartness is property leaving the pattern of disproportionate disability enrollment unexamined. We extend prior critiques of legal accommodations to include the idea that accommodations are a process by which institutions absorb, and thereby manage, disabled bodyminds. We also demonstrate how ableism happens within existing scholarship through silence (e.g., lack of positionality statements) and binaries (e.g., constructing disability as a dualistic experience). Ultimately, we lead scholars to engage in many actions, including reflecting on the roles they possess to disrupt normative narratives about disproportionate representation of disability on 2-year college campuses, interrogating limitations for disabled individuals engaging in waged labor, and elevating disabled perspectives.
Descriptors: Journal Articles, Two Year Colleges, Disabilities, Attitudes toward Disabilities, Students with Disabilities, Disproportionate Representation, Disability Discrimination, Equal Opportunities (Jobs), Discourse Communities, Local Issues, Academic Accommodations (Disabilities), Validity, Diversity, Power Structure
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Information Analyses
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A