Learners confront many different types of barriers in their learning environment depending on their diverse identities. This paper considers the barriers experienced by Black and Brown learners and learners with disabilities. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework created to remove barriers during the planning stage of curriculum…

Self-determination plays a vital role in the educational journey of students with a dis/ability. However, opportunities to cultivate self-determining skills for elementary students with dis/abilities in an inclusive co-taught classroom are limited. This can be attributed to the intersectionality of ableism and ageism, two oppressive societal…

This paper sets out original findings from analyses of the English National Pupil Database of Key Stage 1 (KS1) attainment, to examine educational outcomes of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The schooling of these children has been entirely within the context of the current SEND system, defined by the 2014-2015…

Research on disproportionate representation in special education has potential to influence policy in ways that rectify educational inequities. In this study, we investigated how disproportionality researchers have operationalized dis-ability, identified key themes and theories used in disproportionality research, and evaluated the coherence…

This exploratory study provides an overview of prominent themes pertaining to portrayals of sign languages (SLs) and Deaf people in the South African press (2011-2019), as well as an analysis of a subset of articles to illustrate the discursive constructions of each of the prominent ideological framings. The findings of the paper suggest that many…

In July 2022, the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights issued guidance on supporting students with disabilities and avoiding the discriminatory use of student discipline under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The purpose of this guidance is to remind schools of their obligations under the law specific to…

Many leaders in medical education have called for the inclusion of students with disabilities. Yet, a small number of review articles have been written summarizing the key literature addressing this topic. This review focuses on literature published between 2000 and 2021 that discusses medical education disability-specific barriers, student…

Background: Persons with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) risk exclusion, both in research and as members of society. Because of their embodied communication, they face the challenges in being understood. Oftentimes, others speak on their behalf making inferences on what their perspective might be. Methods: Empathy is suggested…

Neurodiversity refers to the idea that all brains--no matter their differences--are valuable and should be accepted. Attitudes toward the neurodiversity perspective can have real-life impacts on the lives of neurodivergent people, from effects on daily interactions to how professionals deliver services for neurodivergent individuals. In order to…

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…

Students with disabilities bring various backgrounds and experiences to colleges and universities in the United States. The right to access higher education with such individualized needs are central tenets to federal civil rights laws. The confluence of increased participation in higher education by students with disabilities and their need for…

In this positional essay, Jessica A. Scott, G. Sue Kasun, and Stephanie J. Gardiner-Walsh discuss their experiences and frustrations around American Sign Language interpreters in higher education settings. They draw from their intersecting experiences as researchers of language and/or deaf education to call for a "flipping of scripts"…

Evidence has suggested students with disabilities in higher education have faced stigma and skepticism, resulting in lower retention and completion rates as compared to students without disabilities. For students with disabilities, degree completion is significant because adults with disabilities are three times more likely than their nondisabled…

In a school district in the southwestern United States, the problem that this study explored was that too many students with intellectual disabilities (ID) are placed into separate classrooms at the middle school level rather than being mainstreamed into general education classrooms. The purpose of this basic qualitative project study was to…

Conceptualising and defining special education determine what services will be provided for learners with special educational needs (SENs). The focus of our study was two questions: (1) how are people with SENs in China defined, conceptualised and perceived by stakeholders, and (2) how does society in China view special education? This was…