Background: Inclusion-oriented development processes and corresponding (educational) actions are inevitably linked to the analysis of exclusion and discrimination practices. The institutional 'production of inequality and difference' plays a central role. Educational processes are strongly determined by one's own biographical experiences. Methods: In the summer semester of 2023, a participatory course on discrimination-sensitive biographical analysis of school experiences was held at the Leipzig University. Subject matter experts on inclusion and education (lecturers with learning disabilities) from the university and transfer project QuaBIS were active involved in the planning and implementation. The article presents and critically assesses findings (analysed by content analysis) based on a group discussion with students in the teaching profession. Findings: On the basis of the data collected, different categories were created that highlighted the challenges and opportunities of participatory biographical work at different levels. Effective structural conditions and socially shaped practices of segregation were also critically reflected upon. Conclusions: This participatory seminar workshop offered student teachers the opportunity to reflect on and theoretically categorise their own biographical experiences in relation to ableist norms and related logics of ability. In particular, the perspectives of lecturers with learning disabilities have led to an intensive examination of ableist norms, which also need to be critically reflected upon. Ableism served as a central category of analysis to make sense of powerful and discriminatory entanglements between school, personal biography and society. At the same time, it became clear that structurally and culturally traditional processes of exclusion are active at universities and need to be transparently negotiated and reflected upon.