ERIC Number: EJ1460600
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1354-4187
EISSN: EISSN-1468-3156
Available Date: 2024-11-25
Uncharted Territory: Delving into Unexplored Knowledge to Curb Ableism in Academia
Alice Schippers1; Mark Koning1; Leo Cardinaal1
British Journal of Learning Disabilities, v53 n1 p211-220 2025
Introduction: Language can reflect bias: an 'intellectual' disability means for many people that you cannot be an academic knowledge producer; a 'learning' disability means that your education will be hampered. Like language definitions, academic practices can reflect societal biases. The social (in)justice regarding knowledge and knowledge production is called epistemic injustice, and it has resulted in exclusion of nonconventional knowers, such as persons with intellectual or learning disabilities, from academia and higher education (other than as objects of research). Methods: This paper will discuss academic practices through the lens of epistemic (in)justice and look at the potential of inclusive research and educational practices therein. We will briefly describe dominant ways of knowing (e.g., abstract, verbal), and counter these practices in exploring practical, tacit, embodied and affective ways of knowing. Findings: For people with intellectual disabilities to be able to gain recognition as 'real' knowers within academia, we need to include diverse types of knowing and enable academic practices to be inclusive of people with intellectual disabilities. Inclusive practices can support a paradigm shift away from dominant ways of knowledge production in research and education, by centralising and correctly interpreting alternate knowledge. Experiences of scholars with intellectual disabilities appear to confirm the value of different ways of knowing. Conclusions: Drawing from these experiences, we will discuss the importance of relational autonomy, collectively owned and adaptive knowledge, and the learning context.
Descriptors: Higher Education, Attitudes toward Disabilities, Social Bias, Labeling (of Persons), Educational Practices, Educational Discrimination, Epistemology, Justice, Inclusion, Research and Development, Students with Disabilities, Student Research, Intellectual Disability, Scholarship, Writing (Composition), Foreign Countries
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www-wiley-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Netherlands
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Care Ethics/Disability Studies, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, Netherlands