Gangsters and wheelchairs: urban teachers’ perceptions of disability, race and gender

Abstract

This investigation provides inquiry into Disability Critical Race Studies to analyze the intersecting attributes related to race, gender and disability. The application of Disability Critical Race Studies revealed the ways in which race/ ethnicity and gender merge to erroneously typecast African-American men who are wheelchair users as reformed 'gang bangers' or 'victims' of neighborhood gun violence. This investigation examines urban pre-service teachers' understandings of disability and underscores the challenging intersection of race, gender and disability within urban communities.

Adversity and Pitfalls of Twice-Exceptional Urban Learners

“…For example, each student shared an internalized stigma that disability meant that they were “dumb” in addition to stereotypes around Black intellectual inferiority, which was reinforced by the negative interactions and low expectations from their peers and teachers (J. Banks, 2014, 2015; Trotman Scott et al, 2015). When these negative interactions and perceptions persist, students are at an increased likelihood to disengage from the learning environment, underachieve, and develop low self-esteem (Gardner & Mayes, 2013; Trotman Scott et al, 2015).…”

“…African American students in gifted and special education are often met with educators’ negative or low expectations (J. Banks, 2014, 2015; J. Banks & Hughes, 2013; Ford, Trotman Scott, Moore, & Amos, 2013; Gardner & Mayes, 2013) and find that their racial/cultural perspective is not represented in their courses or the school environment (J.…”

Beyond Making a Statement: An Intersectional Framing of the Power and Possibilities of Positioning

“…Education researchers too often treat parents, families, educators, and other caregivers in their lives as more knowledgeable than disabled people themselves (Wong, 2020). When included, education research addressing disability often centers on white disabled children, erasing the complex lives of disabled youth of Color (Banks, 2015). Leaving multiply marginalized people out of research—both as producers and participants—erases their voices, denies their humanity, and makes them vulnerable to violence as a result.…”

Disability Critical Race Theory: Exploring the Intersectional Lineage, Emergence, and Potential Futures of DisCrit in Education

“…In addition to traditional forms of qualitative interviewing techniques, many researchers engaging this tenet of DisCrit have found it necessary to devise alternative and innovative strategies to center the “voices” of traditionally marginalized research participants. These have included attending to counternarratives (Banks, 2015), uncovering subtle or unexpected forms of agency (Cowley, 2013), enacting participatory or side-by-side research designs and incorporating mapping or collage as data collection (Annamma, 2016). Enacting Tenet 4, scholars highlight how various mechanisms of surveillance and control often undermine access to participants’ perspectives.…”

“…Finally, intellectual activism requires that DisCrit scholars refuse to accept deficit notions about disabled people of color that pathologize their learning and/or behavior. Instead, several authors in this chapter sought to understand the learning and behavior of multiply marginalized disabled people of color within contexts (Banks, 2015; Dávila, 2015; Migliarini, 2017). By making visible systemic oppressions and how those oppressions were enacted, these scholars illustrate how learning ecologies can be filled with violence for some learners.…”