The author of the paper abstract below is a professor of “the social foundations of education” at the University of Alabama.
“Coming Out Crip” in Inclusive Education
by Nirmala Erevelles
Erevelles draws simultaneously on the theoretical tools of both disability studies and queer theory, exploring ways in which both heterosexist and ableist ideologies operate (often overlapping and intersecting) as discourses of exclusion in schools. She argues that the regressive rhetoric of inclusion currently in vogue does little to critique how “Other” students, not just students with recognizable disabilities, are excluded by the normative discourses of schooling. Furthermore, Erevelles argues that for inclusive education to reclaim its transformative imperative, it would have to reimagine its original intent of (re)claiming disability by producing a refreshing new script that explores the radical possibilities of “coming out crip.”
Taxpayers in Alabama might ponder whether they’re getting their money’s worth.