Disrupting Inequitable Practices in Special Education: Privileging Voices of Middle School Students With High-Incidence Disability Classifications
*Correspondence: ahallaran@ccny.cuny.edu (Armineh E. Hallaran)
Abstract
Black, Latinx and other minoritized students have long been overrepresented in the high-incidence disability classifications. Special education places these students on trajectories that deny them access to quality education and the same postschool opportunities and outcomes as their nondisabled peers. Using disability critical race studies (DisCrit), this study foregrounds the voices of minoritized middle school students receiving special education services under high-incidence classifications. DisCrit allowed for an investigation of how students’ intersecting marginalized identities impacted their experiences in special education. Using a qualitative thematic approach, four themes describing students’ perspectives emerged: (1) students’ lack of awareness of their special education status, (2) students’ perceptions of special education services, (3) challenging academic experiences in middle school, and (4) minimal opportunities to voice their opinions and concerns.
Keywords
- overrepresentation
- minoritized students
- special education
- disability critical race studies (DisCrit)
- student voice
- qualitative thematic analysis
