About the Book
Disability and the Politics of Education: An International Reader is a rich resource that deals comprehensively with the many aspects of the complex topic of disability studies in education. For nearly two decades, global attention has been given to education as a human right through global initiatives such as Education for All (EFA) and the Salamanca Statement. Yet according to UNESCO, reaching the goals of EFA remains one of the most daunting challenges facing the global community. Today, millions of the world’s disabled children cannot obtain a basic childhood education, particularly in countries with limited resources. Even in the wealthiest countries, many disabled children and youth are educationally segregated from the nondisabled, particularly if they are labeled with significant cognitive impairment. International agencies such as the United Nations and the World Bank have generated funds for educational development but, unfortunately, these funds are administered with the assumption that «west is best», thereby urging developing countries to mimic educational policies in the United States and the United Kingdom in order to prove their aid-worthiness. This «McDonaldization» of education reproduces the labeling, resource allocation, and social dynamics long criticized in disability studies. The authors in this volume explore these subjects and other complexities of disability and the politics of education. In doing so, they demonstrate the importance and usefulness of international perspectives and comparative approaches.
Table of Contents:
Contents: Len Barton: Foreword - Susan L. Gabel/Scot Danforth: Disability and the International Politics of Education - Jabulani Ngcobo/Nithi Muthukrishna: Teachers' Dominant Discourses of Inclusion and Disability: A Case Study at a Semi-rural Township School in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa - Beth A. Ferri: Inclusion in Italy: What Happens When Everyone Belongs - Auxilia Badza/David Chakuchichi/Robert Chimedza: An Analysis of Inclusive Education Policy Implementation in Zimbabwe: Challenges for Learner Support - Susan L. Gabel/Jagdish Chander: Inclusion in Indian Education - Linda J. Graham/Roger Slee: Inclusion? - Andrew Azzopardi: Reading Stories of Inclusion: Engaging with Different Perspectives towards an Agenda for Inclusion - Geert Van Hove/Griet Roets/Kathleen Mortier/Elisabeth De Schauwer/Mieke Leroy/Eric Broekaert: Research in Inclusive Education as a Possible Opening to Disability Studies in Education - Julie Allan/Roger Slee: Doing Inclusive Education Research - Robert Chimedza/Auxilia Badza/David Chakuchichi: An Analysis of the Impact of Advocacy and Disability Rights on the Quality of Life of People with Disabilities in Zimbabwe - Qing Shen/Helen McCabe/Zhaoyang Chi: Disability Education in the People's Republic of China: Tradition, Reform, and Outlook - Jagdish Chander: The Role of Residential Schools in Shaping the Nature of the Advocacy Movement of the Blind in India - Marisol Moreno Angarita/Susan L. Gabel: Politics, Inclusion, and Disabled Children: The Colombian Context - Liz Gordon/Missy Morton: Inclusive Education and School Choice: Democratic Rights in a Devolved System - Dora S. Bjarnason: Private Troubles or Public Issues? The Social Construction of "The Disabled Baby" in the Context of Social Policy and Social and Technological Changes - Jitka Sinecka: Czech Republic: Empowerment of D(/d)eaf Community through Education (1945-2006) - Susan Peters/Kimberly Wolbers/Lisa Dimling: Reframing Global Education from a Disability Rights Movement Perspective - Susan L. Gabel: A Model for Policy Activism - Tanya Titchkosky: "I Got Trouble with My Reading": An Emerging Literacy - Anna C. Hickey-Moody: Deleuze, Guattari, and the Boundaries of Intellectual Disability - Valerie Harwood/Nici Hymphry: Taking Exception: Discourses of Exceptionality and the Invocation of the "Ideal" - Scot Danforth: Using Metaphors to Research the Cultural and Ideological Construction of Disability - Rod Michalko: Double Trouble: Disability and Disability Studies in Education - Phil Smith: Cartographies of Eugenics and Special Education: A History of the (Ab)normal - Annemieke van Drenth: Caring Power and Disabled Children: The Rise of the Educational Elan in Europe, in Particular in Belgium and the Netherlands - David J. Connor: Not So Strange Bedfellows: The Promise of Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory - Dan Goodley/Rebecca Lawthom: Disability Studies and Psychology: Emancipatory Opportunities - Kathryn Young/Emily Mintz: A Comparison: Difference, Dependency, and Stigmatization in Special Education and Disability Studies - Justin J. W. Powell/Kai Felkendorff/Judith Hollenweger: Disability in the German, Swiss, and Austrian Higher Education Systems - Kim Marshall: The Reasonable Adjustments Duty for Higher Education in England and Wales - Sheryl Burgstahler/Rebecca Cory: Moving in from the Margins: From Accommodation to Universal Design - Levan Lim/Thana Thaver/Kenneth Poon: Adapting Disability Studies within Teacher Education in Singapore - Christopher Johnstone/Alex Lubet/Leonard Goldfine: Disability Narratives, Social Models, and Rights Perspectives as Higher Education Imperatives.
About the Author :
The Editors: Susan L. Gabel is Professor of Special Education in the National College of Education at National-Louis University where she teaches classes in special education, disability studies in education, and foundations of education. Her previous books include an edited volume, Disability Studies in Education: Readings in Theory and Method (Lang, 2005) and, with Scot Danforth, she co-edited Vital Questions Facing Disability Studies in Education (Lang, 2007). Her research examines disability and the socio-political aspects of education. With Scot Danforth, she is the co-editor of Peter Lang's Disability Studies in Education series. Scot Danforth is Associate Professor of Inclusive Education at the Ohio State University. In 1999, he and Susan L. Gabel co-founded the Disability Studies in Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. He is the co-author (with Terry Jo Smith) of Engaging Troubling Studies: A Constructivist Approach (2004) and co-editor (with Susan L. Gabel) of Vital Questions Facing Disability Studies in Education (Lang, 2007). He is also co-editor (with Brenda Brueggemann and Stephen Kuusisto) of Disability Studies Quarterly.
Review :
"One of the exciting aspects of this collection is the range of topics that the contributors investigate empirically and theoretically. We have so little awareness and knowledge of the nature and dangers of the unquestioning dominance of western ideas. To read the chapters in this collection is to reinforce the perennial significance of a critical, questioning approach to inclusive thinking, disability issues, research, and practice. The questions which the contributors raise in each chapter provide a powerful stimulus for further reflection and active critical engagement. Reading this book has been a demanding, thought-provoking, and valuable experience. The volume is a great resource, providing a rich range of ideas, questions, and interesting sources to be explored." (Len Barton, Emeritus Professor of Inclusive Education, Institute of Education, University of London) "One of the exciting aspects of this collection is the range of topics that the contributors investigate empirically and theoretically. We have so little awareness and knowledge of the nature and dangers of the unquestioning dominance of western ideas. To read the chapters in this collection is to reinforce the perennial significance of a critical, questioning approach to inclusive thinking, disability issues, research, and practice. The questions which the contributors raise in each chapter provide a powerful stimulus for further reflection and active critical engagement. Reading this book has been a demanding, thought-provoking, and valuable experience. The volume is a great resource, providing a rich range of ideas, questions, and interesting sources to be explored." (Len Barton, Emeritus Professor of Inclusive Education, Institute of Education, University of London)
