Reflective practice and the value of reflexivity between personal experience and pedagogy are common research themes today. However, teacher candidates often report a lack of encouragement to be reflective of their experiences with disability and the ways those experiences can inform pedagogy. This article results from a year of inquiry involving 3 novice teachers with disabilities. The impact of their experiences is discussed in light of their developing pedagogical knowledge. The article concludes that for them, teaching is an encounter with the self but that their encounters are an untapped resource with rich potential for the construction of pedagogical knowledge. The article argues that teacher educators must facilitate reflection on experiences with disability as with gender, race/ethnicity, and other identity markers or lived experiences. The article includes examples of the author’s attempts to make use of disability experiences in the teacher education curriculum.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abberley, P. (1987). “The concept of oppression and the development of a social theory of disability. Disability, Handicap and Society, 2(19), 5-19.
2.
Anderson, R. , Keller, C., & Karp, J. (1998). Enhancing diversity: Educators with disabilities. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
3.
Ball, D. , & Wilson, S. (1996). Integrity in teaching: Recognizing the fusion of the moral and intellectual. American Educational Research Journal, 33(1), 155-192.
4.
Banks, C. M. , & Banks, J. (1995). Equity pedagogy: An essential component of multicultural education. Theory Into Practice, 32(3), 152-158.
5.
Banks, J. (1994). All of us together: The story of inclusion at the Kinzie School. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
6.
Barnes, C. , & Oliver, M. (1995). Disability rights: Rhetoric and reality in the UK. Disability and Society, 19(1), 111-116.
7.
Bernard, R. (1995). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
8.
Blackman, L. (1999). Lucy’s story: Autism and other adventures. Brisbane, Australia: Book in Hand.
9.
Blaska, J. (1993). The power of language: Speak and write using “person first.” In M. Nagler (Ed.), Perspectives on disability (pp. 25-32). Palo Alto, CA: Health Markets Research.
10.
Bogdan, R. , & Biklen, D. (1977, March/April). Handicapsim. Social Policy, 14-19.
11.
Boyatzis, R. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. London: Sage.
12.
Campbell, J. , & Oliver, M. (1996). Disability politics: Understanding our past, changing our future. New York: Routledge.
13.
Clandinin, D. J. , & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
14.
Denzin, N. (1997). Interpretive ethnography: Ethnographic practices for the 21st century. London: Sage.
15.
Dewey, J. (1926). Experience and nature. New York: Dover.
16.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Simon & Schuster.
17.
Ellsworth, E. (1995). Why doesn’t this feel empowering? In P. McLaren (Ed.), Critical pedagogy and predatory culture: Oppositional politics in a postmodern era (pp. 90-119). New York: Routledge.
18.
Erevelles, N. (2000). Educating unruly bodies: Critical pedagogy, disability studies, and the politics of schooling. Educational Theory, 50, 25-48.
19.
Fay, B. (1975). Social theory and political practice. London: Unwin Hyman.
20.
Fine, L. , & Asch, A. (1988). Disability beyond stigma: Social interaction, discrimination and activism. Journal of Social Issues, 44, 3-21.
21.
Freire, P. (1970/1994). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.
22.
Gabel, S. (1997). A theory of an aesthetic of disability. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, East Lansing.
23.
Gabel, S. (1999). Depressed and disabled: Some discursive problems with mental illness. In M. Corker & S. French (Eds.), Disability discourse (pp. 38-46). Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.
24.
Gabel, S. (in press-a). Missing people: Writing disabled girls into feminist pedagogy. In L. Stone & D. McGrath (Eds.), Gender paradoxes: Complexity and diversity across the educational life span. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
25.
Gabel, S. (in press-b). Some conceptual problems with critical pedagogy. Journal of Curriculum Inquiry.
26.
Gabel, S. (in press-c). Problems of conceptual translation in cross-cultural disability studies: A South Asian immigrant example. In B. Altman & S. Barnhart (Eds.), Research in social science and disability (Vol. 2). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
27.
Gabel, S. , Danforth, S., Ware, L., Peters, S., & Heshusius, L. (2000, April). Breaking the silence: Disability, education, and critical methods. In S. Gabel (Chair), Interactive symposium conducted at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.
28.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books.
29.
Gerber, P. (1998). Trials and tribulations of a teacher with learning disabilities through his first two years of employment. In R. Anderson, C. Keller, & J. Karp (Eds.), Enhancing diversity: Educators with disabilities (pp. 41-59). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
30.
Ghai, A. (1999). Living in the shadow of my disability. The Journal, pp. 32-36.
31.
Gibson, L. (1998). Teaching as an encounter with the self: Unraveling the mix of personal beliefs, education ideologies, and pedagogical practices. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 29(3), 360-371.
32.
Greene, M. (1986). Reflection and passion in teaching. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 2(1), 68-81.
33.
Hahn, H. (1988). The politics of physical differences: Disability and discrimination. Journal of Social Issues, 44, 39-47.
34.
Handal, G. , & Lauvas, P. (1987). Promoting reflective teaching. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.
35.
Harding, S. (1991). Whose science? Whose knowledge? Thinking from women’s lives. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
36.
Hinde, R. (1998). Through categories toward individuals: Attempting to tease apart the data. In R. Cairns, L. Bergman, & J. Kagan (Eds.), Methods and models for studying the individual (pp. 11-30). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
37.
Hollway, W. , & Jefferson, T. (2000). Doing qualitative research differently: Free association, narrative and the interview method. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
38.
hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.
39.
Keller, C. , Karp, J., & Simula, V. (1998). Stories from educators with disabilities: Attitudes toward them. In R. Anderson, C. Keller, & J. Karp (Eds.), Enhancing diversity: Educators with disabilities (pp. 172-190). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
40.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). But that’s just good teaching! The case for culturally relevant pedagogy. Theory Into Practice, 34(3), 159-165.
41.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1996). Your blues ain’t like mine: Keeping issues of race and racism on the multicultural agenda. Theory Into Practice, 35(4), 248-255.
42.
Lane, H. (1992). The mask of benevolence: Disabling the deaf community. New York: Vintage.
43.
Linton, S. (1998). Claiming disability: Knowledge and identity. New York: New York University Press.
44.
Luke, C. (1992). Feminist politics in radical pedagogy. In C. Luke & J. Gore (Eds.), Feminisms and critical pedagogy (pp. 25-53). New York: Routledge.
45.
McIntyre, A. (1997). Making meaning of Whiteness: Exploring racial identity with White teachers. New York: State University of New York Press.
46.
McLaren, P. (1994). Multiculturalism and the postmodern critique: Toward a pedagogy of resistance and transformation. In H. Giroux & P. McLaren (Eds.), Between borders: Pedagogy and the politics of cultural studies (pp. 192-222). New York: Routledge.
47.
McLaren, P. (1995). Critical pedagogy and predatory culture: Oppositional politics in a postmodern era. New York: Routledge.
48.
McPhail, J. , Pierson, J. M., & Goodman, J. (in review). The beauty part of pedagogy: The narratives of graduate students with learning disabilities guide us to see. Manuscript submitted for publication.
49.
Morine-Dershimer, G. , & Corrigan, S. (1997). Teacher beliefs. In H. Walberg & G. Haertel (Eds.), Psychology and educational practice (pp. 297-319). Berkeley, CA: McCutchan.
50.
Nagler, M. (1993). The disabled: The acquisition of power. In M. Nagler (Ed.), Perspectives on disability (pp. 33-36). Palo Alto, CA: Health Markets Research.
51.
Noddings, N. (1992). The challenge to care in schools: An alternative approach to education. New York: Teachers College Press.
52.
Peters, S. (1996). The politics of disability identity. In L. Barton (Ed.), Disability and society: Emerging issues and insights (pp. 215-234). New York: Longman.
53.
Rossman, G. , & Wallis, S. (1998). Learning in the field: An introduction to qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
54.
Rubin, R. (2000, July 25). A new course, disability pride: Fight for rights sparks new field of college study. USA Today [Online]. Available: www.usatoday.com/life/health/general/lhgen059.thm
55.
Samuelson, D. (1986). A letter to my daughter/myself on facing the collective fear of being different. Feminist Studies, (12), 155-167.
56.
Schwandt, T. (1997). Qualitative inquiry: A dictionary of terms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
57.
Sellin, B. (1995). I don’t want to be inside me anymore: Messages from an autistic mind. New York: Basic Books.
58.
Shakespeare, T. (1997). Cultural representation of disabled people: Dustbins for disavowal? In L. Barton & M. Oliver (Eds.), Disability studies: Past, present and future (pp. 217-236). Leeds, UK: Disability Press.
59.
Shakespeare, T. , & Watson, N. (1997). Defending the social model. Disability and Society, 12(2), 293-300.
60.
Stevenson-Hinde, J. (1998). The individual in context. In R. Cairns, L. Bergman, & J. Kagan (Eds.), Methods and models for studying the individual (pp. 123-131). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
61.
Trupin, L. , & Rice, D. (1995). Health status, medical care use, and number of disabling conditions in the United States. Disability Statistics Abstract, 9, 1-4.
62.
Valencia, R. (Ed.). (1997). Deficit thinking: Educational thought and practice. Washington, DC: Falmer.
63.
VanManen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. New York: State University of New York Press.
64.
Vlachou, A. (1997). Struggles for inclusive education. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.
65.
Wendell, S. (1996). The rejected body: Feminist philosophical reflections on disability. New York: Routledge.
66.
Witherspoon, G. (1977). Language and art in the Navajo universe. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
67.
Wolcott, H. (1995). The art of fieldwork. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
68.
Yates, J. , Ortiz, A., & Anderson, R. (1998). Issues of race, ethnicity, disability and culture. In R. Anderson, C. Keller, & J. Karp (Eds.), Enhancing diversity: Educators with disabilities (pp. 21-37). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
69.
Zeichner, K. , & Liston, D. (1996). Reflective teaching: An introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
70.
Zola, I. K. (1993). Self, identity and the naming question: Reflections on the language of disability. Social Science and Medicine, 36(2), 167-173.
