An Intersectional Examination of the Master Narrative of Emotional and Behavioral Disorder and Its Entanglements With Multilingual Learners With Learning Disabilities Within the Least Restrictive Environment
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2026
An Intersectional Examination of the Master Narrative of Emotional and Behavioral Disorder and Its Entanglements With Multilingual Learners With Learning Disabilities Within the Least Restrictive Environment
This article employs an intersectional and interdisciplinary Disability Studies in Education (DSE) framework to critically analyze the emotional and behavioral disorder (EBD) label and the learning disability (LD) label across federal, institutional, and individual levels. We address two pressing equity issues: the persistent racial disproportionality in special education and the limited attention to multilingual learners (MLLs) of Color with dis/Abilities (MLLsWDs) labeled with EBD. Building on scholarship that identifies racism and ableism as interlocking forces that racialize dis/Ability, we interrogate how dominant master narratives about ability, dis/Ability, race, and language both sustain and obscure inequities. We employ master narrative methodology, critical policy analysis, a qualitative single-case study, and critical quantitative methods to analyze Minnesota data and to examine the discursive, material, and emotional dimensions of the EBD label. By foregrounding the intersectional racialization of dis/Ability, this analysis highlights the complexity of disproportionality and calls for reimagining educational practices that disrupt deficit logics and expand equity for MLLsWD.
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