In Illinois, where I work as a fourth-grade teacher, two new state plans will make it critical that schools select thoughtfully curated social and emotional learning (SEL) curricula that are culturally responsive and designed to serve marginalized students. Most of us know that identities such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, nationality, and religion are crucial aspects of this work. And they are full stop. Yet there’s one area that often gets overlooked in these conversations: disability.
As we begin the 2021–22 school year with a renewed focus on identity studies and anti-bias instruction, we must look to broaden our lens of intersectionality to incorporate disability.
4 WAYS TO ADD DISABILITY TO YOUR ANTI-BIAS WORK
1. Take a broad student-led, student-centered approach. Though disability is all around us, many of us do not have experience discussing it. Disabilities often go unmentioned because people are afraid of saying the wrong thing or may not realize the true spectrum of disability, given that many disabilities are invisible.
Ensuring that your students have a language to acknowledge the truly wide spectrum of diversity, including disability, is a strong first step. I have found that once given the opportunity to discuss disability within the broader context of identity, my students have plenty to offer. I begin these conversations by presenting a story, book, news article, or short video that opens the door to discussing disability.
From there, rather than being the sole driver of conversation, I spend time listening to the thoughts, questions, and observations of my students. Taking a facilitation role allows students to begin to make sense of disability based upon their own worldview and can be rather powerful in beginning your own anti-bias instruction journey.
2. Utilize disability as your springboard for discussion. I will admit that I found it challenging, at first, to find ways to connect the dots between disability and all other marginalized communities. Most of my own reading and professional development in the anti-bias realm has centered on race, ethnicity, and gender. It was not until I was hired to support anti-ableism programs by The Nora Project (TNP), a nonprofit that promotes disability inclusion, that I was able to see the true connection. It became even clearer to me that many of the struggles of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination are shared by all marginalized groups, including the disabled. By working toward the liberation of one marginalized community, I could work toward the liberation of many others, too. Indeed, this is the underlying premise of the disability justice movement.
The curriculum writing I did for TNP used lessons about demystifying disability as a springboard for a broader conversation about the human condition, diversity, and how identities, power, and marginalization intersect. So now, instead of leading with a discussion about race or gender, I am able to begin my classroom conversations by discussing disability discrimination, which allows me to tie and layer that into other forms of discrimination. Because one in five Americans is disabled, and because most people will experience disability in their lifetimes, it’s a natural jumping-off point for these complex discussions.
