Combating Ableism in School
Preventing School Failure
By Keith Storey
Rauscher and McClintock (1996) described ableism as:
a pervasive system of discrimination and exclusion that oppresses people who
have mental, emotional and physical disabilities. . . . Deeply rooted beliefs about
health, productivity, beauty, and the value of human life, perpetuated by the
public and private media, combine to create an environment that is often hostile
to those whose physical, mental, cognitive, and sensory abilities. . . . fall out of
the scope of what is currently defined as socially acceptable. (p. 198)
In other words, ableism can be briefly described as the belief that it is better or superior not to have a disability than to have one and that it is better to do things in the way that nondisabled people do. Although schools often advocate multiculturalism and acceptance of differences, disability and ableism are overlooked in this advocacy. Ableism is similar to other types of discrimination (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, age) but is often unrecognized as an important issue or one that even exists (Johnson, 2003).
As our schools struggle with the inclusion of students with disabilities, ableism may play an influential, but overlooked, role in why students with disabilities are often excluded.
As noted by Johnson (2003), noninclusive education will likely meet the same fate of all segregated programs, "because it was not seen as for ‘us’ but for ‘them,’ it was resented. Any money put into it was seen as taking from us" (p. 110). If we are to make "them" (i.e., people of disabilities) the "us" (people without disabilities), then certainly ableism needs to be specifically addressed in the schools along with disability rights (Fleischer & Zames, 2001; Shapiro, 1993) and disability culture (Hall, 2002; Longmore, 1995). Hehir (2002) has noted that:
from an ableist perspective, the devaluation of disability results in societal attitudes
that uncritically assert that it is better for a child to walk than to roll, speak than
sign, read print than Braille, spell independently than use a spell-check, and hang
out with nondisabled kids as opposed to other disabled kids, etc. (p. 4)
My purpose in this article is to examine the issue of ableism in schools and to offer some suggestions for changing the current situation.
How Ableism Occurs in Schools
Ableism appears to be rooted in negative cultural assumptions about disability (Hehir, 2002). These assumptions can be based upon negative stereotypes as well as a lack of understanding of disability issues, such as efficiency (where it is just as efficient to roll as to walk from one class to another) or difference (that it is as easy to obtain information from Braille as from print) in educational settings. Ableism has been historically present in schools as well as in society at large and is tied in part to the medical model that seeks to "fix" people with disabilities (Longmore, 1995). Gill (1995) wrote that "ableist values have colonized our identities. They have suppressed the natural development of our culture and prevented us from feeling as individuals and as a group" (p. 5).
Lack of Recognition of Disability Culture
Pai (1990) argued that the purpose of education is to help students learn skills, beliefs, and attitudes related to their enculturation and that no part of the educative process (neither its content nor products), is free from cultural influence. Gill (1995) placed this lack of recognition into context by saying:
Sometimes I am just bowled over by the kind of people who feel superior to me
simply because they’re nondisabled. They’re so smug about the centrality of their
experience. They need us to bargain for respectability, to say we’re people first,
that we’d rather be defined by our abilities than our disabilities, that we can be as
productive as the next person if you guarantee us access, that, really, everyone is
disabled in some way, aren’t they, we’re calling those bargains off.” (p. 5)
How to Combat Ableism
A major goal of multicultural education is the elimination of stereotypes (Bennett, 2003). It is unlikely that the mere physical presence of students and others with disabilities is likely to change negative attitudes (Sable, 1995) or that contact alone will in itself overcome personal prejudice (Allport, 1954; Gilson & Depoy, 2000; Smart, 2001). One way to alleviate disability stereotypes is the use of ability awareness in which students and teachers without disabilities take part in simulated activities regarding having a disability (Denti & Meyers, 1997). Allport noted that equal status contact between groups with a common goal may reduce prejudice, especially if the contact is sanctioned by institutional supports (i.e., law, custom, or local atmosphere) and is of a sort that leads to the perception of common interests and common humanity between members of the two groups. Smart states that equal social status relationships must involve similarities and equal (but not necessarily the same) resources (e.g., power, prestige, materials, and emotion).
Disability Content in Curriculum and School Activities
Although the general education curriculum embraces multiculturalism as well as the contributions of women and people from ethnic and cultural minorities, there is little, if any, mention of people with disabilities beyond perhaps the mention of Franklin Roosevelt using a wheelchair. It will be important to work with school boards, curriculum committees, and textbook companies to infuse disability content into all aspects of the curriculum.
Many schools have activities such as ethnic days, multicultural food days, or celebrations of famous people from a specific culture or background. Disability needs to be infused into these activities (e.g., celebrating famous people with disabilities from various ethnic backgrounds). School administrators should also consider forming various disability related clubs (e.g., American Sign Language Club, People First!, Disability Pride).
Although some schools have Buddy Clubs or other groups that are focused on integrating students with and without disabilities, these groups are not focused on disability culture and may inadvertently reinforce ableistic viewpoints if the peer without a disability is seen as being in charge and there is not equality or equity in the interactions and activities that take place (e.g., where the non-disabled student is seen as helping the student with a disability).
There is a large body of literature indicating that teacher pre-service training can have a major impact on the attitudes of teachers in training (Voltz, 2001). However, in the schools, teachers have (usually) already obtained their credentials so information about ableism must come through inservice training. This inservice training can perhaps best be presented in terms of disability, discrimination, and multiculturalism so that teachers can better grasp the larger context of ableism in schools and other settings. It may be better to have people with disabilities come in to present rather than using special education teachers because the individuals with disabilities may be able to provide personal examples.
There are many books for children that have positive portrayals of characters with disabilities (Ayala, 1999; Prater, 1999). Teachers should use books with disability themes in which students gain tolerance and respect for others. Teachers should also incorporate books with characters with disabilities into various aspects of the curriculum as well as book clubs and reading groups.
Use of Role Models
As with all groups, students with disabilities need positive role models. Individuals with disabilities within the school community as well as the local community can serve as mentors, speakers, and activists. However, in many localities, it may be difficult to find individuals with a specific disability label to come to schools. Thus, it may be necessary for teachers to use films and other media, biographies of famous people with disabilities, and literature to examine role models for the students with disabilities as well as other members of the school community.
Hiring Teachers With Disabilities
In schools, it is common to see the hiring of staff from diverse backgrounds as important in terms of affirmative action, civil rights, and multicultural diversity. However, the hiring of teachers with disabilities is at best an after thought or only a solution to working with students with disabilities.
It is important to note that ableism works on individual, cultural, and institutional levels (Castanneda & Peters, 2000) and that each of these levels must be noted to comprehensively address ableism. For too long, the disability field has been divided into categories by label (e.g., severe disabilities, learning disabilities, physical disabilities) with inadequate understanding of these categories or how they are collectively influenced by political, cultural, and economic developments such as ableism. People often have ignored larger issues such as ableism, believing that if they become better teachers and that if students learn new skills, then instructors will have done their job. However, these larger issues influence the lives of students with disabilities, and it is within the context of these larger issues that instructors try to influence a society that is often resistant to the changes they wish to make. As Allport (1954) noted, no child is born prejudiced; it is within the context of learning and social structure that this prejudice occurs.