Files
Abstract
It has been recognized that the experience of Black girls, especially those of Black girls with disabilities, may not conform to dominant forms of girlhood (Aapola, Gonick, & Harris, 2005, p. 3). While there is great attention to the disproportionate numbers of Black students in special education, there is not much attention to girls specifically. Additionally, the underrepresentation of research of girls of color in education posits a situation ripe to exclude best curricular and classroom practices that would benefit and promote the success of Black girls and that of the society in which they will become active contributors (Evans-Winters & Esposito, 2010). Crenshaw, Ocen, and Nanda (2015):For this project, the goal is to bring to light the stories of the experiences of Black women who were served in special education under the label of specific learning disability, understand the perceived impact on their lives thereafter, interrogate the systems and structures that contributed to those experiences, and create a dialogue between teacher and former student that invites the student to help the teacher reflect critically on their practice. As such, the most useful method of achieving this aim is a study grounded in narrative inquiry with the accompaniment of duo-ethnographic data collection methods.A thematic analysis showed that all the co-researchers converged at a meeting point of limited economic mobility. The following were entry points and barriers to mobility: self (the co-researchers themselves), other people in their lives, and systems and structures that guided that ways the co-researchers interacted with the world around them. This study challenges educators, policymakers, and community members to: 1) consider the practices that we do almost automatically without regard for the unintended consequences 2) examine what educational equity looks like 3) change deficit perceptions of dis/ability 4) consider the importance of wrap around services.