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ERIC Number: EJ1173058
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1361-3324
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The (Em)Bodiment of Blackness in a Visceral Anti-Black Racism and Ableism Context
Adjei, Paul Banahene
Race, Ethnicity and Education, v21 n3 p275-287 2018
Over the years, many scholarly publications have extensively discussed disability 'diagnoses' and placement practices in special education programs in the United States and the United Kingdom. These publications argue that racism and classism rather than clinically predetermined factors appear to influence the disability diagnosis and placement practices in special education. The present essay is contributing to the debate by critically exploring the relationship(s) between race, class, and disability 'diagnoses' and placement practices in special education programs in Toronto, Canada. The core ideas noted in the essay are drawn from a personal story of an African-Canadian parent -- a story of a daughter with a diagnosed disability and her mother's struggle to resist the disability 'diagnosis' as well as her battle rejecting her daughter's placement in the special education program in a Toronto public school. Using this personal account, other literature, and anti-black racism theory, I argue that special education programming in Toronto, Canada helps white middle/upper class Canadians achieve a de facto race/class-based segregation in the Toronto public school system. Whereas the Supreme Courts' rulings on "Brown vs. the Board of Education" in the United States and "Washington vs. the Trustees of Charlottesville" in Canada have insisted that whites and non-whites attend the same school, special education identification practices ensure that whites and non-whites do not have to belong to the same classroom. I conclude that when educational practices move into spaces of pathologization, blacks and working-class students are continually at risk of facing exclusionary practices. One thing is clear: the significance of skin color in the mind of the racist cannot easily be dismissed.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada (Toronto); United States; United Kingdom
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Brown v Board of Education
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A