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Normalcy, Intersectionality and Ableism: Teaching About and Around ‘Inclusion’ to Future Educators

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Abstract

  • We talk about teaching university students about inclusion in schools and universities.

  • We began by focusing our teaching on disabled children and other ‘groups’ such as children of colour.

  • However, this did not work very well. Our students wrote essays that focused on the differences between disabled and non-disabled people.

  • We changed our teaching to focus on the problems caused by an unfair society. This has worked better.

  • We also include disabled people’s personal stories in our teaching.

whilst claiming ‘inclusion’, ableism simultaneously always restates and enshrines itself. On the one hand, discourses of equality promote ‘inclusion’ by way of promoting positive attitudes (some legislated in mission statements, marketing campaigns , equal opportunities protections) and yet on the other hand, ableist discourses proclaim quite emphatically that disability is inherently negative, ontologically intolerable and in the end, a dispensable remnant.

(Campbell  2009 , 12)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK

    Jen Slater & Elizabeth L. Chapman (Liz)

Authors
  1. Jen Slater
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  2. Elizabeth L. Chapman (Liz)
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The School of Education, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Katherine Runswick-Cole

  2. Department of Health and Social Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom

    Tillie Curran

  3. The School of Education, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Kirsty Liddiard

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Slater, J., Chapman (Liz), E.L. (2018). Normalcy, Intersectionality and Ableism: Teaching About and Around ‘Inclusion’ to Future Educators. In: Runswick-Cole, K., Curran, T., Liddiard, K. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Disabled Children’s Childhood Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54446-9_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54446-9_22

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-54445-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-54446-9

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