Reading Resistance: Discourses of Exclusion in Desegregation and Inclusion Debates (Disability Studies in Education)

Reading Resistance confronts longstanding exclusionary practices in U.S. public schooling. Beth A. Ferri and David J. Connor trace the interconnected histories of race and disability in the public imagination through their nuanced analysis of editorial pages and other public discourses, including political cartoons and eugenics posters. By uncovering how the concept of disability was used to resegregate students of color after the historic Brown decision, the authors argue that special education has played a role in undermining school desegregation. In its critical, interdisciplinary focus on the interlocking politics of race and disability, Reading Resistance offers important contributions to educational research, theory, and policy.

The Authors: Beth A. Ferri is Associate Professor in Teaching and Leadership, Cultural Foundations of Education, and Disability Studies at Syracuse University, where she also coordinates the Masters program in Secondary Inclusive Education and the Doctoral program in Special Education, as well as serves on the Advisory Board of the Women’s Studies program. She received her Ph.D. in Special Education and graduate certificate in Women’s Studies at the University of Georgia. For her interdisciplinary scholarship in feminist disability studies and critical disability inquiry, she was recently recognized as an Outstanding Young Scholar in Disability Studies in Education.
David J. Connor is Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education at Hunter College, City University of New York. He received his Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University. His dissertation research focusing on the intersections of disability, race, and class was awarded the Teachers College President’s Grant for Student Research in Diversity. In addition, he was the recipient of the 2005 Outstanding Young Scholar in Disability Studies in Education.