Affirming Disability

Janet Story Sauer is a professor of special education at Lesley University. Zachary Rossetti is an associate professor of special education at Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.

“Fills an important gap in highlighting the voices of immigrant families with students with disabilities and in providing resources that guide readers to reflect and develop plans to work more collaboratively with families.”—Teachers College Record

• Contents (Tentative)Foreword Maria de Lourdes SerpaAcknowledgments1. Forging Connections in Family EngagementStructure and Goals of the BookDeveloping Cultural Humility to Foster Family EngagementTheoretical Framework—Disability Studies in EducationMethodology—Strengths-Based PortraitureConclusionReferences2. "We Call Ourselves Chinese": The Ou Family PortraitSusan Ou and Janet SauerSusan: "I'm a risk taker."Developing Cultural UnderstandingChinese Family DiversityChinese ImmigrationSchool and Family Engagement: "Do some research."The Assessment and Diagnosis Process: "A kid is a whole person."The Children: Bruce and IanConclusionReflection QuestionsReferences3. "A Girl Who Has Beauty Inside and Out": A Portrait of a Vietnamese Mother and DaughterOanh Thi Thu Bui, with Zach RossettiImmigrating to the United StatesCultural Context: VietnamMultiple Diagnoses, Multiple Meanings Across CulturesNavigating the Special Education SystemLearning to AdvocateThe Power of Daily Communication Between Home and SchoolA Voice for My DaughterFighting for Appropriate ServicesEngaging as a Cultural BrokerDiffering Views of TinyParental Roles and Ongoing LearningConclusionReflection QuestionsReferences4. "Ella Me Apoyó": A Latina Mother´s Journey Through the Special Education SystemMaureen Lothrop MagnanThe Act of Cultural BrokeringThe El Salvadorian–Mexican RestaurantA Failure to TranslateChaos on an IEPThe Power of WordsNegative Name Calling"We demand that our children receive the special education services they need."Continuing to Learn, Fight, and Push OnwardMaría's Youngest SonConclusionMy Own Interfering ExperiencesConnecting through MotherhoodReflection QuestionsReferences5. Mother Tongue: Sachin and His Indian American FamilyPunita R. Arora, with Janet Sauer and Zach RossettiWho Is Sachin?Who Is Sachin's Family?Cultural ContextWho Is Punita?The Family and the SystemChange of School, Change of ServicesConclusionReflection QuestionsReferences6. Lessons of Abundance in an Iranian American FamilyKimiya Sohrab MaghziOur Samin BanooThe Lived ExperienceThe DisCrit LensIntroducing SaminShirin's StoryThe Importance of IntentionalityDenial, Desperation, and ReligionBarriers to Home–School CollaborationTeam ParentingFinal Thoughts from ShirinConclusionReflection QuestionsReferences7. A Goat Among Lions: Unveiling the Challenges Faced by a Somali Refugee Mother of a Child with AutismSahra Bashir and Amy GoodenAttitudes Toward Disability in Somali CultureGacmo is dhaafaa gacalo ka timaaddaa: Love emerges when hands give something to each other.Khayr wax kuuma dhimee shar u tog hay: In good times, be ready for bad times (because times always change).Ri yar iyo libaax: I felt like a little goat among the lions.War la qabo xiiso ma leh: What is known is not interesting. Iskaashato ma kufto: If people support each other, they do not fall.Reflection QuestionsReferences8. Knowledge to Action: Enacting Cultural HumilityPersonal Action Plan for ChangeConclusionReferencesIndex About the Authors