Ableism in Education

Gillian Parekh is an educator, assistant professor and Canada Research Chair in Inclusion, Disability and Education within the Faculty of Education, York University. As a previous teacher in special education and research coordinator with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), Gillian has conducted extensive system and school-based research in Toronto in the areas of structural equity, special education, and academic streaming. In particular, her work explores how schools construct and respond to disability as well as how students are organized across programs and systems. She resides in Ontario with her family.

"Ableism in Education provides a necessary counternarrative to the lives of disabled students and their families. Education scholar Gillian Parekh writes of how ableism as an ideology serves to structure the ways in which we think of, and work with, students who present as not having met predetermined indicators of social and intellectual development. With this critical and valuable work, Parekh makes the indispensable link between ableism, classism, and racism, detailing how these and other forms of discrimination operate as barriers to education and schooling. A must read for educators, clinicians and parents."Carl E. James, author of Colour Matter: Essays on the Experiences, Education, and Pursuits of Black Youth"Ableism in Education: Rethinking School Practices and Policies is an essential read for all educators in public education. Dr. Parekh provides a direct but simple alternative path forward in rethinking the purpose of public education from one largely instrumental in reinforcing societies' existing inequities and oppression to one that could serve as a critical platform for social justice and opportunity for the historically most marginalized and economically disadvantaged communities and people. In rethinking common notions of ‘ability’ and ‘disability’—both central to public education’s mission—Parekh breathes life into a different way to perceive what it is to know something, for whom, and for what. In so doing, she offers new possibilities for how educators and the education system alike might work."Dr. David Hagen Cameron, Senior Manager Research and Development, Toronto District School Board"Dr. Gillian Parekh has delivered an important new book that centers disability in the fight for justice in schools. With a balance of historical context, current research, and theoretical depth, this book provides a critical entry into understanding how we construct ability and disability and enact ableism in our current educational practice. The book also provides a way forward with guidance for reflection throughout the book, as well as for practice that centers the experience of disabled students."Kathryn Underwood, Professor, Director of the Inclusive Early Childhood Service System Project

• Part I: Thinking Through Ability, Disability, and Ableism1 Making Disability a Different Kind of Issue in Schools: Disability Studies in Education2 How Ability is Constructed and Organized in Schools3 Detangling the Relationship Between Race, Class, and Perceived AbilityPart II: How Students Are Organized by Ability4 Special Education Program, Identification, and Placement5 Academic Streaming and Hierarchies of Ability6 Implicating Gifted and Talented EducationPart III: Practical Strategies for the School and Classroom7 Critical Approaches to Inclusion8 Inclusive Pedagogy and PracticeConclusion: Moving Forward and Setting New Conditions for Justice