Ben Whitburn

Accessibility and autonomy preconditions to ‘our’ inclusion: a grounded theory study of the experiences of secondary students with vision impairment

In this paper, I report core findings of a small-scale qualitative study that I conducted with a group of young people with vision impairment who attended an inclusive secondary school in the Australian state of Queensland. My objective was to capture their voiced experiences of their schooling through face-to-face interviews and to develop a substantive theory that was grounded in the collected data. Relevant to the study was my status as an insider researcher, which impacted both data collection and analysis. Here, I develop the methodological process that I followed and present core findings of the study. These findings shed light on the practices within schools that are designed to promote inclusion yet perpetuate exclusion for students with impaired vision.

‘A really good teaching strategy’: Secondary students with vision impairment voice their experiences of inclusive teacher pedagogy

The inclusion of students with vision impairment (VI) into regular classes is typically made possible via a raft of technical accommodations and special educational support. This article reports key findings of a small-scale qualitative Australian study conducted with a group of secondary school students with VI about teachers’ practices that increased their access and autonomy. Participants reported that a combination of (1) using appropriate communication modes, (2) making accessible resources available to students in a timely manner, (3) being able to ‘think outside the box’ about the provision of access to diagrammatic study material, and (4) being approachable outside of scheduled lessons for individual consultations increased their inclusion in the school. Raw data are presented to illustrate the value of these practices to the students. This article concludes with a discussion of the potential of students’ views to the facilitation of inclusive practices, and the broader implication of this to the teaching profession.

The indelible ink of the special stamp: an insider’s research essay on imprints and erasures

The medical profession ascribes otherness to people with disabilities through diagnosis and expertism, which sets in motion discursive powers that oversee their exclusion through schooling and beyond. In this paper, I present a narrative pieced together from personal experiences of ducking and weaving the deficit discourse in ‘inclusive’ education, when seeking employment and in day-to-day family interaction as a person with severely impaired vision. This work builds on previous qualitative research I conducted in Queensland, Australia with a group of young people with impaired vision who attended an inclusive secondary school. I frame this discussion using Foucault’s conception of normalising judgement against the hegemony of normalcy, and consider that inclusion for people with disabilities is reminiscent of a haunting. Through this analysis, I demonstrate how my ideology is formed, and how it in turn shapes a research agenda geared toward seeking greater inclusion for young people with disabilities in schools.

Voice, post-structural representation and the subjectivity of ‘included’ students

Aligned with the broader movement from structuralism to the post-structuralisms [Lather, P. 2013. “Methodology-21: What Do We Do in the Afterward?” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26 (6): 634–645; St. Pierre, E. A. 2009. “Afterword: Decentering Voice in Qualitative Inquiry.” In Voice in Qualitative Inquiry: Challenging Conventional, Interpretive, and Critical Conceptions in Qualitative Research, edited by A. Y. Jackson and L. A. Mazzei, 221–236. London: Routledge; St. Pierre, E. A. 2013. “The Posts Continue: Becoming.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26 (6): 646–657], research in disability studies for the past two decades has found ‘the potholes’ [Miller, L., J. B. Whalley, and I. Stronach. 2012. “From Structuralism to Poststructuralism.” In Research Methods in the Social Sciences, edited by B. Somekh and C. Lewin. London: SAGE] of disability rights scholarship. In this paper, I offer a critical research framework in the field of disability studies in education that is theoretical, political and personal. Concentrating on the positioning of disability, I draw on the methodological tools of post-structural representation, subjectivity and constructivist grounded theory to study how discursive practices within (and around) secondary schools shape ‘included’ disabled subjects. In the paper I develop this framework and then demonstrate its application in ongoing research that critically counters the conventions that marginalize particular students in schools.

National and international disability rights legislation: a qualitative account of its enactment in Australia

In this paper, a detailed analysis based on the lived experiences of the study participants and the researcher (each with vision impairment) in education, post school and in the pursuit for employment is developed. The policy discourses of disability legislation – both at national and international levels – are explored with particular reference to their enactment in Australia. The analysis focuses on the collective indifference to detached others, which is evident in the linguistic construction of people with disabilities in the United Nations [(2006). Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. New York: United Nations] and the Australian Standards for Education 2005 [Australian Department of Education, Science and Training. 2006. Disability Standards for Education 2005 Plus Guidance Notes. Accessed March 12, 2012. http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-7692.]. Together, these elements reflect the neoliberal principles that cast a shadow over the discourses of the disability policies.

The fetish of the lens: persistent sexist and ableist metaphor in education research

Abstract The scientific metaphor of the lens remains widely used in qualitative education research, despite critiques of positivism. Informed by two recently completed empirical doctoral studies relying on Metaphors We Live By, we propose that the attachment to the lens is a fetish. We argue that this fetish, evident even in purportedly feminist, post-positivist and inclusive education research, emerges from fascination with masculinist and ableist power predicated on the othering of the feminine, and those with disabilities. Recourse to the language of power proves irresistible, if dangerous, for academics. We call for caution in the casual use of the lens and for new linguistic research repertoires that produce reality differently.

The subjectivities of ‘included’ students with disabilities in schools

ABSTRACT The contextual precept of this paper is to re-theorise inclusive education beyond technical rational solutions to the ‘problem’ of disability. Drawing on Foucauldian and critical disability theories, I make the case for the analysis of inclusive schooling through the lens of students’ ‘included’ subjectivities – notwithstanding the presence of diagnosed special educational needs. I contend that there is a theoretical mismatch between humanist inclusive schooling and the posthumanist position of disability: an epistemic fissure that impedes inclusive development. Through analysis of the voices of students with disabilities from two different schooling contexts in Australia and Spain, I demonstrate how fragmented virtues of normalcy suffused their subjectivities. I conclude the paper with a discussion of the roles that DisHuman disability studies might play in recasting inclusive schooling by troubling normative discourse.

Inclusive Education, Subjectivities and the Posts

Inclusive education scholarship and practice could be described as being resistant to the first and second waves of disability studies in education (DSE). In the third wave of DSE, wherein “the posts” (St. Pierre, 2013, p. 646) gain purchase, the construction of difference and its implications for inclusive schooling are being reworked. Advancing the critique of taken-for-granted knowledge making machinery, the posts demand that we consider “possible worlds in which we might live” (St. Pierre, 2013, p. 654) in which alternative conceptions of difference are examined for their generative potential.

The Kids Are Alright: They Have Been Included for Years

In this chapter, I examine the roles and limitations to the incitement of voice in qualitative interviews in disabled children’s childhood studies. I argue that voice and experience are mediated concepts—both by life circumstances and the power relations between the researcher and participants present in interviews. To demonstrate my argument, I work through my experiences of interviewing a group of 23 young people with disabilities who attended secondary schools in Spain. Of the group, only roughly a third responded to any extent to questions I put to them. I suggest that interviews that might appear on the surface to be unrewarding might speak volumes in their silences. I conclude by reconceptualising the interview, in which I advance alternative ideas to the providence of voice in qualitative research.

Making Sense of Everyday Practice

Underpinning the emergent field of inclusive education is the ideology that everyone can participate in learning and teaching; that the culture and organisation of learning environments complement democratic citizenship. But this position is not without contest. Across the globe and in western countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the US and UK in particular, diverse ways of being too often vector discrimination and stigmatisation.