Christine Ashby

The trouble with normal: the struggle for meaningful access for middle school students with developmental disability labels

This critical, qualitative study considers issues of access to the academic and social experiences of middle school for five students with labels of intellectual disability and autism through a lens of ableism and enforced ‘normalcy’. Starting from the position that schools are sites where ableist norms of performance leave many marginalized, this study privileges the perspective of individuals whose inclusion in school is most tenuous. Challenging the notion that mere access to general education classrooms and instruction is enough, this study interrogates questions of efficiency and meaningful engagement within the context of middle school. This paper first illustrates the ways that ableism pervades middle school settings and then outlines a typology of particular ways of being and performing that are privileged and an illusion of normalcy maintained. Finally, this article explores the implications of ableism and enforced normalcy on the engagement and participation of students considered to have developmental disabilities.

Islands of Loneliness: Exploring Social Interaction Through the Autobiographies of Individuals With Autism

Assumptions of difficulties with social interaction, or lack of interest in social interaction, are central to many definitions and conventional understandings of autism. However, many individuals with autism describe a strong craving social interaction. This article uses autobiographical accounts written by individuals who identified as autistic as a source of qualitative research data and specifically explores the ways these texts address issues of social relationships. Using narrative inquiry, the authors explored how individuals with autism described their own notions of and experiences with social interaction. This article discusses the broad themes of (a) the desire to have connections and (b) navigation through the world of people. Last, implications for the education of individuals with autism are considered.

Disqualified in the human race: a close reading of the autobiographies of individuals identified as autistic

Much can be learned about the experience of autism by listening to the voices of individuals so labelled. They describe their understanding of competence, living in a culture where autism is considered deviant, deficient and outside the range of ‘normal’ human experience. This paper utilises autobiographical accounts written by individuals who identify as autistic as a source of qualitative research data and specifically explores the ways in which these texts address issues of competence. Using narrative inquiry, it explores how individuals with autism, both adults and adolescents, describe their own notions of competence and, further, the instructional practices that support their ability to demonstrate their competence.

“Moving quietly through the door of opportunity”: Perspectives of College Students who Type to Communicate

Colleges and universities across the United States are becoming increasingly diverse. That increased diversity includes students who do not use speech as their primary means of expression. This qualitative study focuses on the experiences and challenges of higher education for individuals with autism who type to communicate using a method known as facilitated communication. This article focuses on the perspectives of these individuals as they make sense of their inclusion in and, at times, exclusion from higher education, particularly their academic and social access. In addition, the findings of this research indicate that while there are structural and classroom supports that are helpful for individuals who type to communicate, their participation and meaningful inclusion is also incumbent on attitudinal factors and how receptive faculty and staff are to the students’ method of communication. While there is still much work to be done in the area of higher education for individuals with more complex needs, this study highlights the promise of higher education for this new population of students.

Exposing Conditional Inclusive Ideologies through Simulated Interactions

This manuscript examines how teacher candidates enacted their extensive inclusive classroom preparation within simulated interactions. Diffusing a common medical education pedagogy to teacher education, the researchers situated inclusively-trained teacher candidates in front of standardized paraprofessionals. Data from these simulated interactions indicate teachers expressed a range of perspectives on classroom practice with a paraprofessional, including the support of conditional, exclusive practices that result in students being removed from classrooms. Implications center on how teacher preparation institutions can better support the transfer of inclusive preparation into inclusive practice.

‘Wishing to go it alone’: the complicated interplay of independence, interdependence and agency

Some individuals with disabilities for whom verbal speech is not reliable use facilitated communication to express thoughts and ideas. While they may require intensive physical support initially, the goal is independent typing. However, this emphasis on fading support and independence bears consideration. We utilize a Disability Studies lens to frame practices around independence and the complicated interplay between interdependence, agency and voice. Based on qualitative analysis of communication training sessions, we present four findings: the complexity of the message versus fading of physical support, the emotional dimensions of independence, the facilitator’s navigation of multiple roles, and the importance of facilitating agency. We also share implications of reframing independence and facilitating agency for the communication training process.

ALL Kids Can Be Readers: The Marriage of Reading First and Inclusive Education.

As schools attempt to address the needs of an ever more diverse student population, many have turned to intensive interventions to improve reading performance. Reading First grants from the United States Department of Education encouraged schools to implement evidence-based instructional practices in elementary schools. However, for many schools, implementation of Reading First and other intensive data-driven reading initiatives has not included students considered to have significant disabilities or has led to increased pull-out or separate remediation services. We consider how Reading First efforts can be integrated into a rich, inclusive education program for all students, including those considered to have the most significant disabilities. We discuss how schools can creatively utilize staff and scheduling to maximize push-in support and encourage interdisciplinary and data-driven problem solving to provide meaningful guidance for reading instruction for the benefit of all students.

Brief Report: Physical Activity, Body Mass Index and Arterial Stiffness in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Preliminary Findings

We examined the association between physical activity (PA), body mass index (BMI) and novel measures of subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) in 15 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (mean age 7 ± 2 years, 2 girls). PA was objectively assessed using accelerometry as time spent in moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Arterial stiffness was measured via aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) and taken as a marker of subclinical CVD risk. MVPA was inversely associated with aortic PWV (r = − 0.46, p < 0.05). BMI percentile was positively associated with aortic PWV (r = 0.61, p < 0.05). Overall findings suggest that reduced PA and higher body mass in children with ASD are associated with increased arterial stiffness which may have a detrimental impact on overall cardiovascular health.

Losing hope for change: socially just and disability studies in education educators’ choice to leave public schools

ABSTRACT This paper highlights one key finding from a larger study where researchers utilised in-depth phenomenological interviews to explore the experiences and perspectives of public school teachers who espouse a disability studies in education (DSE) and social justice teaching identity. It specifically describes the relationship found between a lack of support for DSE teaching identities and educators’ choice to leave public school teaching. It highlights how the lack of consistent and authentic administrative and institutional support for teachers underlying beliefs led the majority of the participants to feel increasingly isolated from their schools, and in their work as teachers. Thus, the paper describes the specific emotions and seclusion participants experienced in attempting to enact their commitments to DSE, which in turn exacerbated participants’ understanding of their place in their particular school systems and in schooling more broadly. Finally, it describes participants’ desires to leave public schooling and plans for continued DSE practice.

Developing and Maintaining Inclusive Identities: Understanding Student Teaching through de Certeau’s Framework of Tactics and Strategies

ABSTRACT The article describes how a group of student teachers understood and enacted inclusion in noninclusive school placements during a year-long teaching residency. It examines, within de Certeau’s framework of tactics and strategies, how students made meaning of their placements, their understanding of university practice in relation to inclusion, and their developing teaching identities as inclusive educators. The fissure between university and school praxis, and the student’s relationship to that disconnect, is at the heart of this research. Moreover, the tension between the participants’ pedagogical underpinnings of what constitutes effective teaching practice’ and the ways they experienced their school sites through the adoption of an inclusive ideological framework, informed how participants resisted and negotiated daily interactions within established systems and structures.