Re-thinking disability and adapted physical education An intersectionality perspective

• Published in: Routledge Handbook of Adapted Physical Education pp. 252 - 265
• Main Author: Azzarito, Laura
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2020
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: ADHD; Pedagogical Remedies; Disability Intersect; In-service Physical Educators; Inclusive Pe; Disabled Body; Special Education; Unhealthy Minds; Ape Class; Ape Teacher; Genuine Inclusion; Deficit Thinking; Special Education Programs; Adapted Physical Activity; Individual’s Social Reality; Body Mind Dichotomy; Motor Skill Intervention; ICF; Adapted Physical; Segregated Learning Environments; Intersectionality Perspective; Develop School Curricula; Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; Ape; Ape Service
• ISBN: 0367146118; 9780367146115
• DOI: 10.4324/9780429052675-20

While education scholars have critically problematized the issue of ethnic minoritized young people being overrepresented in special education programs, to date, there is a dearth of research that examines how issues of disability intersect with race, gender/sex, and social class in adapted physical education (APE) classes. In this chapter, first, I problematize the links between ideals of normalcy, disability, and difference, suggesting that the current “normative culture of school” works as a system of discrimination against ethnic minoritized young people identified as having disability. Second, contesting the notion of remediating “unhealthy minds” in “unhealthy bodies,” I advocate for re-positioning the unitary, static notion of disability to acknowledge the multiple forms of oppression that ethnic minoritized students with disability might face in their daily lives. Third, I re-think disability from an intersectionality perspective to account for the individual’s social reality of disability based on intersecting social categories, such as race, gender/sex, and social class. With a commitment to social justice and acknowledging the multi-faceted aspects of the identities of ethnic minoritized young people who self-identify as having disability, I conclude the chapter by interrogating the possibility of moving, both theoretically and pedagogically, toward genuine inclusion through the lenses of intersectionality.