Disability Futures

DREDF strongly supports government efforts to prevent the improper placement of students of color in special education. But what I want to talk about today is a new twist on the intersection of race and disability in special education that I believe is harming students of color with disabilities, particularly students of color with invisible disabilities such as ADHD, Specific Learning Disabilities, and PTSD. Implicit racial biases combined with paternalistic stereotypes about disability are causing schools to keep students of color out of special education to the detriment of their education and their future.

Please let me clarify from the start that when I talk about special education, I am NOT referring to a place, but to supports and services in the regular education classroom. Schools do not see my African American clients with behavior issues and academic struggles as disabled—they see them as lazy, defiant, and just plain bad. But at the same time, these struggling students do not fit society’s idea of a “disabled” student worthy of our pity and protection.