top of page
The Limits of Inclusion
Progressive educational policies have taken on many forms throughout the years, especially in regards to the treatment of students with disabilities. While physical and learning aids are becoming more and more commonplace in the classroom, many schools still fall far behind in addressing the unique needs of neurodivergent students. When learning spaces neglect the mental and emotional needs of students, they reinforce the idea that the contemporary classroom space is designed to produce one particular kind of student, thus reproducing the same ableist and neoliberal structures inclusive policy seeks to unravel.
Problems of Information
The educational space is designed to distribute information. Not all information, however, is evaluated equally. While classroom inclusion and educational aids are important to the quality of a neurodiverse student's learning, so is socio-emotional recognition and understanding. Despite progressive educational policies, schools can still engage in practices of alienation and exclusion if they do not take tangible steps to change the way neurodiversity is talked about (patholgization, infantilization) and normalize and encourage diverse pursuits of information.
14% of all public school students use special education services
For Who Are Schools Designed For?
My research inquires into the "hidden curricula" of US public school systems; what types of values these systems are based in, and what kind of relationships and hierarchies are formed between neurodiverse students, teachers, and peers. I am also interested in exploring how these systems both mimic and replicate ableist systems outside the classroom, and how neoliberal politics influence and change the meaning of "learning."
bottom of page