Beyond Able-Minded Citizenship: Embracing Intellectual Ability Differences in Democratic Education
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Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE May 2015 Beyond Able-Minded Citizenship: Embracing Intellectual Ability Differences in Democratic Education Ashley Taylor Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Taylor, Ashley, "Beyond Able-Minded Citizenship: Embracing Intellectual Ability Differences in Democratic Education" (2015). Dissertations - ALL. 242. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/242 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT Within philosophical literature on democratic education, philosophers of education embrace the existence of cultural, religious, racial, gender, and other social differences as important to a thriving democracy. However, they frequently ignore or marginalize the potential significance of ability differences, especially those associated with intellect and reasoning ability. In fact, prevailing understandings of civic engagement within political philosophy, social and educational policy, and institutional practice conform to norms of development, behavior, and civic contribution that assume the presence of able-bodied and able-minded individuals. There is therefore an unchallenged assumption that those who experience significant difficulties in reasoning are unable to perform the tasks of citizenship. My dissertation investigates and challenges this assumption. I consider how the recognition of existent intellectual ability differences alters our philosophical theorizing about democratic education and suggests the need for alternative frameworks of democratic participation and the education that supports it. I propose that individuals’ existent variability in intellectual processing, communicative modes, and behavior should guide our reasoning about what is required for civic participation. My view places demands on educational policy, schooling practices, and teacher education to re-examine curricula, teaching practice, school-community partnerships and, importantly, ideas about how civic knowledge is acquired and put into practice in light of varying abilities. Answering the question of whether individuals with intellectual disabilities are owed an education that prepares them to participate in democratic citizenship not only concerns the extent to which we embrace differences of ability within education in general, but also hinges on whether a just society can be one that does not enable the civic contribution of those with significant disabilities. BEYOND ABLE-MINDED CITIZENSHIP: EMBRACING INTELLECTUAL ABILITY DIFFERENCES IN DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION By: Ashley Taylor B.A. University of King’s College, 2006 M.S. Syracuse University, 2010 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Foundations of Education Syracuse University May 2015 Copyright © Ashley Taylor 2015 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project seeks to affirm hope in the possibility of democratic communities of belonging. I am so grateful to be able to say that I have experienced belonging throughout this process, and have at every point been nurtured and revived by a network of incredible people. Foremost among these are the many strong people labeled with intellectual disabilities with whom I have worked as a caregiver and educator, or simply known as a friend. I am especially grateful to Flo Carroll, Lisa Obrist, Susan, Krystal, Jen, Terry, and Lolo for accepting me into their lives and for pushing me towards humility in my scholarship. The Disability Studies and Cultural Foundations of Education communities at SU have sustained me throughout this process. To my cherished advisors and mentors Barbara Applebaum and Emily Robertson, I extend my heartfelt gratitude. Thank you for challenging me, making me laugh, talking me through (occasional) tears, and sharing your lives and experiences with me. You define scholarly and teacherly awesomeness! The challenging coursework of Beth Ferri, Ken Baynes, and Arlene Kanter led to many of the ideas developed here. I am indebted to each of you for making me think more deeply and more critically. Enormous thanks to Maryann Barker, whose careful work and constant support keep us all afloat! The encouragement and friendship of many treasured and amazing scholars and educators continue to motivate me. I am especially grateful for the love and support of Lauren Shallish, my co-conspirator and “dissertation bridesmaid,” whose positivity and care are boundless, and to Melissa Smith, for her invaluable advice and cunning wit: friend, you keep it real. Many thanks to Jess Bacon, Danielle Cowley, Katie Duyfhuizen, Micah Feldman, Rebecca Johnson, Fernanda Orsati, Heidi Pitzer, Jen Nixon, Carrie Rood, Kat Sieger, Mark Stern, and Steve Steward for helping me work through my ideas, and of course, raising a glass or two. iv I am immensely grateful to the Spencer Foundation, along with the National Academy of Education, for supporting my dissertation work in numerous ways. My dissertation was written with the support of a National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, a true honor and an experience from which I have grown significantly. In addition, this project developed out of a paper I wrote for Spencer’s Philosophy of Education Institute in 2013. To my fellow “campers:” I hope my dissertation is “zesty” enough for you. A special shout out to Rebecca Taylor and Jake Fay: I cherish our friendship and collaboration! Finally, to the friends and family who got me here. To the King’s women (and man) who nurtured and encouraged my path to and within grad school: Karen Aagaard, Katherine Archibald, Laurel Collins, Rachael Griffin, Mary Harrison, Jenny Johnston, Kate McFarlane, and Mike Stacey. I am especially and enormously grateful to Kim Sedgwick, whose ability to love and support amaze and humble me every day. To my sister, Meaghan Taylor-Macdonald, who always said I would be a professor one day: thanks, Megs, for believing in me. To my stepmom, Margaret Kirk, thank you for showing me what it means to be a strong woman, and for your constant belief in my success. To my mom, Nancy Rikley, for bringing me up in her creative and wondering spirit. To my dad, John Taylor, for his contagious eagerness to learn and for all those early morning phone calls of encouragement. I am of both of you. How much I wish you were still here to know this moment. And, most of all, thank you to my partner, Aaron Wolf, who has challenged me, lifted me up, and made me laugh all throughout this process: you make every day the best day. Lastly I want to thank the late Dr. Steve Taylor, whose scholarship and guidance brought me to Syracuse. I humbly and gratefully dedicate this project to you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………………………… iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.……………………………………………………………….. 1 Schooling and the Citizenry……………………………………………………………… 2 Methodological Considerations………………………………………………………….. 9 Some Notes on Language………………………………………………………………. 16 CHAPTER 2: EDUCATIONAL AIMS AND EMBODIED DIFFERENCES……….…………18 Divergent Approaches to Thinking about Disability in Education………………………19 The Deferral Stance…………………………………………………………………….. 24 The Affirmative Stance…………………………………………………………………. 52 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………… 71 CHAPTER 3: DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION AND THE NORMS OF CITIZENSHIP………75 Democratic Citizenship Education as an Aim…………………………………………...77 Constructing the Citizen: Fantasies of Race, Gender, and Ability………………………80 The “Good Citizen” in the “Good Society”……………………………………………...94 Ability Expectations and Democratic Forms…………………………………………….97 Democratic Citizenship and the Norms of Able-Mindedness………………………….106 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...112 CHAPTER 4: NORMALCY, THAT MOST DANGEROUS EPISTEMIC PITFALL………..115 Assumptions of the Deferral Stance……………………………………………………117 Epistemic Injustice in Reasoning about Educational Justice and Disability…………...132 Intellectual Disability and Philosophy: A Relationship in Need of Some Therapy……145 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...153 CHAPTER 5: TRANSFORMING THE NORMS OF CIVIC PARTICIPATION...…………..155 A Transformative Approach to Conceptualizing Political Agency and Participation….157 Learning Functions and the Power of Normal………………………………………….160 Normalcy, Respect, and Political Agency……………………………………………...164 Civic Participation and Standards of Normalcy………………………………………...170 The Narrowing of Democratic Participation……………………………………………177 Making Visible Civic Competencies…………………………………………………...188 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...195 CHAPTER 6: ENVISIONING INCLUSIVE DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION ……………….197 Hermeneutical Justice in Reasoning about Democratic Citizenship Aims……………..200 “Doing” Citizenship rather than “Becoming” a Citizen………………………………..208 Democratic Citizenship as a Project of Inclusion………………………………………216 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...220 REFERENCES…………………………...…………………………………………………….222 vi 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Meet Christine. Christine is unable to manage her basic finances, arrange and attend medical appointments, or sign up for a phone plan without assistance of a family member or friend. She struggles to understand the meaning of things like civil rights or jury duty. Christine also requires the support of a caregiver in communicating