i All the little things: The experiences of New Zealand secondary school teachers living with impairments and/or chronic illness. A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Otago, College of Education Dunedin, New Zealand Lara J. Sanderson 2018 All the little things ii For you Mum. It will not be simple, it will not be long it will take little time, it will take all your thought it will take all your heart, it will take all your breath it will be short, it will not be simple it will touch through your ribs, it will take all your heart it will not be long, it will occupy your thought ~ Adrienne Rich (1991) All the little things iii Abstract Uncover me, my life is woven Into the warp of impairment The weft of chronic illness Experience first-hand me living (Woven, LJS, 2014) What are the experiences of New Zealand secondary school teachers living with impairments and/or chronic illness? This is the question I sought to explore through the storied experiences of Abby, Boady, Cleo, Elle, Garry, George, Harry, Jane, Kate, Lilly, May, and Sophie (not their real names), 12 New Zealand secondary school teachers. Working within a qualitative interpretivist paradigm, I drew from disability studies, disability studies in education, and arts-based educational research to frame this study. I conducted a qualitative exploratory survey and narrative interviews to produce the data. Thematic analysis of the opened ended survey questions provided strands of inquiry for the poetic text “I am, am I?” and the narrative interviews: Discriminatory practices/negative attitudes; disclosure; acceptance and support; impairment/chronic affects. After conducting a series of narrative interviews over a year, I drew on narrative and poetic inquires to create an adapted holistic-content analysis framework to analyse the interview data. This invovled three stages. Firstly, taking the position of storyteller, I co-created with the interview participants, storied accounts around their experiences of living with impairments and/or chronic illness. Secondly, an inductive analysis phase produced the major themes of diagnosis, teaching, and disability. Finally, poetic texts were created as a further iteration and level of analysis The themes elucidate the complex, everyday doing and being for disabled New Zealand secondary school teachers. Teachers experienced levels of support from collegaues, and at times, school management accomodated their impairments. Participants also discussed the impact of stigma, isolation, and feeling like they were burdens. They highlighted attidutinal barriers associated with getting into, and staying in teaching. The themes, combined with the poetic and narrative texts, produce a space for creating understandings of disabled teachers experiences in New Zealand. This thesis provides a foundation for further research with and by disabled New Zealand teachers. It argues for social and political changes for disabled teachers if inclusive education is to be actualised. These changes may include both the celebration of and advocacy for and with disabled teachers through online forums and teacher union initiatives. Disabled teachers’ perspectives largely remain invisible and untapped sources for inclusion at both practical and theoretical levels. The stories of Abby, Boady, Cleo, Elle, Garry, George, Harry, Jane, Kate, Lilly, May, and Sophie have the potential to become vehicles for change. All the little things iv Acknowledgements At the heart of this thesis are the stories and lives of the people who generously shared with me; they are embedded in every page of this thesis: Abby, Boady, Cleo, Elle, Garry, George, Harry, Jane, Kate, Lilly, May, and Sophie (not their real names). I am forever in your debt. With these are the lives of those who have supported and shared with me their time, their wisdom, their encouragement, their patience; my wonderful supervisors Ruth Gasson and Alex Gunn, have supported me in such a way that I had the freedom to explore edges of my imagination and find my own academic pathway. Thank you to proof readers Fiona Stuart and Dr. Patricia McLean for bringing polish to these pages. Throughout, my family have kept me grounded, reminding me that when all else falls away and finishes, they remain. I have appreciated their kindness, love, and support. To my Mother Denise, “my loadstar as I go and come” i your love and support shines brightly in my life. To my Father Chris, you probably won’t read this, but I will tell you about it when it’s all over! To my brother Matthew, the other side of the coin, I am so proud of you sweet man. I have a feeling I was your evil twin all along (muahahahahaaaaa). To Sue, from our shaky isles to your emerald one: Go raibh maith agat. To Elodie Rose, one day I hope to share so many stories with you under a blanket fort. To my friends: Jenna Sands and Melanie Sands; our 30 years of friendship has passed in a blink of an eye, SBC for life! Erin Jansen the keeper of my sanity with food and movie outings. My fourth-floor fellow travellers: Kim, Rafaela, Keely, Shire, Jackie, Kate also Sarah B, Megan, & Adisorn. To Toby, my treasured companion who always has a waggy bum dance for me when I walk in the door! I have appreciated the investment that the University of Otago and the University of Otago College of Education have made through a Doctoral Scholarship and the Waddell-Smith Award respectively. As I have always been short and sweet the only words left to say to everyone: With all my heart, forever and sincerely, thank you. v Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ iv Contents ........................................................................................................................... v List of images and illustrations ..................................................................................... x Note on the illustrations. .............................................................................................. x List of figures and tables ............................................................................................... xi Glossary ......................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1 ....................................................................................................................... 13 Introduction & Background ........................................................................................ 14 1.01 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 14 1.02 A Guide to this thesis ....................................................................................... 15 1.03 Backstory: A bit about me .............................................................................. 16 1.04 The (un)seeing world: Ideological homes ...................................................... 19 1.05 Key Concepts: Disability & inclusion ............................................................ 20 1.06 Defining disability. ...................................................................................... 20 1.07 Inclusion ...................................................................................................... 21 1.08 Research question ............................................................................................ 22 1.09 Summary .......................................................................................................... 23 Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................... 24 Underpinning ‘all the little things’: Theoretical framework .................................... 24 2.01 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 25 2.02. Theoretical Framework: Part One ............................................................... 26 2.03 Qualitative Research. ................................................................................... 26 2.04 Interpretivism. ............................................................................................. 27 2.05 Social Constructionism. ............................................................................... 28 2.06 Theoretical Framework Part Two ................................................................. 29 2.07 Disability studies ........................................................................................ 30 2.08 Disability Studies in Education (DSE) ..................................................... 32 2.09 The social models of disability. ............................................................ 33 2.10 Putting back the body: Sociology of disability. 35 2.11 Theoretical framework part three ................................................................. 37 2.12 Arts-based educational research. ............................................................. 37 2.13 Narrative and poetic inquiries. ................................................................. 39 All the little things vi 2.14 Why narrative? ..................................................................................... 41 2.15 Why poetic? .........................................................................................