A DisCrit-Informed Critique of the Difference vs. Disorder Approach in Speech-Language Pathology

Abstract

The disproportionate representation of students of color in special education is among the most longstanding and intractable problems in education. In this chapter, the authors examine the phenomenon of racial disproportionality through the theoretical framework of disability studies and critical race theory (DisCrit). They argue that a DisCrit-informed lens challenges the current framing of racial disproportionality in speech-language pathology as merely resulting from a failure to distinguish between differences and disorders. Rather, racial disproportionality is a predictable outcome of the institutionalized segregation of students based on perceived deviations from normative standards, a process grounded in the mutually reinforcing mechanisms of systemic ableism and systemic racism.