Inviting Interdisciplinary Alliances Around Inclusive Educational Reform: Introduction to the Special Issue on Disability Studies in Education

Abstract

In March 2008, we, the guest editors of this special issue, served as cochairs to the Eighth Annual Second City Conference on Disability Studies in Education hosted by Teachers College, Columbia University.1 We organized the conference around the theme, “Mitigating Exclusion: Building Alliances Toward Inclusive Education Reform in Pedagogy and Policy.” As explicated in our call for proposals, the purpose of this conference was to explore the politics of exclusion with view to strengthening alliances in complementary areas of study (e.g., feminist studies, queer studies, critical race studies, and so on) as we continue to agitate for and implement change toward more inclusive policies and practices in public education…. The sponsoring organization for this conference is the Disability Studies in Education (DSE) special interest group (SIG) [of the American Educational Research Association]. As such, the participants and audience of this conference have historically been comprised of scholars working in the field(s) of disability. This year we aim to broaden our alliances in working toward inclusive education reform, by seeking both to build alliances with researchers in complementary areas of study, as well as by seeking the broader input and participation of other constituencies invested in inclusive education reform (i.e. classroom teachers, individuals labeled with disability/disabled people, family members of individuals labeled with disability/disabled people).