Institutional Injustice In Katie Kissinger's Holding N

The institutional injustice presented throughout the readings Holding Nyla by Katie Kissinger, The Case of Sharon Kowalski and Karen Thompson by Joan L. Griscom, and Race, Disability and the School-to-Prison Pipeline by Julianna Hing was institutional ableism. Institutional ableism is a form of discrimination in which preference is shown to people who appear to be able-bodied. Prior to taking EDU 301, I never realized that there was a term to describe the discrimination of disabled people. However, now it is clear to me that institutional ableism is a real issue in today’s society. In the first reading titled Holding Nyla, Nyla was a young child who had cerebral palsy and who had recently been placed in an inclusion classroom. This inclusion …show more content…
The school-to-prison pipeline drives “striking numbers of students of color away from school and into the criminal justice system” (Rothenburg 297). I found the statistics that the author used to demonstrate this issue absolutely shocking. During the 2011 school year, approximately 3 million public school students were suspended and over 100,000 expelled. A majority of these students were black. Additionally, black students are expelled at three times the rate of white students (Rothenburg 297). However, suspending and expelling students will not solve their behavioral issues. It will simply get them out of the classroom and school, which is ultimately their goal. To address this issue, Cox Academy introduced the “All-In” program, which “pairs a general education teacher with a special education teacher, and places two additional counselors in the classroom to provide behavioral support for students for a full year” (Rothenburg 301). I think this program seems like a great program for students. When I was in elementary school, I was in a classroom fairly similar to this. There was a general education teacher, as well as two special education teachers that would help out. There was a student in class who had autism, and the special education teachers would assist him mostly. However, all of the teachers worked really well together to help all of us. Looking back now, I like how they did not exclude my classmate who had autism or move him to a classroom specifically for children with disabilities because it allowed us to interact with him and for him to interact with us. The teachers made the classroom environment comfortable, so all of us students were very close and we became friends with the boy. Overall, I think it was an amazing experience and I am glad that I was able to