The Importance Of Ableism In Education

Ableism has been defined as “the devaluation of disability” by which the disability is seen as an obstacle for the individual to overcome by working harder, not a trait of the person which should be accepted by society (Hehir). The importance of this subject as pertaining to schools is that statistically students with learning disabilities account for as much as six percent of the kindergarten to twelfth grade population, and this data does not include disorders such as dyslexia, the difficulty in interpreting words, and ADHD, which may cause difficulty in impulsiveness or attention (Borgioli). The two aforementioned disorders and other mental disabilities all face challenges in the world due to their differences from neurologically-typical …show more content…
Factors that contribute to the belief that ableism continues to exist within educational programs include the general atmosphere that many in a society adopt when discussing regulation and conformity in schools, the way disability is defined that may make it an external force not an internal trait, and barriers that may be set up in place that limit individuality and in doing so create challenges for children with disabilities such as standardized testing and other government programs. Arguments exist that state discrimination or the devaluation of differences in students is not an issue within school programs due to steps that are taken by teachers to diagnose children early with severe disabilities and the available options for children who have less severe disorders to learn, however as this paper will cover, those people overlook many examples in which ableism continues to be present in schools as a force that inhibits the education of many children with …show more content…
The opposing argument made the assumption that government programs and early diagnosis procedures were adequate in making sure children with learning disabilities were identified and treated accordingly yet we know from the given definition of ableism that many of these government programs can promote separation and discrimination against children with learning disorders and we know that the identification process can ignore the idea of not devaluing disabilities and instead treat disabilities as if they are an issue that must be fixed by an outside force. Furthermore, we know state-wide programs such as standardized testing and even abstract concepts like the Critical Pedagogy of academics can contribute to the existing level of inequality for disabled students by quantitatively or socially dividing them from their fellow peers based on the fact that they are different from them due to their symptoms. Overall, I learned from my research that the discussion of whether or not ableism does exist within the educational system can be very controversial and yet all evidence points to the conclusion that the American school system can have a tendency to allow prejudice against those with disabilities and now that this has been discovered, steps must be taken to stop it such