BackTalk

n Susan Unok Marks

Special education: More about social justice, less about caring

THE SELF-ADVOCACY move-

ment pushes special educators to move beyond teaching self-care skills so students are prepared to be fully integrated members of society. Im a special educator who works with students with severe disabilities. When I tell people about my work, I often hear, Oh, you must be very patient, or Oh, you must be a very caring person. Ive always been bothered by this reaction because I felt it diminished my sense of professionalism. Patient and caring imply that this work required a special temperament that didnt include an intellectual disposition. In other words, it diminished me and my career choice. But, recently, Ive reacted differently to these responses, as Ive met special educators who appear satisfied with such labels. Ive come to realize that patience and caring arent benign qualities, and the reactions I experienced had far more negative repercussions than I originally considered. Those who live up to these stereotypes often unintentionally do more harm than good to students since a natural extension of

caring and patience tends to be overprotectiveness.

In the name of caring

The history of special education is full of examples of actions in the name of caring. The practice of institutionalizing individuals with disabilities resulted in dehumanizing living situations. When those conditions were exposed, the public demanded deinstitutionalization. In spite of those changes, the field of special

I thought that being called caring and patient diminished my professionalism; now, I realize that it diminishes the students. Thats far more serious.

SUSAN UNOK MARKS (susan. marks@nau.edu) is a professor of education at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Ariz.
80 Kappan September 2011

education continues to be modeled on the same basic premise: Special people care for students with disabilities. This premise results in a different and separate education for these students, one based on custodial care and teaching self-care skills rather than providing a truly meaningful education. Students with severe disabilities, for example, typically spend their days

separated from other students and surrounded by caring adults who minister to their basic needs. Although students with severe disabilities are now more likely to attend public schools, their experiences are very different from those of typical students. Fortunately, the self-advocacy movement developed as a response to the prevailing assumptions of disability (Whitehead & Hughey, 2004; Wehmeyer, 2007; Wehmeyer, Bersani, & Gagne, 2000). Individuals with disabilities are driving this movement, seeking less pity and more equal rights. A leader in this movement, Norm Kunc (see www.normemma.com), pushes us to rethink our work based on principles of social justice that question the old paradigm of caring and pity. In fact, the old paradigm is antithetical to social justice. This view pushes us to examine our work and how basic assumptions underlying that work interfere with meaningful education for students. Special educators need to let the public know that we arent engaged in charity work, but that were doing serious work guided by a vision of a society in which individuals are provided with equity and opportunities to be fully integrated members in our communities. We must move beyond teaching basic self-care skills to teaching about self-determination and self-advocacy. In this view,

being able to cook or wipe down a table will be less important than being able to express ones desires and being able to participate in activities alongside others who dont have disabilities. Life simply has more meaning when one is able to interact with others. Rather than simply teaching social skills, well provide real experiences of friendships (Pitonyak, 2006). In other words, we will focus on teaching students how to have a life of quality. Lets focus more on special education as social justice work because our students deserve it. K

References Pitonyak, D. (2006). The importance of belonging. TASH connections, 32 (1/2), 1-3. Wehmeyer, M., Bersani, H. Jr., & Gagne, R. (2000). Riding the third wave: Self-determination and self-advocacy in the 21st century. Focus on autism and other developmental disabilities, 15 (2), 106-115. Wehmeyer, M.L. (2007). Promoting self-determination in students with developmental disabilities: What works for special-needs learners. New York,, NY: Guilford Press. Whitehead, T.D. & Hughey, J. (2004). Exploring self-advocacy from a social power perspective. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
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