David J Connor
Biographic Data
| ID | 239987 |
|---|---|
| NAME | David J Connor |
| GIVEN NAMES | David J |
| FAMILY NAME | Connor |
| SIGNATURE | CONNOR D J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hunter College |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2886-8149 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 363 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 31 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Civil Rights Violations in Special Education
In this article, we argue that resegregation in special education is a clear violation of the equal protections clause under the 14 th amendment and the principles articulated in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Civil Rights Act of 1964, thereby denying Students of Color racial justice in education, including their civil rights. To ensure these rights, a transformative version of special education is needed that addresses different zones of…
Applying a Critical Disability Studies Lens to Young Adult Literature
This project is an interdisciplinary endeavor to connect research in the teaching of English with Critical Disability Studies, an intersection that is crucial to disrupting ableism and creating more liberatory schooling and societal contexts that embrace broader notions of human differences. Invoking critical content analysis of five young adult novels that depict characters with Tourette syndrome (TS), we asked, how are various models for unders…
Embodying Tourette’s Syndrome in Young Adult Literature
The article foregrounds two protagonists with Tourette Syndrome (TS) from contemporary Young Adult (YA) novels written by authors with TS. Grounded in the interdisciplinary field of cultural disability studies in education (CDSE), each protagonist is analyzed for (1) physical manifestations of TS (external depiction), (2) emotional reactions about having TS (internal depiction), and (3) the response of parents and family members, friends, acquain…
Expanding Critical Perspectives on Disability and Education
TCR has played a vital role in the development of DSE, helping establish it as a formalized field of study that continues to grow and develop. In this brief commentary, we attempt to capture the scope and broad thematics of DSE scholarship published in TCR from foundational articles to more recent work, as DSE continues to grow and expand, particularly in terms of interdisciplinary and intersectional commitments
Introduction to the Special Issue-Imagining Possible Futures
This article provides the introduction to a special issue of the Teachers College Record (TCR) “Imagining Possible Futures: Disability Critical Race Theory as a Lever for Praxis in Education”. We begin by revisiting the seven tenets of DisCrit and citing a truncated intellectual geneology. Next, we trace the importance of a TCR special issue recognizing the mutually constiutive oppressions of racism and ableism. We then briefly describe the power…
From the Personal to the Global
This article serves as the introduction to a special edition of the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Education (REE) dedicated to Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit). We begin by sharing the seven tenets of in DisCrit, acknowledging our indebtedness to scholars of color who originally developed theories of intersectionality. Next, we discuss ways in which, from its original publication in REE (2013), DisCrit has gained traction as a theoreti…
“I don’t like to be told that I view a student with a deficit mindset”
In this article I use personal narrative to provide a commentary on the value of Disability Studies in Education (DSE). Through a mixture of recollections, observations, and descriptions, along with engagement with scholarship in the fields of both special education and DSE, I highlight ways in which I and other scholars have utilized the latter in our daily professional practices. First, I describe the point in my educational career when I came …
"I'm Bright Enough to Do It, Even Though Sometimes I Feel I Can't Do It"
Little evidence exists about how students with Learning disabilities (LD) recognize, understand, and utilize existing supports to ensure successful graduation from high school. In this article we ask: What are the supports available to high school students with LD that help them graduate? (a) What/who are some school-based supports they identify? (b) What/who are some non-school supports they identify? We share data from semi-structured interview…
Considering Inclusive Education through the Independent Living Movement
In this article, we focus on the life and accomplishments of Ed Roberts, leader of the Independent Living Movement for people with severe disabilities, to consider ways he envisioned and enacted a radical shift in professional practices within the field of rehabilitation. Using the field of rehabilitation as an adult parallel to the field of Special Education, we invite readers to contemplate ways in which the independent living movement can hold…
Is a bridge even possible over troubled waters? The field of special education negates the overrepresentation of minority students
In this article we challenge recent research within the field of special education reports an underrepresentation of all minorities in disability categories. First, we contrast these findings with selections from a large body of diverse and innovative work by scholars of overrepresentation, while recognizing the dearth of use of findings in these studies. Second, we illustrate a field of special education that has been epistemologically divided f…
(Be)Longing
The purpose of this article is to explore questions posed by the guest editors of this special edition – Who belongs in school or university? How is belonging created or stifled? What does belongin
Disability Critical Race Theory
In this review, we explore how intersectionality has been engaged with through the lens of disability critical race theory (DisCrit) to produce new knowledge. In this chapter, we (1) trace the intellectual lineage for developing DisCrit, (2) review the body of interdisciplinary scholarship incorporating DisCrit to date, and (3) propose the future trajectories of DisCrit, noting challenges and tensions that have arisen. Providing new opportunities…
Sit in my seat’
In the USA, students with learning disabilities (LD), after students with speech and language impairments, are the second highest incidence disability category of children and youth receiving the majority of their education in inclusive classrooms. However, very few studies exist that share perspectives of school experiences by students with LD in inclusive classrooms. This qualitative study focuses upon the importance of student voice through in…
A Child, A Family, A School, A Community
Who is Responsible for the Racialized Practices Evident within (Special) Education and What Can Be Done to Change Them
I pose a straightforward rhetorical question about disproportionality and endeavor to answer it with view to suggesting what can be done in terms of linking theory to practice. First, I frame disproportionality by asking where does it come from? Second, I describe multiple, interconnected historical phenomena to be considered when educators contemplate the complex topic of overrepresentation, ranging from the genesis of historical understandings …
Video as a Tool in Teacher Learning
The use of video as a tool to aid reflection in teacher practice is certainly not novel. Its use as a means to provide feedback—feedback that often surprises and reveals—has long been recognized ac
Talking (and not talking) about race, social class and dis/ability
In this article we examine some of the omnipresent yet unacknowledged discourses of social and economic disadvantage and dis/ability within schools in the US. First, we document ways that social class, race, and dis/ability function within schools to further disadvantage and exclude already marginalized students. Next, we show how particular ways of talking about student ability and achievement rarely addresses this important connection. We then …
Beyond the far too incessant schism
Special education critics' vigorous appraisals of the social model of disability, along with their analysis of its implications for special education, provide a valuable forum for meaningful dialogue about how educators are to understand the nature of disability. In this article, we offer our response to their recent articles. As advocates of the social model, we find their critiques intriguing, at moments a bit provocative, but more importantly …
Risk-taker, role model, muse, and ‘charlatan’
This narrative essay weaves personal recollections of my encounters with Ellen Brantlinger and a sampling of her works that continue to exert a profound influence on my own thinking and writing within Disability Studies in Education. I begin by describing how, as a first-year doctoral student, I encountered the scholarly work of Ellen and consequently never saw the world in the same way again. Second, I share coming to know Ellen as a generous pe…
Who “Owns” Dis/ability? The Cultural Work of Critical Special Educators as Insider–Outsiders
The article describes the work of critical special education scholars and teacher educators in the field of Disability Studies who challenge the fundamental assumptions on which special education is founded, illustrating implications for all educators. A brief history of the field acknowledges the enormity of the institutionalization of special education as a complex, multi-faceted, multi-layered establishment. The intellectual limits of that ins…
Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit)
In this article, we combine aspects of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Disability Studies (DS) to propose a new theoretical framework that incorporates a dual analysis of race and ability: Dis/ability Critical Race Studies, or DisCrit. We first examine some connections between the interdependent constructions of race and dis/ability in education and society in the United States and why we find it necessary to add another branch to Critical Race Th…
[Re]claiming “Inclusive Education” toward Cohesion in Educational Reform
Background/Context This article calls attention to the restrictive notions of inclusive education promulgated within the discourse of special education in the United States and asserts the value of using disability studies in education to support broader conceptualizations of inclusion that potentially incorporate all students. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study By dismantling the myth of the typical/average child, the authors rev…
Disability Studies in Education
This article asserts that the field of special education, historically founded on conceptions of disability originating within scientific, psychological, and medical frameworks, will benefit from acknowledging broader understandings of disability. Although well intended, traditional understandings of disability in special education have inadvertently inhibited the development of theory, limited research methods, narrowed pedagogical practice, and…
Kiss my Asperger's
Since the early 1990s Asperger's syndrome (AS) has steadily gained media attention and public recognition to the point of being described as a cultural obsession. Using multi-method inquiry this paper: (1) challenges prevailing medicalised discourses of AS by including a satire of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) [1994. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing] and a critique of advertisements created a…
Actively navigating the transition into college
Students with learning disabilities (LD) are particularly vulnerable in making the school-to-college transition where they negotiate a complex constellation of challenges that include academic demands, social expectations, and emotional/personal growth. Although a substantial body of knowledge exists about college students with LD, it is largely predicated upon both extrinsic supports available to ensure a successful transition into college and w…
Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit)
In this article, we combine aspects of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Disability Studies (DS) to propose a new theoretical framework that incorporates a dual analysis of race and ability: Dis/ability Critical Race Studies, or DisCrit. We first examine some connections between the interdependent constructions of race and dis/ability in education and society in the United States and why we find it necessary to add another branch to Critical Race Th…
Disability studies and inclusive education — implications for theory, research, and practice
This paper serves as a broad introduction to Disabilities Studies in Education (DSE). The emergence of DSE over the last decade has resulted in a vibrant area of academic scholarship as well as a critical forum for social/educational advocacy and activism. First, the authors trace the roots of DSE in the growth of disability studies (DS) within the UK and the USA. Second, they describe the formation of international networks dedicated to DSE. Thi…
The conflict within
In the 30 years since the passage of the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (PL. 94–142) in 1975 (subsequently the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) special education in the USA as an institutionalized practice has become solidified. Over the years, however, the practice of segregating students because of disability has come under increased scrutiny. Beginning in the late 1980s, an increasing number of parents advocated that the…
Integration and Inclusion- A Troubling Nexus
Who is Responsible for the Racialized Practices Evident within (Special) Education and What Can Be Done to Change Them
I pose a straightforward rhetorical question about disproportionality and endeavor to answer it with view to suggesting what can be done in terms of linking theory to practice. First, I frame disproportionality by asking where does it come from? Second, I describe multiple, interconnected historical phenomena to be considered when educators contemplate the complex topic of overrepresentation, ranging from the genesis of historical understandings …
Is a bridge even possible over troubled waters? The field of special education negates the overrepresentation of minority students
In this article we challenge recent research within the field of special education reports an underrepresentation of all minorities in disability categories. First, we contrast these findings with selections from a large body of diverse and innovative work by scholars of overrepresentation, while recognizing the dearth of use of findings in these studies. Second, we illustrate a field of special education that has been epistemologically divided f…
Beyond the far too incessant schism
Special education critics' vigorous appraisals of the social model of disability, along with their analysis of its implications for special education, provide a valuable forum for meaningful dialogue about how educators are to understand the nature of disability. In this article, we offer our response to their recent articles. As advocates of the social model, we find their critiques intriguing, at moments a bit provocative, but more importantly …
Actively navigating the transition into college
Students with learning disabilities (LD) are particularly vulnerable in making the school-to-college transition where they negotiate a complex constellation of challenges that include academic demands, social expectations, and emotional/personal growth. Although a substantial body of knowledge exists about college students with LD, it is largely predicated upon both extrinsic supports available to ensure a successful transition into college and w…
Who “Owns” Dis/ability? The Cultural Work of Critical Special Educators as Insider–Outsiders
The article describes the work of critical special education scholars and teacher educators in the field of Disability Studies who challenge the fundamental assumptions on which special education is founded, illustrating implications for all educators. A brief history of the field acknowledges the enormity of the institutionalization of special education as a complex, multi-faceted, multi-layered establishment. The intellectual limits of that ins…
Breaking containment – the power of narrative knowing
Special education has been critiqued for not adequately acknowledging and therefore addressing the overrepresentation of students of colour assigned disability labels. To counter the paucity of information about the largest group of disabled students in urban settings, eight young adults labelled learning disabled (LD) co‐created ‘portraits in progress’. These social, cultural, and historical based narratives act as counter stories to traditional…
Tales of Body/Space Invasions in School
This article discusses the issue of body/space invasion and regulation in the process of schooling. Through the use of collective biography research and collective memory work, the authors examine how selected schooling processes contribute to the construction of students as subjects within classroom discourse. Their method uses poetry as texts that are analyzed in relation to their lived, empirical question: "How are our bodies constituted as sc…
(Be)Longing
The purpose of this article is to explore questions posed by the guest editors of this special edition – Who belongs in school or university? How is belonging created or stifled? What does belongin
Talking (and not talking) about race, social class and dis/ability
In this article we examine some of the omnipresent yet unacknowledged discourses of social and economic disadvantage and dis/ability within schools in the US. First, we document ways that social class, race, and dis/ability function within schools to further disadvantage and exclude already marginalized students. Next, we show how particular ways of talking about student ability and achievement rarely addresses this important connection. We then …
From the Personal to the Global
This article serves as the introduction to a special edition of the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Education (REE) dedicated to Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit). We begin by sharing the seven tenets of in DisCrit, acknowledging our indebtedness to scholars of color who originally developed theories of intersectionality. Next, we discuss ways in which, from its original publication in REE (2013), DisCrit has gained traction as a theoreti…
Risk-taker, role model, muse, and ‘charlatan’
This narrative essay weaves personal recollections of my encounters with Ellen Brantlinger and a sampling of her works that continue to exert a profound influence on my own thinking and writing within Disability Studies in Education. I begin by describing how, as a first-year doctoral student, I encountered the scholarly work of Ellen and consequently never saw the world in the same way again. Second, I share coming to know Ellen as a generous pe…
Kiss my Asperger's
Since the early 1990s Asperger's syndrome (AS) has steadily gained media attention and public recognition to the point of being described as a cultural obsession. Using multi-method inquiry this paper: (1) challenges prevailing medicalised discourses of AS by including a satire of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) [1994. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing] and a critique of advertisements created a…
Tales of Body/Space Invasions in School
This article discusses the issue of body/space invasion and regulation in the process of schooling. Through the use of collective biography research and collective memory work, the authors examine how selected schooling processes contribute to the construction of students as subjects within classroom discourse. Their method uses poetry as texts that are analyzed in relation to their lived, empirical question: "How are our bodies constituted as sc…
Tools of Exclusion
In this article we explore the dynamic interplay between racism and ableism—or discrimination against someone based on perceived “ability” 1 —in the resistance to school desegregation and inclusion of students with disabilities in general education. In attending to the workings of power that connect these two histories, we show how racialized notions of ability functioned to uphold segregated schooling and justify the use of special education as …
Integration and Inclusion- A Troubling Nexus
The conflict within
In the 30 years since the passage of the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (PL. 94–142) in 1975 (subsequently the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) special education in the USA as an institutionalized practice has become solidified. Over the years, however, the practice of segregating students because of disability has come under increased scrutiny. Beginning in the late 1980s, an increasing number of parents advocated that the…
Disability studies and inclusive education — implications for theory, research, and practice
This paper serves as a broad introduction to Disabilities Studies in Education (DSE). The emergence of DSE over the last decade has resulted in a vibrant area of academic scholarship as well as a critical forum for social/educational advocacy and activism. First, the authors trace the roots of DSE in the growth of disability studies (DS) within the UK and the USA. Second, they describe the formation of international networks dedicated to DSE. Thi…
Breaking containment – the power of narrative knowing
Special education has been critiqued for not adequately acknowledging and therefore addressing the overrepresentation of students of colour assigned disability labels. To counter the paucity of information about the largest group of disabled students in urban settings, eight young adults labelled learning disabled (LD) co‐created ‘portraits in progress’. These social, cultural, and historical based narratives act as counter stories to traditional…
[Re]claiming “Inclusive Education” toward Cohesion in Educational Reform
Background/Context This article calls attention to the restrictive notions of inclusive education promulgated within the discourse of special education in the United States and asserts the value of using disability studies in education to support broader conceptualizations of inclusion that potentially incorporate all students. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study By dismantling the myth of the typical/average child, the authors rev…
Disability Studies in Education
This article asserts that the field of special education, historically founded on conceptions of disability originating within scientific, psychological, and medical frameworks, will benefit from acknowledging broader understandings of disability. Although well intended, traditional understandings of disability in special education have inadvertently inhibited the development of theory, limited research methods, narrowed pedagogical practice, and…
Kiss my Asperger's
Since the early 1990s Asperger's syndrome (AS) has steadily gained media attention and public recognition to the point of being described as a cultural obsession. Using multi-method inquiry this paper: (1) challenges prevailing medicalised discourses of AS by including a satire of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) [1994. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing] and a critique of advertisements created a…
Actively navigating the transition into college
Students with learning disabilities (LD) are particularly vulnerable in making the school-to-college transition where they negotiate a complex constellation of challenges that include academic demands, social expectations, and emotional/personal growth. Although a substantial body of knowledge exists about college students with LD, it is largely predicated upon both extrinsic supports available to ensure a successful transition into college and w…
Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit)
In this article, we combine aspects of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Disability Studies (DS) to propose a new theoretical framework that incorporates a dual analysis of race and ability: Dis/ability Critical Race Studies, or DisCrit. We first examine some connections between the interdependent constructions of race and dis/ability in education and society in the United States and why we find it necessary to add another branch to Critical Race Th…
Risk-taker, role model, muse, and ‘charlatan’
This narrative essay weaves personal recollections of my encounters with Ellen Brantlinger and a sampling of her works that continue to exert a profound influence on my own thinking and writing within Disability Studies in Education. I begin by describing how, as a first-year doctoral student, I encountered the scholarly work of Ellen and consequently never saw the world in the same way again. Second, I share coming to know Ellen as a generous pe…
Who “Owns” Dis/ability? The Cultural Work of Critical Special Educators as Insider–Outsiders
The article describes the work of critical special education scholars and teacher educators in the field of Disability Studies who challenge the fundamental assumptions on which special education is founded, illustrating implications for all educators. A brief history of the field acknowledges the enormity of the institutionalization of special education as a complex, multi-faceted, multi-layered establishment. The intellectual limits of that ins…
Talking (and not talking) about race, social class and dis/ability
In this article we examine some of the omnipresent yet unacknowledged discourses of social and economic disadvantage and dis/ability within schools in the US. First, we document ways that social class, race, and dis/ability function within schools to further disadvantage and exclude already marginalized students. Next, we show how particular ways of talking about student ability and achievement rarely addresses this important connection. We then …
Beyond the far too incessant schism
Special education critics' vigorous appraisals of the social model of disability, along with their analysis of its implications for special education, provide a valuable forum for meaningful dialogue about how educators are to understand the nature of disability. In this article, we offer our response to their recent articles. As advocates of the social model, we find their critiques intriguing, at moments a bit provocative, but more importantly …
Video as a Tool in Teacher Learning
The use of video as a tool to aid reflection in teacher practice is certainly not novel. Its use as a means to provide feedback—feedback that often surprises and reveals—has long been recognized ac
A Child, A Family, A School, A Community
Who is Responsible for the Racialized Practices Evident within (Special) Education and What Can Be Done to Change Them
I pose a straightforward rhetorical question about disproportionality and endeavor to answer it with view to suggesting what can be done in terms of linking theory to practice. First, I frame disproportionality by asking where does it come from? Second, I describe multiple, interconnected historical phenomena to be considered when educators contemplate the complex topic of overrepresentation, ranging from the genesis of historical understandings …
Disability Critical Race Theory
In this review, we explore how intersectionality has been engaged with through the lens of disability critical race theory (DisCrit) to produce new knowledge. In this chapter, we (1) trace the intellectual lineage for developing DisCrit, (2) review the body of interdisciplinary scholarship incorporating DisCrit to date, and (3) propose the future trajectories of DisCrit, noting challenges and tensions that have arisen. Providing new opportunities…
Sit in my seat’
In the USA, students with learning disabilities (LD), after students with speech and language impairments, are the second highest incidence disability category of children and youth receiving the majority of their education in inclusive classrooms. However, very few studies exist that share perspectives of school experiences by students with LD in inclusive classrooms. This qualitative study focuses upon the importance of student voice through in…
Is a bridge even possible over troubled waters? The field of special education negates the overrepresentation of minority students
In this article we challenge recent research within the field of special education reports an underrepresentation of all minorities in disability categories. First, we contrast these findings with selections from a large body of diverse and innovative work by scholars of overrepresentation, while recognizing the dearth of use of findings in these studies. Second, we illustrate a field of special education that has been epistemologically divided f…
(Be)Longing
The purpose of this article is to explore questions posed by the guest editors of this special edition – Who belongs in school or university? How is belonging created or stifled? What does belongin
“I don’t like to be told that I view a student with a deficit mindset”
In this article I use personal narrative to provide a commentary on the value of Disability Studies in Education (DSE). Through a mixture of recollections, observations, and descriptions, along with engagement with scholarship in the fields of both special education and DSE, I highlight ways in which I and other scholars have utilized the latter in our daily professional practices. First, I describe the point in my educational career when I came …
"I'm Bright Enough to Do It, Even Though Sometimes I Feel I Can't Do It"
Little evidence exists about how students with Learning disabilities (LD) recognize, understand, and utilize existing supports to ensure successful graduation from high school. In this article we ask: What are the supports available to high school students with LD that help them graduate? (a) What/who are some school-based supports they identify? (b) What/who are some non-school supports they identify? We share data from semi-structured interview…
Considering Inclusive Education through the Independent Living Movement
In this article, we focus on the life and accomplishments of Ed Roberts, leader of the Independent Living Movement for people with severe disabilities, to consider ways he envisioned and enacted a radical shift in professional practices within the field of rehabilitation. Using the field of rehabilitation as an adult parallel to the field of Special Education, we invite readers to contemplate ways in which the independent living movement can hold…
Sociology (24 works) · Pedagogy (21 works) · Psychology (20 works) · Gender Studies (17 works) · Political science (17 works) · Education Discipline and Inequality (15 works) · Law (14 works) · Disability Education and Employment (13 works) · Epistemology (11 works) · Special education (11 works)