Chapter 16: Reflection: Forced “Normalcy” as Political Trauma for Students With Disabilities

As a special education teacher, I strive for many things for my students. Being “normal” isn’t one of them. I grapple with why society wants students with disabilities, or any students for that matter, to be just like everyone else. Why should teachers instruct students to mitigate certain behaviors just to make others who are accustomed to an ableist vision of “normalcy” more comfortable? Teaching “socialization” while not enforcing ableist “normalcy” is a particular challenge as I work with my students who have been classified as having autism spectrum disorders. Phetrasuwan, Miles, and Mesibov (2009) note, students with special needs often struggle with maintaining appropriate social boundaries and safety. One in three children who receive special education services are victims of some type of maltreatment (i.e., either neglect, physical abuse, or sexual abuse) compared to 1 in 10 nondisabled children who experience abuse (Davis, 2011). The children I work with and others like them often do not understand social boundaries and safety in the same ways that their typically developing peers might, making them more vulnerable to these types of abuse in society.