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Inequality in the Schooling Experiences of Disabled Children and Their Families During COVID-19

Rachel Elizabeth Fish ^a

David Enrique Rangel ^b

Nelly De Arcos ^b

Olivia Friend ^b

^aNew York University, USA

^bBrown University, USA

Disability in the Time of Pandemic

ISBN: 978-1-80262-140-2, eISBN: 978-1-80262-139-6

Publication date: 26 January 2023

Abstract

Purpose

In this chapter, we examine how the schooling experiences of disabled children have changed during COVID-19, how families' engagement, advocacy and support of their children have shifted during the pandemic, and how race, class, and other axes of inequality shape these processes.

Methods/Approach

We used a semi-structured interview protocol with families of disabled children, asking them about their experiences with their children's schools before and during the pandemic. We analyzed the interview data using “flexible coding” and the constant comparative method.

Findings

COVID-19 has had wide-reaching effects on disabled children's schooling experiences, yet these effects varied, particularly at the intersections of disability with race, class, linguistic status, and gender. Remote learning and other pandemic-related changes to schools exacerbated extant inequalities in children's educational experiences, as well as in families' ability to effectively advocate for their children in school.

Implications/Value

This research provides important information about how the pandemic has exacerbated inequality at the intersection of disability, race, and other axes of inequality. Moreover, it provides a lens to examine ableism and other systems of oppression in schools. The findings have crucial policy implications, pointing to the necessity of equitably allocated, high quality, inclusive educational services for disabled students, as well as to the need for special education policy that does not rely on individual family advocacy to allocate appropriate services.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

We thank the reviewers for their helpful advice and feedback. This research was supported by the National Academy of Education and the Spencer Foundation, through the National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship to the first author. The article's contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views of any supporting agency.

Citation

Fish, R.E., Rangel, D.E., De Arcos, N. and Friend, O. (2023), "Inequality in the Schooling Experiences of Disabled Children and Their Families During COVID-19", Carey, A.C., Green, S.E. and Mauldin, L. (Ed.) Disability in the Time of Pandemic (Research in Social Science and Disability, Vol. 13), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 135-153. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-354720230000013008

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited