ABSTRACT
Contemplations of the digital world intersecting with the traditional world of special education, art education, and the art world itself reveals unique possibilities for those with special needs. Diverse contributors to this discussion include everyone from elementary and middle school educators to those in higher education and freelance researchers. John Derby called for a partnership between those scholars of disability studies and those in art education. He saw art education as a unique partner, given its expansive impact on students ranging from preschool through high school and beyond. Art education’s involvement in critical visual culture studies and its coupling with disability studies offers expanded possibilities for both fields. Significantly more research is conducted on art for special needs, with the belief that “art can remediate, rehabilitate, and socialize disabled children, but also that disabled learners are important”. Legislations have been passed requiring free appropriate public education for all students with disabilities.
