ABSTRACT
While education scholars have critically problematized the issue of ethnic minoritized young people being overrepresented in special education programs, to date, there is a dearth of research that examines how issues of disability intersect with race, gender/sex, and social class in adapted physical education (APE) classes. In this chapter, first, I problematize the links between ideals of normalcy, disability, and difference, suggesting that the current “normative culture of school” works as a system of discrimination against ethnic minoritized young people identified as having disability. Second, contesting the notion of remediating “unhealthy minds” in “unhealthy bodies,” I advocate for re-positioning the unitary, static notion of disability to acknowledge the multiple forms of oppression that ethnic minoritized students with disability might face in their daily lives. Third, I re-think disability from an intersectionality perspective to account for the individual’s social reality of disability based on intersecting social categories, such as race, gender/sex, and social class. With a commitment to social justice and acknowledging the multi-faceted aspects of the identities of ethnic minoritized young people who self-identify as having disability, I conclude the chapter by interrogating the possibility of moving, both theoretically and pedagogically, toward genuine inclusion through the lenses of intersectionality.
