International Perspectives on Teaching With Disability ― Overcoming Obstacles and Enriching Lives

Efforts to reduce discrimination and increase diversity on campuses, coupled with shrinking budgets causing administrators to devote more resources toward recruiting and retaining students with disabilities, are fuelling an explosion of research in the area of inclusive education. An important focus that has been largely neglected is the place of teachers with disabilities in academe. International Perspectives on Teaching with Disability brings together 25 multi-disciplinary scholars with disabilities from Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, the UK, Israel and the United States to share their struggles and successes in teaching with disability.

The 18 chapters are written largely from autoethnographic perspectives grounded in solid academic research but full of anecdotes and self-reflexive narratives that provide insights into the lived experiences of the authors. Woven into the narratives are discussions of the complexities of self-disclosure and self-advocacy; the varied—and often problematic—ways disability is experienced, perceived and discussed in society and in the classroom; the challenges of navigating academe with disability, the value of disability pedagogy, the positive student outcomes achieved by teaching through disability, as well as practical applications and lessons learned that will benefit educators, administrators and students preparing to become teachers.

This book is written to champion the integral place and role of disabled educators in academe. Current educators with disability will be affirmed. Those with disability aspiring to become teachers will be encouraged. Temporarily able-bodied administrators and educators will be challenged. Everyone will be informed. This book will be a welcome addition to reading lists in a wide array of academic fields including: Education, Pedagogy, Disability Studies, Human Resources Management, and Sociology.

Michael S. Jeffress is a lecturer in communication studies at The University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago. He is an active member of the Disability Issues Caucus of the National Communication Association. He has authored one title and edited two others in Routledge’s Interdisciplinary Disability Studies series.