Deconstructing Dispositions: Toward a Critical Ability Theory in Teacher Education

Source: Action in Teacher Education, Volume 37, Issue 2, 2015, pages 138-155

This paper synthesizes literature related to critical race theory (CRT) and disability theory to elucidate the need for a critical ability theory in teacher education.
Combining the tenets of CRT and disability theories provides a lens for viewing how power and privilege affect public and private conceptions of what it means to have a special need.

Because recognition of privilege and identity serve as the cornerstones of dispositional development, prospective teachers should be asked to examine their dispositions through this lens.
This paper offers a novel way to explore the dispositions construct, as previous literature has not examined the ways that privilege and identity intersect with disability and teacher dispositions.