‘Diff‐ability’ not ‘disability’: right‐brained thinkers in a left‐brained education system |
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| Authors: | CASEY EDMONDS |
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| Institution: | Cass School of Education and Communities, University of East London |
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| Abstract: | This article draws on critical disability studies, challenging the exclusion of right‐brained thinkers from an education system designed to privilege left‐brained thinkers. It focuses on individuals who are labelled dyspraxic, providing data from qualitative interviews with adults about childhood experiences in school and the impact on their emotional well‐being and peer relationships. Utilising Ornstein's pioneering research on the bilateral specialisation of the brain and hemispheric dominance in addition to a critical disability studies theoretical framework, this article innovatively argues that the fact that education in England continues to be delivered in a logical sequential form, even 40 years after Ornstein's work, is systemic discrimination in which dyspraxic children are constructed as ‘deviant’. The article concludes by arguing that individuals with dyspraxia should be seen as having a ‘diff‐ability’ in thinking style rather than a disability and therefore recommends both change and awareness‐raising at institutional level in the education system. |
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| Keywords: | dyspraxia developmental co‐ordination disorder special educational needs diff‐ability school |
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