Women and Disability: Education

While all students, males and females, with and without disabilities, are subject to sex-biased assumptions in most schools and curricula, research seems to indicate that sex-role stereotyping may be even more pervasive when students have disabilities. This appears to hold true for all levels of education. The resources listed in this section address the education of women and girls with disabilities from various points of view including one personal account of being a girl with a disability in elementary school; the situation and experiences of women with disabilities in higher education; research on sex-role stereotyping in text books for children with disabilities; learning disabilities and others.


Alden, P., & Hinckley, J. (2005, Fall). Women with attentional issues: Success in college learning. Journal of Developmental Education, 29(1), 10-12, 14-17, 27

This pilot study, funded from a 5-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education Title III Strengthening Institutions Program, explores the factors identified by women with AD/HD that are necessary to their achieving college success. The results of this study, based on 13 in-depth interviews with women who are both academically successful and have AD/HD, highlight the influence of motivation, attitude, support systems, self-reflection, and social-academic balance on academic success. The article concludes with implications that may help instructors and institutions better serve women with attentional issues in the college setting.


American Association of University Women (AAUW). (2004, February). Women and girls with disabilities. Washington, DC: AAUW Public Policy and Government Relations Department. Retrieved March 1, 2005 from http://www.aauw.org/
issue_advocacy/actionpages/positionpapers/disabilities.cfm
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This position paper by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) discusses their commitment to ensuring equal educational opportunities for all girls and women, but that for girls with disabilities, “additional safeguards and precautions may be necessary to ensure that their unique needs are not overlooked. AAUW is concerned many girls with disabilities may not qualify for…services–not because they do not need special education–but because of potentially inadequate assessment of disability status.”


Anderson, P., & Williams, J. (Eds.). (2001). Identity and difference in higher education: “Outsiders within.” Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing.

The book represents an accessible text for students of sociology, women’s studies, gender studies, education and cultural studies–disciplines currently engaged in exploration and debate around the themes of identity construction and the nature of difference. The contributors, all feminists, employ a variety of conceptual approaches which seek to understand the shifting and changing identities of students and staff in the familiar context of higher education in Britain today. The changing composition of both groups, including more mature, working-class, black and disabled people, has given rise to a situation where many feel “outsiders within.” Drawing on qualitative research and personal narratives, the book offers important insights into the multi-layered nature of student and staff identities. By interweaving three strands: theorizing identity and difference, providing experiential exemplars and applying both to the world of higher education – it is highly relevant to a wide range of readers. Of great interest is the chapter by Carol Thomas, “Disabled Women enter the Academy.”


Arms, E., Bickett, J., & Graf, V. (2008, July). Gender bias and imbalance: Girls in US special education programmes. Gender and Education, 20(4), 349-359.

While research has documented the predominance of boys in US special education programmes, similar attention to girls’ under-representation has been rare. Recent research suggests that there may be just as many girls in need of these services, but for various reasons they are less likely to be identified through the referral process. Girls who fail to receive services are more likely to become teenage mothers, less likely to become employed and more likely to require public assistance. This article explores this pressing equity issue through a content analysis of recent US studies on gender and disability, examines current reasons for this phenomenon, and what it means for the lived school experiences of girls with disabilities. Suggestions on how theory, policy and practice can better serve this under-represented population are presented.


Barile, M. (2005). Including women with disabilities in Women and Disability Studies. In L. Ben-Moshe, R. C. Cory, M. Feldbaum, & K. Sagendorf (Eds), Building pedagogical curb cuts: Incorporating disability into the university classroom and curriculum (pp. 21-32). Syracuse, NY: The Graduate School, Syracuse University. Retrieved October 1, 2005 from http://gradschpdprograms.syr.edu/resources/
publication_disability.pdf
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“Disability studies and women studies have both the obligation and privilege of learning from the lives and experience of women with disabilities, and of including them as educators. Their participation would assist students, disabled or not, in critically questioning conventional knowledge about elements that have historically promoted oppression of persons with disabilities including disabling environments and policies along with the roles of the impaired bodies and language.”


Benjamin, S. (2002). Reproducing traditional femininities? The social relations of ‘special educational needs’ in a girls’ comprehensive school. Gender and Education, 14(3), 281–294.

The charity/tragedy discourse of disability and traditional versions of femininity bear some striking resemblances. Both are associated with dependence and helplessness, and with resultant practices that are implicated in the enduring reproduction of social and material inequalities. This article looks at the “identity work” of a group of girls, all of whom had been identified as having “special educational needs,” in a mainstream school in the UK. Using findings from an ethnographic study, the article explores how the girls position themselves in relation to the subject ‘special needs student’. The findings suggest that historical meanings associated with femininity and disability combine with contemporary schooling practices to produce a constrained range of subject positions around which the girls have limited room for manoeuvre.


Blackwell-Stratton, M., Breslin, M., Mayerson, A.B., & Bailey, S. (1988). Smashing icons: Disabled women and the disability and women’s movement. In M. Fine & A. Asch (Eds.), Women with disabilities: Essays in psychology, culture, and politics [Health, Society, and Policy Series] (pp. 306-332). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

This chapter does not solely focus on education but it includes a fairly long section describing the historical struggle for the right for education for women in general and relates it to the lack of educational opportunities for women with disabilities today.


Brueggemann, B. J., Garland-Thomson, R., & Kleege, G. (2005, Spring). What her body taught (or, teaching about and with a disability): A conversation. Feminist Studies, 31(1), 13-33.

Brueggemann, Garland-Thompson, and Kleege focus on their challenges and strategies as feminist scholars and teachers with disabilities in the classroom. Key to their discussion is the function of different structures—pedagogical and institutional—that both enable and deter their efforts. In the classroom, students forgetting about their disabilities or normalizing them seems to erase the productive tension through difference that their presence introduces. Their goal is not to erase disability, but rather to reconfigure students’ understandings of disability as not having a master status–to change the way disability matters to the students.


Chung, H., Jung, K., & Park. J. (2006). Special education for girls with disabilities: Status and policy tasks. Women’s Studies Forum, 22, 33-47.

The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the educational status of girls with disabilities receiving special education in elementary and secondary schools, to propose policy tasks to increase educational opportunities for the girls, and based on this, to help improve gender equity in special education and ensure high quality educational opportunities for girls with disabilities so as to facilitate their career development and enable them to become healthy members of our society. A total of 70 special schools (45 schools for students with mental retardation and emotional disorders, 16 schools for children with visual and hearing impairments, 9 schools for students with physical disabilities), and special classes at 162 general schools (62 elementary schools, 50 junior high schools, 50 high schools) were selected from 15 cities and provinces nationwide, excluding Jeju Island. However, the fact that the percentage of the boys is much higher than girls in types of disabilities that may be largely affected by social and environmental factors, such as learning disabilities and emotional disorders, implies that there may have been gender bias or gender differences in the types and level of problematic behavior that may not have been taken into account in identifying the disability.


Cole, M. (Ed.). (2000). Education, equality and human rights: A handbook for students. London: Routledge/Farmer.

A comprehensive study and reference book on equality and education. It addresses the issues of human rights and their relationship to education. Race, disability, gender, sexuality and social class are all covered in a format that should make this a useful source book for undergraduate and postgraduate students.


Compton, M. V. (1997). Constructions of educational meaning in the narratives of four Deaf women teachers. American Annals of the Deaf, 142(5), 356-362.

Deaf teachers bring unique perspectives to the teaching of deaf and hard of hearing students, yet their “voices” have been recognized in neither sociological, psychological, nor philosophical accounts of education and deafness. In the present ethnographic study, narrative analysis is used to frame a description of how four deaf women make sense of their lives as teachers as they disclose their beliefs concerning teaching, their deafness, and their connection with the Deaf community.


Connecticut State Department of Education, Division of Education Support Service, Bureau of Special Education. (2003). Disproportionate ethnic, racial and gender representation in special education, January 1999 – March 2003. Middletown, CT: The SERC Library. Retrieved April 7, 2005 from http://www.ctserc.org/library/bibfiles/closing-disproportionate.pdf.

Bibliography with sources between 1999 and 2003 concerning the disproportionate representation of minorities in special education, with some resources on gender.


Corbett, K. (1987, Summer). The role of sexuality and sex equity in the education of disabled women. Peabody Journal of Education, 64(4), 198-212.

This article tackles the broad issue of the intersection of sexuality, disability, and sex education. Myths and stereotypes about the nonsexual disabled woman are examined, as are issues of identity, dating and other loving relationships, sexual abuse, sex education, sexuality related services, and inclusion of disabled students in curriculum and classroom.


Coutinho, M .J., & Oswald, D. P. (2005, January/February). State variation in gender disproportionality in special education: Findings and recommendations. Remedial and Special Education, 26(1), 7-15.

Gender disproportionality in special education has been apparent for many years, reflected in male-to-female ratios that range from about 1.5:1 to 3.5:1. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of disproportionate representation for the disability conditions of learning disability (LD), serious emotional disturbance (SED), and mental retardation (MR) at the state, regional, and national levels. Using data collected by the U.S. Office for Civil Rights, we examined the hypothesis that current variations across states in gender disproportionality should be small, and similar to rates for the nation as a whole. Substantial variations in state rates for students with LD and SED were observed. We also examined the hypothesis that states serving relatively fewer students for a given disability are likely to have greater male overrepresentation. This hypothesis was generally supported for students with LD but not for students with MR or SED. We examined factors related to state policies for students with MR and SED that might help to account for these findings. We conclude with recommendations for research to better understand the basis for gender disproportionality and with several practical implications for policy review and response related to gender disproportionality at the regional, state, and national levels.


Crosnoe, R., Riegle-Crumb, C., & Muller, C. (2007, February). Gender, self-perception, and academic problems in high school. Social Problems, 54(1), 118-138.

Given the increasing importance of education to socioeconomic attainment and other life course trajectories, early academic struggles can have long-term consequences if not addressed. Analysis of a nationally representative sample with official school transcripts and extensive data on adolescent functioning identified a social psychological pathway in this linkage between external feedback about early struggles and truncated educational trajectories. For girls, class failures absent of diagnosed learning disabilities engendered increasingly negative self-perceptions that, in turn, disrupted math and science course-taking, especially in family and peer contexts in which academic success was prioritized. For boys, diagnosed learning disabilities, regardless of class performance, engendered the same changes in self-perception and the same consequences of these changes for coursetaking across family and peer contexts. These results reveal how ability labels and ability-related performance indicators come together to influence the long-term educational prospects of girls and boys attending mainstream schools in which the majority of students do not have learning disabilities or severe academic problems.


Cullinan, D., Osbourne, S., & Hepstein, M. (2004, September). Characteristics of emotional disturbance among female students. Remedial and Special Education, 25(5), 276-290.

This article reports data on characteristics of emotional disturbance (ED) among female students with and without ED. Teachers rated a national sample of 689 girls on the Scale for Assessing Emotional Disturbance, to measure the five characteristics of ED and a variable called social maladjustment. We compared the two categories (with ED, without ED), three school levels (elementary, middle, high), and two races (African American, European American). Girls with ED exhibited more maladaptive functioning on all variables, but category by school level and category by race interactions varied according to different characteristics. Girls with ED showed a high level of comorbid ED characteristics, again with differences by school level and race. The results have implications for understanding girls with ED and educating them appropriately.


Daniels, H., Hey, V., Leonard, D., & Smith, M. (1999, December). Issues of equity in special needs education from a gender perspective. British Journal of Special Education, 26(4), 189-195.

This article is concerned with gender issues in resource allocation for special needs in mainstream schools. The ways in which categories operate in academic life and professional practice in schools raise dilemmas for the development of the concept and practice of equality of opportunity. Data are drawn from a recent ESRC study (R000237346) and used to illustrate some of the ways in which significant problems for the management of special needs services are revealed from the perspective of gender.


Dibernard, B. (1996). Teaching what I’m not: An able-bodied woman teaches literature by women with disabilities. In K. J. Mayberry (Ed.), Teaching what you’re not: Identity politics in higher education (pp. 131-154). New York: New York University Press.

This chapter gives an able-bodied woman’s reflections on teaching literature by women with disabilities, one of several discussing the implications of the identity of an educator and its affect on credibility with students and with other educators.


Disability services promote maturity. (2000, July). Women in Higher Education, 9(7).

“College women with disabilities need to gain self-knowledge, personal and social skills, and capacity for intimacy as they mature into adulthood; they may have to outgrow habits of learned dependence.”


DuPaul, G. J., Schaughency, E. A., Weyandt, L. L., Tripp, G., Kiesner, J., Ota, K., & Stanish, H. (2001). Self-report of ADHD symptoms in university students: Cross-gender and cross-national prevalence. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34(4), 370-379.

Study comparing the structure and prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms (inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity) among male and female university students in three countries. Data are from a 24-item self-report measure completed by 1,209 students in Italy, New Zealand, and the United States. Factor analyses of U.S. and New Zealand data supported a bi-dimensional symptom structure, which received weaker support from the Italian data. Symptom reports did not vary significantly by sex, but Italian students reported significantly more inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms than students from the U.S., and students from New Zealand reported more inattention symptoms than students from the U.S. The prevalence of self-reported ADHD symptoms beyond DSM-IV diagnostic thresholds ranged from 0% for Italian women to 8.1% for New Zealand men.


El-Haj, T. R. A. (2003, December). Challenging the inevitability of difference: Young women and discourses about gender equity in the classroom. Curriculum Inquiry, 33(4), 401-425.

Debates about achieving gender equity in education have largely been conducted along a single axis, swinging between two questions: Are girls and boys fundamentally the same or different? Consequently, should girls and boys be treated similarly or differently? This article grounds these theoretical debates about approaches to gender equity in the experiences of one group of female high school students’ struggle to achieve gender equity in their mathematics education. An analysis of students’ talk yields that the young women and their male peers understood the relationship between gender and educational equity through competing discourses. Thus, this case study provides a grounded critique of the dominant paradigms for understanding gender equity and helps reframe the kinds of questions and conversations that practitioners, students, families, researchers, and policymakers might pursue as they search for remedies to educational inequities. At the same time, although this particular case study focuses on competing discourses about gender, these discourses mirror other debates in feminist, multicultural, and critical race literature about the relationship between race, class, and disability, and approaches to equity. Thus, this article holds implications for how we understand the relationship between differences (race, gender, class, and disability) and educational equity.


Ellis, A., & Llewellyn, M. (1997). Dealing with differences: Taking action on class, race, gender and disability. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Dealing with Differences is a classroom-tested action guide to dealing with issues and prejudice around class, race, gender, and disability. The exercises, discussion topics, and readings provide a framework to bring these complex issues out in the open as positive forces for change. Students share lived experiences to engage in active learning.

Designed primarily as a supplemental program for use in high school classrooms, Dealing with Differences is useful for all teachers, administrators, and community members, as well as students and faculty of education. The exercises in this book will awaken teachers to the rich diversity in their own classrooms and help students gain insights about one another in a climate of mutual respect and trust.

Contains 48 lesson plans in six study units that can be used in any curriculum or advisory period.


Evans, P., & Deluca, M. (n.d.). Disabilities and gender in primary education. Paris, France: OECD/CERI. Retrieved March 15, 2005 from http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/file_download.php/
ae8d5e1813f72709447642218eb72065Disabilities+and+
gender+in+primary+education.+.doc
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“Monitoring the inclusion of students with disabilities in the context of education for all (EFA) will at the least require the gathering of statistics which can estimate within a reasonable error term the numbers of primary school age children involved and then continue making counts while they are in school. A breakdown by gender will also be required in order to monitor equity.”


Ferguson, P. M., & Asch, A. (1989). Lessons from life: Personal and parental perspectives on school, childhood, and disability. In D. Biklen, D. Ferguson, & A. Ford (Eds.), Schooling and disability (pp. 108-140). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

This chapter draws upon personal narratives of people with disabilities and their parents as well as the authors’ personal experiences. One of the authors, Adrienne Asch, is blind; the other, Philip M. Ferguson, is a father of a young man with a disability. Weaving together people’s personal accounts of having a disability and their own experiences the authors discuss various issues that have to do with schooling and disability. Those who are interested in learning about how girls with disabilities experience schools should find Adrienne Asch’s descriptions of her school years an interesting reading.


Ferri, B. A. (2000, Summer). The hidden cost of difference: Women with learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 10(3), 129-138.

This article discusses the outcomes of a study that investigated the experiences of nine adult women living with a learning disability. It addresses the hidden costs associated with learning disabilities and explores a cyclic relationship discussed by the participants involving perfectionism, panic or anxiety, and exhaustion.


Ferri, B. A., & Connor, D. J. (2010, January). ‘I was the special ed. girl’: urban working-class young women of colour. Gender and Education, 22(1), 105-121.

Recent criticism of the over-representation of minority students in special education do not adequately account for gender, despite the fact that urban special education classrooms in the USA are largely populated by young men of colour. In fact, we know very little about how being female shapes the experiences and understandings of young women of colour labelled disabled in schools. Using an interdisciplinary framework informed by Black feminist studies, disability studies, and class studies, we analyse autobiographical portraits of five young women of colour who received special education services. Focusing on their perspectives of life in and out of school, we examine how they understand and negotiate multiple subject positions and actively and creatively work to resist these constraints.


Fine, M. (1988). Sexuality, schooling, and adolescent females: The missing discourse of desire. Harvard Educational Review, 58(1), 29 53.

This article examines diverse perspectives on adolescent sexuality as well as current sex-education practices. The article is based on a thorough review of the literature, as well as the author’s research on sex-education in public schools, and is informed by a study of numerous current sex-education curricula. The author identifies the three prevalent discourses of female sexuality inside public schools as being, (1) sexuality as violence, (2) sexuality as victimization, and (3) sexuality as individual morality. As a result, young women are educated primarily as the potential victim of male sexuality, they are not seen as sexual agents, and young women continue to be taught to fear and defend in isolation from exploring desires. The naming of desire, pleasure, or sexual entitlement, particularly for females, barely exists in the formal agenda of public schooling on sexuality. As an alternative to the prevailing discourses of female sexuality, the author presents a case for the discourse of desire, which would acknowledge female sexual desire and pleasure. Although this article does not mention women with disabilities it is very informing for anyone interested in female sexuality and sex-education, and provides an excellent framework to think about female sexuality and sex-education for all women, including women with disabilities.


Fine, M., & McClelland, S. I. (2006, Fall). Sexuality education and desire: Still missing after all these years. Harvard Educational Review, 76(3), 297-338.

Nearly twenty years after the publication of Michelle Fine’s essay “Sexuality, Schooling, and Adolescent Females: The Missing Discourse of Desire, ” the question of how sexuality education influences the development and health of adolescents remains just as relevant as it was in 1988. In this article, Michelle Fine and Sara McClelland examine the federal promotion of curricula advocating abstinence only until marriage in public schools and, in particular, how these policies constrict the development of “thick desire” in young women. Their findings highlight the fact that national policies have an uneven impact on young people and disproportionately place the burden on girls, youth of color, teens with disabilities, and lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender youth. With these findings in mind, the authors provide a set of research guidelines to encourage researchers, policymakers, and advocates as they collect data on, develop curricula for, and change the contexts in which young people are educated about sexuality and health.


Foley, T., & Safran, S. P. (1994, May). Gender-biased language in learning disability textbooks. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27(5), 309-314.

The purpose of our study was to explore whether gender-biased language exists in two editions of popular learning disabilities (LD) textbooks by a female author and a male author. First, we examined whether gender-biased language (as measured by the frequency of gender-specific pronouns) was present in LD textbooks as a function of the author’s gender and discovered that the male author exhibited approximately a 7:1 ratio in his use of masculine to feminine pronouns. In contrast, the female author demonstrated no significant difference in her use of gender-specific pronouns. Second, we investigated whether the degree of gender-biased language has changed in different editions over the past 5 years and found a significant change only in the use of neutral pronouns by the male author. The existence of gender-biased special education textbooks raises the issue of the possible influence that such material may have on professional expectations concerning students with LD. In a field in which males are placed in LD programs in disproportionate numbers, the responsibilities of both authors and publishers are discussed, as their actions may have an impact on female students’ rights in accessing appropriate educational services.


Gender and Disability Digest. (1999, November). Newton, MA: WEEA Equity Resource Center, Education Development Center, Inc. Retrieved February 1, 2005 from http://www2.edc.org/WomensEquity/pdffiles/disabdig.pdf.

This bulletin reviews gender and disability in general, but does focuses on education with articles on “Preparing Young Women for the Workplace” and IDEA. This bulletin does include resources; however, most of them are no longer available.


Global voices for gender equity: How women create change. (2003, June). Washington, DC: American Association of University Women Educational Foundation. Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.aauw.org/ef/internationalsymposium_finalreport.pdf.

Proceedings of the AAUW Educational Foundation’s Fall 2002 international symposium, International Perspectives: Global Voices for Gender Equity that was held in partnership with the Educational Testing Service. The report highlights key speakers, presentations, and issues that emerged, including the symposium track on education for women with disabilities.


Grbich, C., & Sykes, S. (1990). A study of persons with severe intellectual disabilities: Gender, the home environment, schooling and outcomes. Australia and New Zealand Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 16(3), 259-273.

This preliminary investigation examined issues of gender, the home situation, access to curricula, and access to work in school and postschool placements for 80 individuals (ages 13-18) with severe intellectual disability in Australia. The investigation generated the hypothesis that young women with severe intellectual disability are doubly disadvantaged due to unequal access to needed services.


Hallberg, U., Klingberg, G., Reichenberg, K., & Moller, A. (2008). Living at the edge of one’s capability: Experiences of parents of teenage daughters diagnosed with ADHD. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 3(1), 52-58.

Living with a child with a disability is often perceived as a permanent stressor to the family and it affects all aspects of family life including the well-being of family members. Since little is known about parenting teenage daughters diagnosed with ADHD, the aim of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of the main problem involved using a grounded theory approach. Interviews were carried out with 12 parents, 11 mothers and 1 father, of teenage daughters diagnosed with ADHD. The parents’ situation was conceptualized as <i>living at the edge of one’s capability</i> with the properties <i>having the sole parental responsibility</i>, <i>fighting for professional support</i>, <i>being on duty around the clock</i> and <i>trying to solve family conflicts</i>. Parents described how their health was negatively affected by their life situation.


Hammrich, P., Price, L., & Slesaransky-Poe, G. (2001, June). Daughters with disabilities: Breaking down barriers. Electronic Journal of Special Education, 5(4). Retrieved May 2, 2005 from: http://unr.edu/homepage/crowther/ejse/hammrichetal.html.

“As many regular and special education teachers will readily agree, providing appropriate instruction in the areas of science, mathematics, and technology to children with disabilities can be a challenging, and often unexpected experience… The focus of this article is…to share with a broader audience a summary of our findings from our…[project’s] efforts. Second, we want to raise questions, while continuing the critical dialogue about the challenges and benefits that classroom teachers face every day when they struggle to teach science, mathematics, and technology to students in special education programs. A special emphasis throughout this article will also be placed on an area that we discovered has received little or no attention in the special or regular education literature–the unique, educational needs of girls with disabilities in elementary or middle schools. Consequently, while our work is being carried out in an inner-city, urban school district, we firmly believe that this information raises provocative questions and ideas for teachers, administrators, and parents in other educational settings as well.”


Hampton, N. Z., & Mason E. (2003, March-April). Learning disabilities, gender, sources of efficacy, self-efficacy beliefs, and academic achievement in high school students. Journal of School Psychology, 41(2), 101-112.

This study examined the impact of gender, learning disability (LD) status, and sources of efficacy on self-efficacy beliefs and academic achievement in the concept of Bandura’s self-efficacy theory. Two hundred and seventy-eight high school students participated in the study. Structural equation modeling was used. The results revealed that LD status had indirect influence on self-efficacy via the source variable; gender did not have direct or indirect influences on self-efficacy; sources of efficacy had direct impact on self-efficacy, which in turn affected academic performance. The structural model fit the data well and explained 55% of the variance in academic achievement.


Handa, S. (1998, June). Gender and life-cycle differences in the impact of schooling on chronic disease in Jamaica. Economics of Education Review, 17(3), 325-336.

The incidence and correlates of adult health are becoming a policy issue in many middle-income countries due to the aging of population structures associated with medical technology and the demographic transition. Adult health problems such as physical disability and non-communicable chronic diseases require unique health infrastructure and expertise and can impose a large cost on already cash-strapped health services. This paper explores the socioeconomic determinants of chronic illness in Jamaica, a middle-income country where chronic diseases are the primary source of the nation’s disease burden. Econometric results from a national household survey indicate that additional education significantly reduces the reporting incidence of chronic illness, with the impact especially strong among adults aged 14–49. Moreover, this relationship persists after controlling for household resources, suggesting even greater health related social benefits to education than previously considered. Finally, as in other parts of the world and for other health measures, Jamaican women report earlier and higher incidences of chronic illness, but these differences cannot be explained by differences in the level or impact of education, nor are they likely to reflect mortality selection.


Hastings, E. (1996, August). Assumption, expectation and discrimination: Gender issues for girls with disabilities. In Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) Gender Equity Taskforce, Gender equity: A framework for Australian Schools. Hobart, Tasmania, Australia: Department of Education, Tasmania. Retrieved March 1, 2005 from http://www.education.tas.gov.au/equitystandards/gender/framewrk/
assumption.htm
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This chapter concerns the perspective of girls with disabilities in education and is from a document developed by the Gender Equity Taskforce and Reference Group following the national Promoting Gender Equity Conference in Australia which brought together a wide range of academics, practitioners, parents and others with an interest in the area of gender equity.


Hinckley, J., & Alden, P. (2005, Fall). Women with attentional issues: Success in college learning. Journal of Developmental Education, 29(1), 10-12, 14-17, 27.

This pilot study, funded from a 5-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education Title III Strengthening Institutions Program, explores the factors identified by women with AD/HD that are necessary to their achieving college success. The results of this study, based on 13 in-depth interviews with women who are both academically successful and have AD/HD, highlight the influence of motivation, attitude, support systems, self-reflection, and social-academic balance on academic success. The article concludes with implications that may help instructors and institutions better serve women with attentional issues in the college setting.


Hinshaw, S. P., Owens, E. B., Sami, N., & Fargeon, S. (2006, June). Prospective follow-up of girls with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder into adolescence: Evidence for continuing cross-domain impairment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(3), 489-499.

The authors performed 5-year prospective follow-up (retention rate = 92%) with an ethnically diverse sample of girls, aged 11-18 years, who had been diagnosed in childhood with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; N = 140) and a matched comparison group (N = 88). Hyperactive-impulsive symptoms were more likely to abate than inattentive symptoms. Across multiple domains of symptoms and functional impairment, girls with ADHD continued to display deficits of moderate to large effect size in relation to the comparison girls, but few differences emerged between the inattentive versus combined types. Follow-up effects withstood statistical control of crucial covariates for most outcomes, meaning that there were specific effects of childhood ADHD on follow-up status; in other instances, baseline disruptive disorders accounted for adolescent effects. For outcomes identical at baseline and follow-up, girls with ADHD showed more improvement across time than comparison girls (except for math achievement). Overall, ADHD in girls portends continuing impairment 5 years after childhood ascertainment.


Hogansen, J. M., Powers., K., Geenen, S., Gil-Kashiwabara, E., & Powers, L. (2008, Winter). Transition goals and experiences of females with disabilities: Youth, parents, and professionals. Exceptional Children, 74(2), 215-234.

This study examined the influence of gender on the transition goals and experiences of female students with disabilities. Data were gathered from 146 participants, including female youth with disabilities (n = 67), parents of young women with disabilities (n = 34), and professionals who work with them (n = 45). Findings suggest that females with disabilities have unique experiences related to (a) type of transition goals established for them; (b) factors that shape these transition goals, such as self-perception, mentors, peers, family, and exposure to opportunities; (c) sources of support and impediments to transition to adulthood, such as special education personnel and programs; and (d) contextual issues, such as cultural and linguistic diversity. Practice and future research implications are discussed.


Jones, M. (2004). Whisper writing: Teenage girls talk about ableism and sexism in school. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

In Whisper Writing three teenage girls share their stories about life as students, as young women with disabilities, and as minorities in a male-dominated special education school culture. Their stories are unique because of their disability label and the experiences that go along with such a label. Trapped in an artificial school culture created by educators, these girls have gained valuable insight about power and subordination both in and out of school. Their narratives, along with extensive observations and interviews with these students and their peers, will both stun and enlighten the reader, prompting questions about current school practices involving segregation, a curriculum of control, and the devaluing of students with disabilities—particularly those with behavior issues.


Jung, K. E. (2002, Fall). Chronic illness and educational equity: The politics of visibility. In K. Q. Hall (Ed.), Feminist Disability Studies [Special issue]. NWSA Journal, 14(3), 178-200.

By using the university’s disability policy, chronically ill women become visible in ways that subsequently determine aspects of their undergraduate and graduate careers. This constitutes an exercise of power normally understood as the university acting in the interests of students with disabilities. Using an institutional ethnographic approach, this inquiry starts with the embodied experience of chronically ill women pursuing post-secondary education in order to shed light on the broader social processes that produce systemic inequities for people with disabilities. Specifically, I contend that the requirement that chronically ill students identify themselves as disabled in the context of the university, subjects them to normative, prognostic, diagnostic, and other judgments and assessments that may disorganize their future student and career opportunities.


Kelly, A. B. (2001, April). How Deaf women construct teaching, language, culture, and gender: An ethnographic study of ASL teachers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.

This ethnographic dissertation studies five Deaf women who teach American Sign Language (ASL), exploring the intersections of teaching, language and culture, and gender as perceived by these women. It examines how Deaf women bridge dominant mainstream culture and Deaf culture through teaching ASL and Deaf Culture. It also inquires how these women construct language, culture, and gender as ASL teachers and through their personal lives. These issues were explored through three videotaped interviews with each informant, capped by two rounds of videotaped participant-observations in the women’s ASL classes. This approach produced insights into their teaching practices, attitudes and beliefs leading up to their constructions about teaching, language, culture, and gender. Analysis of the materials collected demonstrates that these five women identify themselves as primarily Deaf with concern about gender as secondary. Although they expressed some resistance towards the dominant mainstream American culture, they clearly value their careers as teachers of ASL and Deaf Culture to mostly hearing learners, bridging the two worlds. This dissertation shows how their unique experience as Deaf individuals reflect their lives as mothers, daughters, students, and partners in social relationships, and how their roles are similar and dissimilar. Their lived experiences as Deaf women affect how they teach, how they perceive hearing people, and how they understand language, culture, and gender.


Kelly, S. (1993, Summer). Women, Education and Disability Research Project: The effects of post-secondary education on the lives of women with physical disabilities. In K. Blackford, C. Cuthbertson, F. Odette, & M. Ticoll (Eds.), Women and disability [Feature issue]. Canadian Woman Studies, 13(4).

The Women, Education and Disability Research Project involved gathering information about experiences of women with physical disabilities living in the province of Manitoba with post – secondary education. Supported by the Secretary of State Women’s Program, its purpose was to determine how post – secondary training contributes to increased opportunities for women with physical disabilities. The research revealed that post – secondary education had positive effects on the women’s awareness of societal issues and their feelings about self. However, their success in finding employment was no higher than women with physical disabilities who had not had post – secondary education. This underscores the need for continued efforts to tackle attitudinal, architectural, and systemic barriers in the post – secondary and employment settings. Greater efforts are also needed to provide a wider range of educational choices, inclusive of professional and traditionally male – oriented fields of training, in order to increase opportunities for employment and resist further marginalization of women with disabilities.

One of the principal consequences of post – secondary education explored in this project was employment. Prior to attending a post – secondary program, 24 of the women interviewed (52.2 per cent) reported employment. An identical number of women, 24, reported current employment. The rates of unemployment experienced by participants in this study were much higher than the averages of Canadian women with similar levels of education. Employment or unemployment per se was not influenced by attainment of further education. Reasons for this include difficulties experienced in accessing employment including the persistence of barriers, inadequate affirmative action legislation, and the poor economic environment.

Information gathered during these interviews substantiated initial research assumptions that post – secondary training was influential on various aspects of an individual’s life, leading to increased self – esteem and greater awareness and involvement in the society at large. However, employment and economic gains due to education were less conclusive. Women with visible disabilities attained higher level professional jobs and increased job security (“permanent” employment) than women with invisible disabilities in this study. These findings underscore the need for future efforts directed at exploring the different experiences of women with visible and invisible physical disabilities and for continued efforts to break down existent barriers in educational and employment settings. Enhanced efforts to promote a wider range of educational choices — which include professional and traditionally male – oriented fields of training — are also recommended to advance opportunities for gainful employment for this group. If indications of limited employment and economic gains due to post – secondary education are borne out by further research, it will will further highlight the need for aggressive efforts to resist repeated injustices and experiences of employment inequity for women with disabilities in our society.


Kumar, G. S. J., & Mary, A. R. (2001). Training and development of school heads in disabled welfare – A neglected area. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 21(7), 39-46.

This article deals with the concerns of women with disabilities as they progress. Girls who are blind, deaf, or mobility-impaired face many problems of rejection, not only possibly by their parents, but by public school personnel whenever they are “mainstreamed.” While there are social and academic advantages to the residential schools, when disabled women enter college, they often face difficulties with negative peer attitudes and misunderstandings with professors and administrators, as well as lack of access to the campus. These concerns are no less complicated by the fact that few successful and achieving role models for disabled women exist.


Loutzenheiser, L. W. (2002, December). Being seen and heard: Listening to young women in alternative schools. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 33(4), 441-464.

This interview-based study examines nine young women’s perceptions of their disconnection from high school and reconnection to school in an alternative program. Rather than focusing on a fixed notion of what “at-risk” students “need,” the students and author note the importance of working with the messy, partial, and complicated sense of students’ identities to gain better understandings of the schooling experiences of marginalized youth. With an eye toward practice- and theory-oriented representations and sense-makings, this article presents theoretical constructions of student disconnection and connection, student testimony as one useful pedagogy, and policy implications for schools.


Madigan, J. C. (2003, December). Female students of color in special education: Classroom behaviors and perceptions in single-gender and coeducational classrooms. E-Journal of Teaching and Learning in Diverse Settings, 1(1), 75-93. Retrieved July 6, 2005 from http://www.subr.edu/coeducation/ejournal/Madigan%20Article.htm.

The purpose of this research was to determine whether there were measurable differences in classroom behaviors and school perceptions in adolescent female students identified as learning disabled (LD) in a single-gender special education classroom (SGSEC) and a mixed-gender special education classroom (MGSEC). A mixed design was used; the study was conducted over a four-month period on a secondary level campus in an urban center in northern California . Data were collected using classroom observations, focus group and individual interviews, and document analysis. Participants included four Latina and four African American female students with learning disabilities. Findings indicated that in comparison to Latina and African American female students attending the MGSEC, female students in the SGSEC reported a greater degree of comfort and support from teachers and peers. There were higher rates of classroom participation for Latina students in the SGSEC compared to their counterparts in the MGSEC. Notable differences in classroom participation were not observed between the two groups of African American female students.


Malacrida, C. (2002). Alternative therapies and Attention Deficit Disorder: Discourses of maternal responsibility and risk. Gender & Society, 16(3), 366-385.

In response to controversies about Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Ritalin, many alternative therapies have proliferated in professional and lay circles. This study examines alternative therapy discourse and asks whether these texts offer any real challenge to traditional discourses of medicalized motherhood. Indeed, alternative therapies employ most of medicine’s discursive strategies, portraying mothers as inadequate and responsible for their children’s problems and positioning the child as both at risk and a danger to society. Furthermore, the speculative causal factors and the lengths to which mothers are encouraged to go in alternative therapy texts place a heavier burden on women than do traditional medical texts. Thus, while the medical treatment for ADD might be challenged, alternative therapy discourse supports the legitimacy of ADD as a diagnostic category, argues that its causes are personal and gendered, and claims that professional intervention remains the proper response.


Malacrida, C. (2003). Cold comfort: Mothers, professionals, and Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Mothers of children with Attention Deficit Disorder must inevitably make decisions regarding their children’s diagnosis within a context of competing discourses about the nature of the disorder and the legitimacy of its treatment. They also make these decisions within an overriding climate of mother-blame. Claudia Malacrida’s Cold Comfort provides a contextualized study of how mothers negotiate with/against the ‘helping professions’ over assessment and treatment for their AD(H)D children.

Malacrida counters current conceptions about mothers of AD(H)D children (namely that mothers irresponsibly push for Ritalin to manage their children’s behaviour) as well as professional assumptions of maternal pathology. This thought-provoking examination documents Malacrida’s extensive interviews with mothers of affected children in both Canada and the United Kingdom, and details the way in which these women speak of their experiences. Malacrida compares their narratives to national discourses and practices, placing the complex mother-child and mother-professional relations at the centre of her critical inquiry.

Drawing on both poststructural discourse analysis and feminist standpoint theory, Malacrida makes a critical contribution to qualitative methodologies by developing a feminist discursive ethnography of the construction of AD(H)D in two divergent cultures. On a more personal level, she offers readers a moving, nuanced, and satisfying examination of real women and children facing both public and private challenges linked to AD(H)D.


Manwaring, J. S. (2008). Wendy or Tinkerbell? How the underrepresentation of girls impacts gender roles in preschool special education. Teaching Exceptional Children, 40(5), 60-65.

“In a public elementary school in the southeastern United States, a self-contained class of prekindergarten children with disabilities is playing with Play-Doh. As the children are molding and shaping the modeling compound, the only girl is helping the boys press shapes into their Play-Doh. She flutters around the other children showing them how to use the various shapes and encouraging them to roll and press the Play-Doh. The class comprised 10 boys and 1 girl. When questioned about the disparity in gender because of concern for the lone girl, the teacher commented, “Oh, she does okay, she mothers all the boys.” In another classroom in the same school district, the single girl in a class of nine boys struggles to articulate her fantasy role model. The children are talking about their desire to be superheroes, vying for adult attention and pointing to their shirts to help illustrate their words describing popular cultural icons such as Superman, Batman, and Spiderman. The boys’ exuberant, combined voices dominate the discussion and the adult listeners’ attention is drawn to reinforcing the boys’ use of language and participation in a discussion. Meanwhile, the little girl is overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the boys but persists in attempting to be an active participant in the discussion. Many times she tries to enter the conversation repeating the same phrase of which only the word “bell” is understandable. Despite many attempts and prompts from the adults for more information, her words are not understood and she never gets to be a part of the discussion. Later, when the children are acting out their favorite superheroes, one of the adults puts all the clues together to finally comprehend that the little girl was saying, “Me Tinkerbell.” These incidents underscore the underrepresentation of girls in preschool special education self-contained classes, leaving them with almost no same gender friends or peers and thereby limiting them to the single role of motherly “Wendy” as they struggle to identify themselves as “Tinkerbell” (p. 60).


Martinez, R., & Sewell, K. W. (2000, March). Explanatory style in college students: Gender differences and disability status. College Student Journal, 34(1), 72-78.

The explanatory style scores of 38 persons with physical disabilities (PWPD) and 32 persons not physically disabled (PNPD), all attending college, were assessed using the Academic Attributional Style Questionnaire (AASQ). The research literature suggests that females tend to possess an explanatory style that is somewhat more pessimistic than males. Furthermore, women with physical disabilities have been described in the literature as being passive and dependant, which may suggest the presence of a pessimistic explanatory style. For these reasons, it might have been expected that female participants with physical disabilities would obtain the most pessimistic explanatory style scores. Because such an explanatory style has been linked to deficits in a variety of life domains, this difference can be significant. However, the results of the present study showed that females with physical disabilities obtained the most optimistic explanatory style scores. These results suggest a need to reconceptualize how gender and disability relate to explanatory style.


Mason, M. (2000). Incurably human. London: Working Press.

Simultaneously personal and philosophical, this book is both a celebration of and call for inclusive communities and schools. Micheline Mason shares some of her experiences growing up and living with a disability in London. She challenges the dominant ideology of the medical model that suggests that she and others with disabilities are broken and need to be fixed, stressing that she is fully human as she is and does not need or desire a cure. The book chronicles her personal journey from experiencing segregation and discrimination to living a full life, fighting prejudice, and working for inclusive societies. She has dedicated the book to Marsha Forest, Jack Pearpoint, Judith Snow, John O’Brien, and Herb Lovett who “flew in as a team, crashed through our British reserve and, in their generosity, gave us the language and the tools of inclusion.” The book is divided into four sections: Exclusion Harms Everyone, The Inclusion Movement, Inclusive Education, Glimpses of a Possible Future.


The Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, Inc. & The NETWORK, Inc. (1993, September). Beyond Title IX: Gender equity issues in schools. Chevy Chase, MD & Andover, MA: Authors. Retrieved March 15, 2005 from http://www.maec.org/beyond.html.

Beyond Title IX: Gender Equity Issues in Schools provides an overview of key gender equity issues which schools are encountering today. Each equity issue is discussed briefly, including supporting data. Next are key questions to determine the extent to which a particular equity issue is a problem for a school or school district. Finally, there are selected strategies that schools can implement to increase equity, along with a list of resources that can assist in achieving these objectives. The publication concludes with a summary statement regarding schools’ ongoing responsibilities for ensuring gender equity.

While this publication does not specifically mention disability, there is a discussion of the issue of gender and learning styles.


Morley, L., & Walsh, V. (Eds.). (1996). Breaking boundaries: Women in higher education [Gender and Higher Education Series]. London: Taylor & Francis.

Essays from women in higher education, organized around two major themes: diversity, equity, and change, and feminism in the academy, and with an emphasis on these issues in the United Kingdom.

Of particular interest are the chapters, “Deaf Women Academics in Higher Education” and “Women and Disability in Higher Education: A Literature Search.”


Nadeau, K. G. (2002, April). Is your daughter a daydreamer, tomboy or “Chatty Kathy”? LDOnline.org. Retrieved July 19, 2005 from http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/add_adhd/nadeau.pdf.

“Most questionnaires used to screen children for ADD emphasize items which describe boys, items about hyperactivity, impulsivity and defiant behavior. What we are beginning to realize is that there are many girls left undiagnosed because their symptoms look different. One big difference is that girls are less rebellious, less defiant, generally less “difficult” than boys. Sadly, they lose out due to their good behavior. Often they are left to drift along from one school year to the next, never working up to their potential. There are a few girls whose behavior closely resembles the behavior of boys with ADD. But what about those who don’t?”


Najarian, C. G. (2004). ‘Between worlds’: How college educated deaf women negotiate education, mothering, and work. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY.

This qualitative study investigates the everyday lives of college educated deaf women in their family, educational, mothering and activism, and paid work experiences. The study is based on life history research with ten deaf women in two different cities in the northeast. The data reveal the seemingly “invisible” and often visible work involved as these women negotiate places for themselves and resist various obstacles in their paid and unpaid work lives. The women develop strategies to negotiate being part of the deaf world, hearing world, or somewhere, as they describe, “in between.” Despite being educated orally and usually forbidden to learn sign language in their early years, the women are often tracked into working in deaf work environments, specifically into teaching professions. As part of their mothering and activist work, the women also make political decisions about their identities as well as those of their children when they make decisions about how to communicate in their families. The study also shows how institutions such as schools, families, and workplaces shape the women’s work experiences and their identities. By uncovering the life experiences of these deaf women, these findings have implications for our education programs and hiring procedures.


Najarian, C. G. (2008, March). Deaf women: educational experiences and self-identity. Disability & Society, 23(2), 117-128.

Using life history interviews with 10 college educated Deaf women this paper investigates connections between early education and college experience and how they identified as Deaf. The women developed strategies as they managed their impressions while employing Goffman’s practices of loyalty, discipline and circumspection. Acknowledging deafness and their own decisions about education affected their identities. The women experienced a cultural shift after attending a college for the deaf or after their exposure to the Deaf community and learning American Sign Language. The women developed strategies of becoming ‘lifetime educators’ and ‘self-advocates’. Their experiences show the role of language in the identity making process and how the women navigated this in their schools.


O’Brien, L. M. (2006, Spring). Being bent over backward: A mother and teacher educator challenges the positioning of her daughter with disabilities. Disability Studies Quarterly, 26(2).

In this paper I draw on my life story as a teacher educator and the mother of a daughter with disabilities to trouble the identity that positions and labels her as, first and foremost in U.S. school settings, a “child with special needs.” Drawing on a brief snippet from our profoundly interrelated lives (Hillyer, 1993), I argue that educators must reconsider the positioning of children who differ from the “norm,” and stop labeling, and hence limiting, children. I end with recommendations for personal, educational, and societal policies and practices that would be less painful and limiting, and more inclusive, supportive, and ultimately democratic.


Okkolin, M., Lehtomäki , A., & Bhalalusesa, E. (2010). The successful education sector development in Tanzania – Comment on gender balance and inclusive education. Gender and Education, 22(1), 63-71.

In this paper we discuss to what extent the international and national equality goals regarding gender balance and inclusive education have been reached in the education sector development in Tanzania. According to recent reports, the development trend has been generally positive, and the country is close to achieving its primary education targets. More detailed reviews suggest, however, that current monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are too narrow to catch the critical factors regarding equality, particularly in secondary education. Our comment concerns the achievements and challenges, and emphasises the significance of a multidimensional set of information including in-depth qualitative research on connections between socio-cultural factors and education.


Oliva, G. A. (2004). Alone in the mainstream: A deaf woman remembers public school [Deaf Lives Vol. 1]. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.

When Gina Oliva first went to school in 1955, she didn’t know that she was “different.” If the kindergarten teacher played a tune on the piano to signal the next exercise, Oliva didn’t react because she couldn’t hear the music. So began her journey as a “solitary,” her term for being the only deaf child in the entire school. Gina felt alone because she couldn’t communicate easily with her classmates, but also because none of them had a hearing loss like hers. It wasn’t until years later at Gallaudet University that she discovered that she wasn’t alone and that her experience was common among mainstreamed deaf students. Alone in the Mainstream recounts Oliva’s story, as well as those of many other solitaries.

In writing this important book, Oliva combined her personal experiences with responses from the Solitary Mainstream Project, a survey that she conducted of deaf and hard of hearing adults who attended public school. Oliva matched her findings with current research on deaf students in public schools and confirmed that hearing teachers are ill-prepared to teach deaf pupils, they don’t know much about hearing loss, and they frequently underestimate deaf children. The collected memories in Alone in the Mainstream adds emotional weight to the conviction that students need to be able to communicate freely, and they also need peers to know they are not alone.


Olney, M. F., & Brockelman, K. F., (2005). The impact of visibility of disability and gender on the self-concept of university students with disabilities. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 18(1), 80-91.

This study is the result of a series of group and individual interviews in which 25 university students with a variety of disabilities discussed their experience of disability. Transcripts of the interviews were analyzed qualitatively using an inductive procedure. Data were then sorted by gender and by hidden versus visible disability. Here we present themes related to self-concept; specifically how the students (1) thought of themselves, (2) presented themselves to others, (3) imagined others’ views of them, and (4) perceived the supports they received. Results of these analyses provide indications of differences, both predictable and unexpected, between the perceptions and experiences of men and women and between persons with visible versus hidden disabilities. Implications of the study for the delivery of services to students with disabilities are explored.


Opini, B. M. (2008, March). Strengths and limitations of Ontario post-secondary education accessibility plans: A review of one university accessibility plan. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 12(2), 127-149.

This paper examines the strengths and limitations of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA) accessibility plan prepared by one post-secondary education institution in Ontario, Canada, during the 2004/05 academic year. The paper focuses on ways the intersectionality between disability and gender is not voiced in the plan and its implications for female students with disabilities in post-secondary educational institutions. It is argued that future accessibility plans need to pay attention to these intersections and, therefore, frame their initiatives in a manner that would address systemic sexism and inequitable power relations that serve to marginalize persons with disabilities, particularly women, hence rendering them marginal in post-secondary educational contexts.


Oswald, D. P., Best, A. M., Coutinho, M .J., & Nagle, H. A. L. (2003). Trends in the special education identification rates of boys and girls: A call for research and change. Exceptionality, 11(4), 223-237.

Female underrepresentation in special education is now of significant concern to educators. The purpose of this study was to present nationally representative information about the extent of disproportionate representation for the disability conditions of learning disabilities, mental retardation, and emotional disturbance. Using data collected by the U.S. Office for Civil Rights, national trends are reported in gender disproportion between 1980-1997. Recommendations are made for carefully designed empirical research to elucidate the basis for differences, improved data collection and reporting by gender, and changes in practice.


O’Toole, C. J. (2002, September 19). Girls with disabilities: A mother’s perspective. Washington, DC: Center for Women Policy Studies. Retrieved March 2, 2005 from http://www.centerwomenpolicy.org/leg.cfm?StatementID=5.

This is a text of a legislative statement by Corbett Joan O’Toole, a women with a disability and mother to a daughter with disabilities, “about both the encouraging and the challenging things happening at the elementary school level for girls with disabilities.” O’Toole discusses “…4 different aspects of the challenges: how gender equity projects impact girls with disabilities; how special education interfaces with equity efforts; role models for girls with disabilities; and the impact of current educational structures on mothers.”

An in-depth article published in Disability World gives a detailed description of the briefing and testimony as well as issues raised. The testimony of two out of the three women with disabilities involved can be found at http://www.disabilityworld.org/09-10_02/women/status.shtml.


Perspectives on Education by Women with Disabilities [Feature Issue]. (1996, Summer). Women’s Education des femmes, 12(2). Retrieved February 29, 2005 from http://www.nald.ca/canorg/cclow/newslet/1996/sumr_v12/
cover.pdf
.

“The women who have contributed to this special issue, Perspectives on Education from Women with Disabilities, have shared their experiences and knowledge, their triumphs and frustrations in an effort to wake up the world to their right to access education, employment and a life of dignity and independence.”


Petersen, A. J. (2009, October). “Ain’t nobody gonna get me down”: An examination of the educational experiences of four African American Women labeled with disabilities. Equity & Excellence in Education, 42(4), 412-426.

This study used qualitative research methods to explore the educational experiences of four African American women with disabilities, revealing how each participant developed a critical consciousness in response to the dominant ideology surrounding the discourses of African American, woman, and disabled. The development of a critical consciousness led participants to counter the oppressive nature of their educational experiences by engaging in acts of resistance. Recommendations are made with regard to how K-18 educators might support and capitalize upon students’ critical consciousness to facilitate equitable classroom communities.


Quinn, P. O. (2004, July/August). ADHD: Not for “boys only.” Behavioral Health Management, 24(4). Retrieved October 1, 2005 from http://www.behavioral.net/Past_Issues.htm?ID=3363.

Discusses how ADHD also affects girls and women but requires more scrutiny to uncover and treat.


Reiff, H. B., Hatzes, N. M., Bramel, M. H., & Gibbon, T. (2001). The relation of LD and gender with emotional intelligence in college students. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34(1), 66-78.

Study examining the relationship of learning disabilities (LD), sex, and emotional intelligence in 128 college students. Participants were 32 men and 22 women with LD, and 34 men and 40 women without LD. Emotional intelligence was assessed using the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i), a measure of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, stress management, adaptability, and general mood. A two-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to examine interactions between LD status, sex, and the five components of the EQ-i. Results indicate that both LD and sex had significant main effects. There were significant differences between students with and without LD on stress management and adaptability, and between men and women on interpersonal skills.


Riddell, S., Baron, S., & Wilson, A. (2001, March). The significance of the learning society for women and men with learning difficulties. Gender and Education, 13(1), 57-73.

Discusses the gendered experiences and lifelong learning opportunities of people with learning difficulties (LD). Notes theories of late modernity, their use by feminist and disability studies theorists, and their relationship to a learning society. Using case studies, argues that the identities of people with LD are not chosen freely from many options but are socially ascribed.


Rousso, H. (n.d.). Education for all: A gender and disability perspective. An unpublished report prepared by Harilyn Rousso, CSW, Disabilities Unlimited, for the World Bank. Retrieved March 12, 2005 from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DISABILITY/Resources/Education/Education_for_All_A_Gender_and_
Disability_Perspective.pdf
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“In light of the international commitment to Education for All (EFA), how are girls with disabilities faring? In truth, we don’t know, although from what we can tell, they are not faring well. Widespread cultural biases based on gender and disability greatly limit their educational opportunities. Why don’t we know more? Those committed to gender equity, by failing to consider disability, and those committed to disability equity, by failing to consider gender, have unwittingly rendered disabled girls invisible.”


Rousso, H. (2002, September 19). Briefing on girls and young women with disabilities. Washington, DC: Center for Women Policy Studies. Retrieved March 2, 2005 from http://www.centerwomenpolicy.org/leg.cfm?StatementID=6.

This is testimony from Harilyn Rousso, Disabilities Unlimited Consulting Services, at a briefing held on the educational needs of disabled girls and young women. Rousso reports on girls with disabilities and that “…They include girls with physical, sensory, learning, intellectual, emotional or health disabilities that may be visible or invisible, stable or progressive, occurring in birth, childhood or adolescence. What they have in common is the experience of double discrimination based on gender and disability, often compounded by discrimination based on race, ethnicity, class and/or sexual orientation. Negative stereotypes underlie such discrimination. Too often, girls and young women with disabilities are viewed as sick, helpless, incompetent and asexual, with little recognition of their assets. These attitudes limit their potential to survive and succeed more than do any limitations imposed by their disabilities, no matter how significant.”

An in-depth article published in Disability World gives a detailed description of the briefing and testimony as well as issues raised. The testimony of two out of the three women with disabilities involved can be found at http://www.disabilityworld.org/09-10_02/women/status.shtml.


Rousso, H., & Wehmeyer, M. L. (2001). Double jeopardy: Addressing gender equity in special education [SUNY Series: The Social Context of Education]. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

This book addresses in-depth the discrimination that girls and women with disabilities face in education. The book is organized into four sections. The first section provides an overview of the issues pertaining to gender and disability at a societal level. The second addresses gender equity issues affecting the education of all students. The third focuses on the existing knowledge of gender issues uniquely related to the education of students with disabilities or to students receiving special education services & supports; also described are some innovative programs for girls and/or youth with disabilities that promote equity. The final section summarizes the key findings and makes recommendations for the future.

The book and its contributors hope to enable educators and others to identify the biases of gender and disability and to develop tools and strategies to develop gender equitable education.


Rucklidge, J. J. (2006, March). Gender differences in neuropsychological functioning of New Zealand adolescents with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. In Stephen Houghton (Ed.), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Genetics and Neuropsychology [Special issue]. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 53(1), 47-66.

Only recently have studies included a female Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) sample when investigating neurocognitive functioning of individuals with ADHD. As such, the generalisability of findings of impaired executive functioning is limited to ADHD males. This study compared four groups aged 13-17 years: 30 male controls, 35 female controls, 24 males with ADHD, and 25 females with ADHD. Participants were assessed using the K-SADS-PL and Conners’ Rating Scales, and completed tests of rapid naming, processing speed, memory, inhibition, set-shifting, and interference. Results showed that the males with ADHD and the females with ADHD performed similarly with only one notable difference: males with ADHD showed some evidence of more impaired inhibition than females with ADHD. In contrast, after controlling for reading ability, comorbidity, and IQ, both males and females with ADHD showed some impairment in working memory, naming speeds, processing abilities, and inhibitory deficits as compared with controls. This study supports the growing literature documenting impaired neurocognitive functioning in both males and females with ADHD.


Seidman, L. J., Biederman, J., Monuteaux, M. C., Valera, E., Doyle, A. E., & Faraone,
S. V. (2005). Impact of gender and age on executive functioning: Do girls and boys with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder differ neuropsychologically in preteen and teenage years? Developmental Neuropsychology, 27(1), 79-105.

ADHD is known to have neuropsychological correlates, characterized mainly by executive function (EF) deficits. However, most available data are based on studies of boys through age 12. Our goal was to assess whether girls with ADHD express neuropsychological features similar to those found in boys, and whether these impairments are found in both preteen and teen samples. Participants were 101 girls and 103 boys with DSM-R ADHD, and 109 comparison girls and 70 boys without ADHD, ages 9 to 17 years. Information on neuropsychological performance was obtained in a standardized manner blind to clinical status. Primary regression analyses controlled for age, socioeconomic status, learning disability, and psychiatric comorbidity. Girls and boys with ADHD were significantly more impaired on some measures of EFs than healthy comparisons but did not differ significantly from each other. With the exception of 1 test score there were no significant Sex Diagnosis interactions. Moreover, there were no more significant interactions among age, gender, and diagnosis than would be expected by chance. Neuropsychological measures of EFs were comparably impaired in girls compared to boys with ADHD, and these impairments are found at ages 9 to 12 and ages 13 to 17. These findings suggest that executive dysfunctions are correlates of ADHD regardless of gender and age, at least through the late teen years.


Siegel, L. S., & Smythe, I. S. (2005, September/October). Reflections on research on reading disability with special attention to gender issues. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 38(5), 473-477.

This commentary reviews some of the issues involved in the definition of reading disability and demonstrates how definitions can influence the conclusions reached by a review. In particular, the discrepancy definition of reading disability is shown to be logically flawed. Data from a large unbiased sample show that there are no significant differences between boys and girls in the incidence of reading difficulties.


Silver-Pacuilla, H. V. (2004, Spring). The meanings of literacy: A participatory action research project involving women with disabilities. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 32(1/2), 43-58.

“Silver-Pacuilla and Associates discuss the needs of women literacy learners with disabilities in a large adult education program in the Southwest of the US in an attempt to address their educational goals. Among other things, the group created a set of recommendations and declarations that both contextualize and counter existing literacy and adult-learning theories and highlight the multiplicity of meanings attached to literacy and learning.”


Thomson, R. G. (1995). Integrating disability studies into the existing curriculum: The example of ‘Women and Literature’ at Howard University. Radical Teacher, 47, 15-21.

Part of a special section on Disability Studies. The writer discusses how she attempts to introduce Disability Studies in the context of a sustained focus on racial difference. She notes that her aim in teaching Disability Studies is to confound definitions of “we” and “they,” which imply a victim/perpetrator and a normal/abnormal relationship between the disabled and the nondisabled. She proposes that Disability Studies should be taught as an integrated part of all courses and indicates that she integrates disability issues into all of the courses she teaches as an English professor. Her “Women in Literature” course at Howard University focuses on the valuing of bodies on the basis of their appearance; uses material from various disciplines that are not explicitly Disability Studies to elucidate the way that disability, along with other stigmatized identities, operates in Western cultures; and offers literary and cultural analyses to reveal the ways that social relations produce the cultural distinctions of disability, race, gender, and class.


Tschantz, J., & Markowitz, J. (2003, January). Gender and special education: Current state data collection. Quick Turn Around (QTA): A brief analysis of a critical issue in special education. Alexandria, VA: Project FORUM, National Association of State Directors of Special Education, Inc. Retrieved March 15, 2005 from http://www.nasdse.org/publications/gender.pdf.

This report, from Project Forum of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, Inc. (NASDSE), is a summary of information from state education agencies regarding state-level special education data by gender, and gender and special education issues identified as areas of concern. The most commonly reported concerns were gender disproportionality in regard to special education identification overall, disciplinary actions and educational environments.


van Drenth, A. (2003, December). “Tender sympathy and scrupulous fidelity”: Gender and professionalism in the history of deaf education in the United States. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 50(4), 367-383.

This article examines the gendered professionalism that developed in the education of deaf persons in the second half of the 19th Century in the United States. It shows how the rise of professionalism involved the social construction of gender. During the 19th Century many women entered the teaching profession and many taught deaf persons. Employing them was considered attractive, not only because of the low wages that the women were paid, but also because of the “tender sympathy and scrupulous fidelity” that these women teachers showed in their professional practice. The introduction of the oral method in the education of deaf individuals favoured women teachers who were valued for their capacities to relate to pupils and whose labour was cheap compared to men. In due course women teachers succeeded in developing specific expertise and thereby influenced the professional community. Eventually their gendered professionalism became crucial in settling the schism between manualism and oralism, a schism that marked the history of the education of deaf individuals at the turn of the 19th Century in the United States.


Wagner, M. (1992, April). Being female–A secondary disability? Gender differences in the transition experiences of young people with disabilities. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.

This paper synthesizes findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS) of Special Education Students concerning differences in the secondary educational and postschool experiences of male and female young people. NLTS provided data on more than 8,000 youths who received special education in secondary schools in the 1985-86 school year and results of followup telephone interviews in 1987 and 1990. Young women with disabilities differed from males in that they reported significantly lower involvement in activities outside the home especially in employment. They also differed from non-disabled females in showing low employment rates and lack of increased employment over time. Other differences between women and men with disabilities include the women’s lower rate of full time employment and lower wages with the gaps widening with time out of school. In other areas women were less engaged in other productive activities outside the home, less likely to belong to organized groups or to see friends socially. Findings also suggested three factors contributing to these gender differences in post-school outcomes: (1) females in secondary special education tended to be more seriously impaired; (2) females were less likely to take occupationally specific vocational training in secondary school; and (3) the females were more likely to marry and become mothers soon after school than females in the general population. Numerous tables present the study’s findings in detail. Two appendixes conclude the document; Appendix A provides greater detail on several methodogical aspects of the NLTS and Appendix B provides a list of reports and papers available, based on the NLTS, with ordering information.


Ware, L. (2002). A moral conversation on disability: Risking the personal in educational contexts. In E. Kittay, S. Silvers, & S. Wendell, S. (Eds.), Special issue: Feminism and disability II. Hypatia, 17(3), 143-172.

Ware explores disability in K-12 schools where attitudes, beliefs, and practices shape the school culture and influence enduring perceptions about disability among school professionals, students, and their families. Drawing on recent conversations among moral philosophers who view disability as a central feature of human life that has yet to enrich understanding of ourselves and others, Ware encourages the practice of reform grounded in a process that begins with a “suspicion of the self” and a willingness to risk the personal.


Watson-Gegeo, K. A. (2005, Fall). Teaching to transform and the dark side of “being professional.” ReVision, 28(2), 43-48.

Watson-Gegeo recounts how her disability has inspired her and her students to transgress the norms of conduct by which the academy reproduces oppressive structures. She also critiques professionalism and challenges those who would revision higher education to contemplate the dark side of being professional as they map the new terrain ahead.


Wilkins, D. M. (1997). Herstories: A preliminary look at deaf women in higher education. American Annals of the Deaf, 142(2), 93-06.

This study describes the postsecondary educational experiences and perceptions of deaf women college students. Deaf women were interviewed using semistructured questions adapted from Gilligan, Lyons, and Hanmer (1990). Findings indicated that these deaf women perceived their college environment as generally positive, though they also perceived instances of unequal treatment.


Wright, A. G. (2000, May). Women and disability: Perspectives on education, community living & employment. Richmond, VA: Virginia Board for People with Disabilities. Retrieved January 2, 2005 from http://www.vaboard.org/downloads/WomenReport.pdf.

In the last few years, issues concerning women and disability have expanded not only in terms of research devoted to them but also in terms of the responses of women and girls with disabilities. Many have formed various approaches to breaking down the barriers and therefore addressing their distinct needs. This report contains selected information on a variety of topics, including perspectives on education.