Purpose

In light of the systemic and pervasive nature of ableism and how ableist ideology structures – or limits – educational opportunities, this paper aims to contribute to the ongoing conversation within the field of multicultural education regarding how to meaningfully include dis/ability in K-12 curricula.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper explores how elementary and middle school health textbooks from two prominent publishers in the USA portray dis/ability through quantitative and qualitative content analysis methods of 1,468 images across texts.

Findings

Findings indicate that the majority of the textbook portrayals of dis/ability tacitly forward assimilationist ideals. Specifically, the textbooks assume and speak to a normatively-abled reader, pointing out those with dis/abilities as different from the reader. Additionally, mainstream or normative markers are provided as evidence of success and those with dis/abilities who have been successful as such are positioned as overcoming their limitations.

Practical implications

Such portrayals stifle the possibility of social transformation by reinforcing and privileging dominant, ableist views. Therefore, teachers are recommended to take steps that might counter such messages in curricular materials and teacher educators are called on to support these efforts.

Originality/value

This paper extends the tradition of curricular analysis as one of the first studies to examine the portrayals of dis/ability in US health textbooks and offer practical implications for educators.

中文翻译：

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（Un）肯定同化：健康教科书中关于残疾/残疾的描述

目的

鉴于能力主义的系统性和普遍性以及能力主义者的意识形态如何构造（或限制）教育机会，本文旨在为多元文化教育领域的持续对话做出贡献，涉及如何在K-12课程中有效地包括残疾/残疾问题。 。

设计/方法/方法

本文探讨了美国两家著名出版商的中小学健康教科书如何通过对1,468幅跨文本图像进行定量和定性的内容分析方法来描述残疾/残疾的问题。

发现

调查结果表明，教科书中关于残疾/残疾的大多数描写都是默认地提出了同化理想。具体来说，教科书假定并与规范性阅读器对话，并指出那些残障/能力与阅读者不同的人。另外，提供了主流或规范性标记作为成功的证据，而那些已经成功的具有残疾/能力的人则被定位为克服了自身的局限性。

实际影响

这些刻画通过加强和特权化主流的，有能力的观点，扼杀了社会转型的可能性。因此，建议教师采取措施，以抵消课程材料中的此类信息，并呼吁教师教育者支持这些努力。

创意/价值

本文扩展了课程分析的传统，将其作为最早研究美国卫生教科书中关于残疾/能力描述的研究之一，并为教育工作者提供了实际的启示。