Gifted and Talented LGBTQ+ Students With Disabilities: A Queer Crip Analysis

Abstract

Two types of critical theories have increasingly been used to understand LGBTQ+ individuals and persons with disabilities: Queer and Crip theories. Queer Crip theory can be used to analyze elements (e.g., traits, behaviors, contexts, and skills) of the lives of gifted and talented LGBTQ+ youth who also have disabilities, as those elements have recently appeared in the professional literature, the popular press, and the LGBTQ+ press. This piece reviews the definitions of Queer and Crip theories as well as the prevalence and challenges of persons who are gifted and LGBTQ+ with disabilities. The article critically examines eight different groups of frequently seen gifted LGBTQ+ students with disabilities. Gifted LGBTQ+ youth with learning, emotional/behavioral, hearing, vision, orthopedic, health, speech/language, and autism spectrum challenges are examined for these groups’ distinctive definitions, constituent groups, famous individuals, educational masks and solutions, and social-emotional solutions emanating from students’ queer identities. In the spirit of Queer Crip theory, conclusions encourage gifted LGBTQ+ youth with disabilities and their educators to consider carefully the future challenges—and joys—that may be involved in implementing the suggested educational and queer identity approaches.