Research: Navigating Characters, Coursework, and Curriculum: Preservice Teachers Reading Young Adult Literature Featuring Disability

Abstract

In this qualitative study, the authors explore how preservice teachers select, read, and imagine teaching representations of disability in young adult literature. Adding disability to the list of diversity categories can be problematic in that thinking about disability as a singular identity group ignores abling or disabling contexts and diversity within disability (Davis, 2011; Watson, 2002). However, findings indicate that preservice teachers may only see disability in the context of special education if representations of disability are not explicitly applied in English coursework using a disability studies lens (Dunn, 2014).