One Story, Two Perspectives: A Mother\u27s and Daughter\u27s Experiences in Special Education in Public Schools

In the past children with disabilities have been neglected, denied, and rejected by society and the educational system. Although special education is set up to help those who are disabled many are still excluded. It is believed that the knowledge, practices, and discourses of special education professionals are grounded in the medical model. Exceptionality is being established by standardized tests that set these children up for failure. The field has designated professionals who are responsible for diagnosing, labeling, and teaching persons with disabilities without considering the perspectives of those for whom the system was designed. However, this dissertation places the special education system and those who marginalize those with disabilities under scrutiny I have chosen to tell an important story: the history of two people who have gone through the special education system in two rather different ways. My daughter Morgan will share her personal experience of what it was like to be labeled learning disabled and how the special education system has affected her life. I will provide the parent\u27s perspective and relate how difficult and stressful the process of special education can be. This paper will also tell how being considered different has affected the quality of my daughter\u27s life and analyze how the practices and societal views continue to oppress those who are different. The research method I chose for this study is narrative inquiry. In successful narrative writing, the author always makes a point. Though on the surface, narratives might appear to be a simple retelling of a particular experience, event, or episode of a person\u27s life, upon further examination, an effectively and passionately told story brings forth important and life-changing moral and ethical lessons