• DOI:10.1177/00222194040370060101
• Corpus ID: 34780736

The Discursive Practice of Learning Disability

@article{Reid2004TheDP,
  title={The Discursive Practice of Learning Disability},
  author={D. Kim Reid and Jan Weatherly Valle},
  journal={Journal of Learning Disabilities},
  year={2004},
  volume={37},
  pages={466 - 481}
}

• D. Reid, Jan Weatherly Valle
• Published 1 November 2004
• Education
• Journal of Learning Disabilities

This article serves as an invitation to rethink and to broaden the scope of learning disabilities (LD) research and practice. We begin with 3 assumptions: Education in a representative democracy is inevitably a political enterprise; social justice is everyone's responsibility, but educators have a special role to play; and segregated schooling is neither equal nor equitable. After an analysis of the primary extant discourses, we argue for a more comprehensive and more openly political vision of the LD field, which we think is supported by Disability Studies in Education. Finally, we draw 3 conclusions relevant to our collective work as researchers and educators. First, learning disabilities are not objective fact; they are historically and culturally determined. Second, disability is both a personal and a societal attribute. Finally, learning disabilities are not and have never been immutable. We contend that we are ethically bound to transform educational practices to both welcome and accommodate everybody's children.