THROUGH A DIS/ABILITY STUDIES AND CRITICAL RACE THEORY LENS: BLACK FAMILIES’ PERSPECTIVES OF SPEECH LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the historical and current impact of racism and ableism in speech language pathology using the counterstories of African-American families. Utilizing a qualitative, critical narrative research approach I investigated the experiences expressed and lived by Black families through interviews, current research and my experience as a Black speech specialist. The data collected was analyzed using a DisCrit lens which allowed me to uncover the multi-layers of identity, social constructs, power, privilege and ability within the participants’ stories. Once analyzed, the seven Tenets of DisCrit were used as themes to organize the data.