From the margin to the center: A framework for rehumanizing mathematics education for students with dis/abilities

Abstract Mathematics education for students with dis/abilities has a legacy of exclusion; its scholarship has been dominated by ableist perspective: a focus on rote mathematics facts, procedural instruction, and a narrow range of mathematics content. Grounded in critical pedagogy and critical disabilities studies, we argue for a shift in the focus away from the student as the site of defect and intervention to recognize the complex embodiment of dis/ability as a process produced within historical, political, social, and material contexts. The theoretical assumptions and guiding principles for a framework of culturally responsive and relational understanding of dis/ability will be shared together with a case of such an approach in classroom practice. The paper advances efforts to support all learners in robust mathematics learning communities and to situate research from perspectives that acknowledge the situated, interactional nature of ability, identity, and achievement.