Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ed.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Language, Literacy, ED.D., Exceptional Education, and Physical Education

Major Professor

Vonzell Agosto, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Veselina Lambrev, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Patriann Smith, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Brenda Walker, Ph.D.

Keywords

Resistance, Deficit-Based Thinking, Critical Pedagogy (CP), Marginalization, Disability Studies in Education (DSE)

Abstract

This autoethnographic study examines how I, as a Black parent-educator, navigated racialized and ableist educational systems while advocating for my child with a learning disability. Grounded in Disability Studies in Education, DisCrit, Critical Pedagogy, Universal Design for Learning, and Black Feminist Thought, the study explores how systemic inequities shape parent–teacher collaboration and how advocacy functions as relational care and resistance. The guiding research question asked how I experienced and navigated collaboration within racialized and ableist special education systems. Data sources included reflective journals, IEP documents, personal narratives, and dialogic conversations with critical friends. Using composite narratives and thematic analysis, the findings revealed that racism and ableism were perpetuated through deficit thinking, benign neglect, marginalization, and unequal power in decision-making. Advocacy intervened through relational trust-building, strengths-based reframing, collaborative dialogue, and instructional flexibility grounded in Universal Design for Learning, disrupting deficit narratives and fostering belonging. Black Feminist Thought illuminated advocacy as care-centered resistance rooted in persistence, relational labor, and refusal to shrink. Implications highlight the need for educators and schools to center family expertise, share decision-making power, and design instruction that anticipates learner variability. Future research should continue centering lived experience to inform more just and inclusive special education practices

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