Disability, Race, and Language in a Time of Uncertainty: Preserving Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors
Abstract
In this dialogic piece, we begin by contemplating Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop’s analogy of Mirror, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors (1990) to (1) call attention to the political backlash against diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; (2) contemplate implications for the field of special and inclusive education, including critiquing traditional approaches to researching diversity; and (3) explore some possible ways to counter this backlash. We close by asking the question, should we simmer down, as some encourage, or raise Hell, as others suggest?
Contributor Notes
Author Bio
David J. Connor, EdD, is a professor emeritus, Hunter College (Learning Disabilities Program) and the Graduate Center (Urban Education Doctoral Program), City University of New York. He is the author/editor of articles, chapters, and books, including: DisCrit: Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory in Education (2016), DisCrit Expanded: Inquiries, Reverberations & Ruptures (2022), Enacting Disability Critical Race Theory: From the Personal to the Global (2023), all co-edited with Subini Annamma and Beth Ferri, and Rethinking Disability: A Disability Studies Guide to Inclusive Practices (3rd edition, forthcoming, 2026) co-authored with Jan Valle. For more information, see https://hunter-cuny.academia.edu/DavidJConnor.
Lydia Ocasio-Stoutenburg is an assistant professor of Special Education at the Pennsylvania State University. Her scholarship responds to the unceasing need to advocate for systems to better support people with multiply marginalized identities, as well as their families. She is a critical and intersectional qualitative inquirer at the interface between Special Education and Disabilities Studies in Education. Her research focuses on building authentic collaborations with Families of Color, addressing the holistic needs of children labeled with disabilities and developmental delays, transforming systems, policies, and practices to be more equitable and just, and providing counternarratives to the deficit ways that families and children are often perceived.
