Conference Agenda

The idea of difference transcends the benign notion of diversity which tends to stress variation. Difference nods at diversity, but it also illuminates how power is deployed to build hierarchies grounded in variability. Deficit ideologies constitute a core resource in the work of difference. I will frame this lecture using the lens of difference to examine the research on racial disparities in disability identification. I will outline this 50+ year debate calling attention to major shortcomings in this literature, particularly as represented in recent scholarship that promotes the biological reinscription of race and the racialization of disability, language, and competence. Next, I’ll sketch the ripple effects of these practices that ultimately maintain marginalization for people living at the intersections of disability with race and language differences. The bulk of the lecture will focus on three programmatic strategies to pursue in future racial disparities research. These include (1) building critical epistemic cultures, (2) advancing interdisciplinary (re)framings of racial disparities, and (3) expanding representations of racial disparities through alternative methods.