Talk "Blackness as Disability: What Exactly is Special about Special Education for the Black Student? "

This lecture grounds Dr. Kimani Paul-Emile’s legal research on disability law and covers the following: a. Provides a brief history of disability policies in public schools within the United States. b. Interrogates the central question, have these policies benefited Black students with disabilities? c. Introduces Paul-Emile’s argument that Blackness should fall under the protection of disability law due to racial discrimination against Black people. d. Builds upon this argument, and asks should the racial classification of Black (African American, etc.) be added as a category of disability under IDEA due to historic systemic racism against Black students. e. This lecture concludes with a “For or Against” classroom activity. Students will be divided into groups and will curate an argument “for or against “adding Blackness as a disability category under IDEA.