“It’s Like Separate but Equal”: Families and the Dual Nature of Disability in Special Education Policy

Special education policies are intended to uphold the civil rights of students with disabilities, yet onerous administrative and racialized burdens, including excessive paperwork, jargon filled legal documents, and organizational barriers contribute to persistent inequities. In this qualitative case study, the administrative and racialized burdens faced by nondominant families and their children with disabilities were examined. Findings demonstrate the ways these burdens are patterned (a) inequitable access to special education services given the ways White families who utilized whiteness as a credential to obtain essential services; (b) the racialization of perceived “desirable” disability classifications based on families’ abilities to leverage multiple forms of capital; and (c) racially disparate access to high-quality, inclusive special education placements.