"I didn't think I was going to like working with him, but now I really do!": examining peer narratives of significant disability.
Mainstream research that examines relations between students with significant disabilities and their peers continues to assess such relations on the capacity of students with significant disabilities to evoke and sustain them. This article adopts a disability studies approach to situate peer relations within the larger classroom context. The author draws on the data collected from a qualitative study that investigated the participation of a student with significant disabilities, Harry (a pseudonym), in an inclusive 1st-grade classroom. The author describes peer relations with Harry as embedded within the paradigmatic "family" narrative within this setting. Despite its benefits, the adherence to a normative framework within this family narrative constrained Harry's participation and the kinds of relations that evolved between him and his peers.
Naraian
Srikala
S
Department of Curriculum and Teaching, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. naraian@exchange.tc.columbia.edu
D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D019988:Children with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008282:Mainstreaming, Education; D008297:Male; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010379:Peer Group; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012928:Social Desirability; D012933:Social Identification