[ Dis ] ableing the Race to the Top

Abstract

The authors present the notion of [dis]ableing as way of making visible the presence and limiting effects of ability-normative thinking. Ability-normative thinking, they argue, reflects the dominant, taken-for-granted assumption that human beings have similar physical, emotional, and psychological resources and capacities, that everyone uses these capacities to engage in the world in a similar manner, and that human experience and understanding of a given phenomenon is similar. In this commentary they briefly introduce [dis]ableing and demonstrate its usefulness in uncovering the influences of ability-normative thinking through a snapshot analysis of discourses pertaining to the Race to the Top.