Paper short abstract:

This paper explores synergies between psychological anthropology and school psychology for studying disability. Ethnographic research on Turner Syndrome and experience as a school psychologist demonstrate educational spaces as microcosms where accessibility and inclusivity emerge, fail, and succeed.

Paper long abstract:

As our discipline interrogates its historical and continued role in the perpetuation of inequality and injustice, it is imperative we attend to disability not only as an identity but also as the sociocultural construction of difference. With longstanding commitment to the study of mental health, subjectivity, and production of knowledge, psychological anthropology offers a robust toolkit of approaches apt for exploring how disability becomes and is maintained as a personal, relational, and cultural category. By incorporating historical and applied perspectives, anthropologists can further interrogate the discipline while aligning with the interdisciplinary character of disability studies. School psychologists offer such insight, recognizing schools as environments where we learn societal expectations, and where inequalities and inaccessibility are particularly evident and disabling. In response to these challenges, educational institutions offer possibilities for a more accessible and inclusive society. In this paper, we draw from ethnographic vignettes of living with Turner Syndrome--a genetic condition that can cause nonverbal learning disability and anxiety--and personal experiences from the perspective of a school psychologist. Together, these case studies demonstrate how disability is produced in educational settings, and how students, parents, teachers, and school systems craft solutions to fit their personal, relational, and psychological needs. This paper therefore explores potential synergies between psychological anthropology and school psychology within the growing field of disability studies. Born from a collaboration between an anthropology doctoral candidate and her research participant, it simultaneously demonstrates and reflects upon the necessity of diverse forms of collaboration as anthropologists revisit and redefine our discipline.

Paper Download (44 KB)