Meritocracy and My Kid: A Mother-Daughter Manifesto for Fixing America’s Broken Special Education System
Notre Dame faculty, graduate students, and staff are invited to join the Kellogg Institute for a workshop refining Kellogg Faculty Fellow Debra Javeline's draft book project (with Gabrielle Ciliberti), "Meritocracy and My Kid: A Mother-Daughter Manifesto for Fixing America’s Broken Special Education System."
The workshop will include a welcome and introduction to the project by the author, followed by a review and critique of the book by invited panelists and registered guests.
The discussion will be divided into three sessions:
- Representation: Portraying Disabled and Disability
- Writing: The Art of the Manifesto
- Audience and Impact: Policymakers, Academics, Disabled Families, and Book Clubs.
The book draft will be provided to those who register for this event. Interested community members unaffiliated with Notre Dame should contact Debra Javeline directly.
Details forthcoming.
Cosponsored by Health, Humanities, and Society (Disability Studies), Institute for Social Concerns, Rooney Democracy Institute, Institute for Educational Initiatives, Department of Political Science
About the Book Project:
Historically and cross-nationally, people with disabilities have struggled against a meritocracy myth that condemned them as useless to society and sometimes even unworthy of life. This book workshop will address the flawed concept of meritocracy, especially its pernicious effects on kids with learning disabilities—those whose simple transgression is being born with struggles in math, reading, communication, attention, coordination, behavior, life skills, or other areas. Scholars of disability, politics, and education will discuss Debra Javeline’s manuscript, Meritocracy and My Kid: A Mother-Daughter Manifesto for Fixing America’s Broken Special Education System. Both the book and the workshop aspire to generate public conversation about learning disabilities, the harm caused by failing special needs education, and paths for improvement. Participants will discuss the global relevance to human development and democracy of more equitable access to education and a more universalistic understanding of human worth.
