Date of Graduation

Spring 5-21-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College/School

School of Education

Department

Learning and Instruction

Program

Learning & Instruction EdD

First Advisor

Nicola McClung

Second Advisor

Kevin Oh

Third Advisor

Ursula Aldana

Abstract

This qualitative study establishes a critical bridge between special education and liberatory pedagogy, positioning these historically siloed fields as interdependent for systemic justice. While Special Education Teachers (SETs) daily work involves resisting systemic oppression, special education has been historically excluded from liberatory pedagogy and instead focused on medicalized models and deficit based assumptions. The separation of liberatory pedagogy and special education contributes to professional siloing and a culture of compliance that prioritizes bureaucratic processes over the meaningful and radical work of SETs.

The research utilizes a qualitative design rooted in Collaborative Critical Inquiry (CCI) where an intentional sample of veteran, activist SETS engaged in dialogue to discuss and restory majoritarian narratives around SETs work. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of liberty pedagogy, disability studies in education and critical studies in education, the study examined how educators navigate the tensions between structural systems and student centered positionality. The findings demonstrate that SETS move beyond medicalized, compliance based practices and embody liberatory commitments to their students and the field of special education, through authentic dialogue, humanizing praxis, and the cultivation of student agency.

Ultimately, the study contends that SETs are integral agents of change, rather than peripheral actors, in the realization of collective liberatory futures. The research offers an emerging framework to integrate special education to liberatory pedagogy and critical studies in education to better equip the field of education with the critical consciousness necessary to dismantle structural ableism and foster liberatory outcomes for all learners.

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