Discourses of disability by teacher candidates: A critical discourse analysis of written responses to a disability simulation

Abstract

Despite the shift from traditional to progressive discourse among disability activists and social science academics, the former remains the dominant discourse of disability. In the present study, we examine how Greek teacher candidates, although being considerably exposed to a progressive discourse during their lectures, represent disability in the context of their disability simulations, which favor traditional discourse. The critical discourse analysis of their written accounts reveals that, in quantitative terms, teacher candidates represent disability by drawing upon both traditional and progressive discourses. Seen qualitatively, however, it appears that progressive discourse is a subjugated discourse, compared with the dominant traditional one. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.