Race Gender And Disability Literature Review
The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Disability: Implications for Adulthood Outcomes in African American Men
A Review of the Literature
Amanda B. Banks
Virginia Tech, School of Education
Author Note
This paper was prepared for EDCI 5134, Gender and Education, taught by Dr. Jennifer Bondy.
Abstract
In this review, I examine ways in which researchers have defined and measured adulthood outcomes for African American males who experience the intersection of race, gender, and disability. Researchers Purdie-Vaughns & Eibach (2008), as well as an increasing number of scholars in the field of race an ethnic studies, refer to these variables as subordinate-group identities because members of such groups have historically been oppressed in a White male-dominated society. Systematic structures in America’s education, health care, and vocational rehabilitation systems, as well as invisible racism inherent at both the micro and macro levels of society, produce and perpetuate the disparity that exists between disabled African American men and every other race and gender in American society. Although nearly all of the studies in this review agree that the outlook for disabled African American males is bleak, literature needs to further examine how high risk factors associated with …show more content…
(2009) share similar views on the issues of misidentification and overrepresentation in special education, but lean toward a more unitary or additive approach in explaining the repercussions of intersectionality. For example, Blanchett et al. (2009) contend that being African American alone does not result in an increased risk for acquiring a disability, but the additive effect of poverty brings the probability full circle. This team of researchers points to the cumulative effects of subordinate identities to explain the overarching oppression suffered by an overwhelming majority of disabled African American men (Blanchett et al.,
A Review of the Literature
Amanda B. Banks
Virginia Tech, School of Education
Author Note
This paper was prepared for EDCI 5134, Gender and Education, taught by Dr. Jennifer Bondy.
Abstract
In this review, I examine ways in which researchers have defined and measured adulthood outcomes for African American males who experience the intersection of race, gender, and disability. Researchers Purdie-Vaughns & Eibach (2008), as well as an increasing number of scholars in the field of race an ethnic studies, refer to these variables as subordinate-group identities because members of such groups have historically been oppressed in a White male-dominated society. Systematic structures in America’s education, health care, and vocational rehabilitation systems, as well as invisible racism inherent at both the micro and macro levels of society, produce and perpetuate the disparity that exists between disabled African American men and every other race and gender in American society. Although nearly all of the studies in this review agree that the outlook for disabled African American males is bleak, literature needs to further examine how high risk factors associated with …show more content…
(2009) share similar views on the issues of misidentification and overrepresentation in special education, but lean toward a more unitary or additive approach in explaining the repercussions of intersectionality. For example, Blanchett et al. (2009) contend that being African American alone does not result in an increased risk for acquiring a disability, but the additive effect of poverty brings the probability full circle. This team of researchers points to the cumulative effects of subordinate identities to explain the overarching oppression suffered by an overwhelming majority of disabled African American men (Blanchett et al.,