Demanding More

Currere and dis/Ability

Abstract

This article traces the individual engagement with currere of three authors as they explore their relationships to dis/Ability and what they have learned from collective engagement. After many years of engaging individually and together in currere as method and using dis/Ability justice frameworks, the authors turned their individual and collaborative work to specific intentionality for several years to engage their experiences with dis/Ability. They focused their attention to how and whether dis/Ability justice is possible in the classroom. Their writing and reflecting complicate notions of justice in education. The authors assert that in considering issues of justice, there must be inclusion and acknowledgment of intersectional dis/Ability justice, and that by carefully engaging in autobiographical work and their own experiences with dis/Ability, they can illuminate theoretical and practical ways to further the cause of freedom in purposefully educational spaces, the public sphere, and other social spaces.

The authors model the relational nature of their collective work by allowing space for each author’s writing and then moving into an analysis of what they are learning together. They write about and recognize collective currere as transformative praxis. They write that spaces in between past memories and future imaginings can help provide the impetus for action. Yet, they also recognize that their collective work of sharing our memories, helping to solve current challenges, celebrating successes, and dreaming collectively has resulted in generative, empowering, affirming work. The article concludes with a demonstration of how dis/Abled epistemology informs and is necessary for the field of curriculum studies.