Abstract
Disability in Palestine and the experiences and practices of professors and administrators on accommodating disabled students in Palestinian higher education institutions are captured through critical ethnography mode. Disability in Palestine is discussed within the context of what I, as the researcher, call “segregating democracy.” The term segregating democracy refers to the political bonds between Israel and the United States of America that often lead to exclusion of the indigenous Palestinian community from the rest of the world. Segregating democracy and its consequences on disability in Palestine are the context in which the experiences of the Palestinian faculty and administrators are analyzed. Using critical disability studies, while also drawing from elements of teacher development theories, this paper identifies transformational ways of thinking about disability as well as the unique role of educators in promoting/adopting inclusive pedagogical practices towards accommodating disabled students in higher education.
References
Abu Fedala, A. (2009). General study on the reality of persons with disabilities in the Palestinian society: Goals and expectations. Retrieved from the Ministry of Social Affairs website: http://www.mosa.pna.ps/
Amro, Z. (2001). Report of the rights of those in special needs in the current legislative laws in Palestine. Retrieved from series of legal reports number 25, published by The Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights, Ramallah: http://ichr.ps/ar/1/10#2001.
Arafat, Y. (1999). Law No. (4) for the year 1999: On the rights of the disabled. Retrieved from https://dredf.org/legal-advocacy/international-disability-rights/international-laws/palestinian-territory-law-on-the-rights-of-the-disabled/
Bennis, P. (2009). Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: A premier. Northampton, Boston, MA: Olive Branch Press.
Birzeit University. (2011). BZU Center for Development SBZU for Development Studies announces results of disabled persons studies: News. Retrieved from https://www.birzeit.edu/en/news/bzu-center-development-sbzu-center-development-studies-announces-results-disabled-persons
Birzeit University. (2015). Students with special needs find place at Birzeit University, along with more plans for integration. Retrieved from http://www.birzeit.edu/en/news/students-special-needs-find-place-birzeit-university-along-more-plans-integration
Bowers, C. A. (1993). Education, cultural myths, and the ecological crisis: Towards deep changes. New York, NY: State University of New York Press.
Carter, J. (2006) Palestine peace not apartheid. Avon, MA: Simon & Schuster.
Chomsky, N., & Pappé, I. (2015). On Palestine. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books.
Christina, R., Mehran, G., & Mir, S. (2003). Education in the Middle East: Challenges and opportunities. In R. F. Arnove & C. A. Torres (Eds.), Comparative education: The dialectic of the global and the local (2nd Ed., 357-383). Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield.
Collins, J. (2008). Confinement under an open sky: Following the speed trap from Guernica to Gaza and beyond. Globalizations, 5(4), 555-569.
Crabtree, S. A., & Williams, R. (2011). Ethical implications for research into inclusive education in Arab societies: Reflections on the politicization of the personalized research experience. International Social Work, 56(2), 148-161.
Cunningham, E., & Balousha, H. (2018, April 28). Blasted limbs, broken dreams: Israeli gunfire is taking a severe toll on the lower limbs of Palestinian protestors. The Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/world/wp/2018/04/28/feature/scores-of-palestinians-have-been-shot-in-their-legs-and-some-face-amputation/?utm_term=.2745746d1b92
Davis, L. (2015). Enabling acts: The hidden story of how the Americans with Disabilities Act gave the largest US minority its rights. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Diakonia. (2015). Disability Rights Programme. Retrieved from: http://www.diakonia.se/en/Where-we-work/Middle-EastNorth-Africa/disability-rights-programme/
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. (n.d.). Palestinian Territory: Law on the Rights of the Disabled. Retrieved from: http://dredf.org/legal-advocacy/international-disability-rights/international-laws/palestinian-territory-law-on-the-rights-of-the-disabled/
Drago-Severson, E. (2009). Leading adult learning: Supporting adult development in our schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Glesne, C. (2006). Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction. (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.
Horowitz, A., Ratner, L., & Weiss, P. (2011). The Goldstone report: The legacy of the landmark investigation of the Gaza conflict. New York, NY: Nation Books.
Howard, G. R. (2006). We can’t teach what we don’t know: White teachers, multiracial schools. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
If Americans Knew. (n.d) U.S. military aid and the Israel/Palestine conflict. Retrieved from: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stat/usaid.html
Jaffee, L. J. (2016). Disrupting global disability frameworks: Settler-colonialism and the geopolitics of disability in Palestine/Israel. Disability & Society, 31(1), 116-130.
Levy, G. (December 2017). The Israeli military first took his legs, then his life, Haaretz. Retrieved from: https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-military-first-took-his-legs-then-his-life-1.5628827
Loewen, G., & Pollard, W. (2010). The social justice perspective. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 23(1), 5-18.
Newcomb, S. T. (2008). Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the doctrine of Christian discovery. Golden, CO: Fulcrum.
Palestinian Women Research and Documentation Center-UNESCO, & Birzeit University. (2011). Trends and indicators on disability in the Palestinian Territory. Birah, Palestine: Palestinian Women Research and Documentation Center-UNESCO.
Pappé, I. (2014). Israel’s incremental genocide in the Gaza ghetto. Retrieved from https://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-incremental-genocide-gaza-ghetto/13562
Pappé, I. (2018). Finding the truth amid Israel’s lies. Retrieved from https://electronicintifada.net/content/finding-truth-amid-israels-lies/24531
Peshkin, A. (1998). In search of subjectivity: One’s own. Educational Researcher, 17(7), 17-21.
Price, M. (2011). Mad at school: Rhetorics of mental disability and academic life. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Puar, J. K. (2015). The ‘right’ to maim: Disablement and inhumanist biopolitics in Palestine. Borderlands, 14(1), 1-27.
Qure’a, A. (2004). Decision number (40) of the Palestinian Legislative Council of year 2004, with executive procedures of law 1999 regarding the rights of disabled. Retrieved from http://muqtafi.birzeit.edu/pg/getleg.asp?id=14620
Said, E. (1979). Orientalism. New York, NY: Vintage Books.
Shaheen, J. G. (2003). Reel bad Arabs: How Hollywood vilifies a people. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 588(1), 171-193.
Shapiro, J. P. (1993). No pity. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press.
Siebers, T. (2008). Disability theory. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Smith, P. (2005). Off the map: A critical geography of intellectual disabilities. Health & Place, 11(2), 87-92.
Smith, P. (2015). Disability and diversity: An introduction. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt.
Smith, P. (2017). Defining disability studies and its intersection with madness. Disability Studies Quarterly, 37(3). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v37i3.5940
UNDP’s Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People, & Fayyad, S. (2014). The 2014 Palestine human development report: Development for empowerment. Retrieved from
http://www.ps.undp.org/content/dam/papp/docs/Publications/UNDP-papp-research-PHDR2015.pdf
United Nations News. (May 2019). Hundreds of wounded Gaza protestors risk limb amputation without immediate help, warns top UN official. Retrieved from https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/05/1038101
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs-OCHA (2017, September). Gaza: people with disabilities disproportionately affected by the energy and salary crisis. Retrieved from https://www.ochaopt.org/content/gaza-people-disabilities-disproportionately-affected-energy-and-salary-crisis
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. (2018). The humanitarian impact of restrictions on access to land near the perimeter fence in the Gaza Strip. Retrieved from: https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-impact-restrictions-access-land-near-perimeter-fence-gaza-strip
Wallerstein, I. (2004). World-systems analysis: An introduction. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Watt, D. (2007). On becoming a qualitative researcher: The value of reflexivity. The Qualitative Report, 12(1), 82-101.
Weir, A. (2014). Against our better judgment: The hidden history of how the U.S. was used to create Israel. North Charleston, CA: CreateSpace Independent Publishing.
Weir, A. (2019, January 9). First Senate bill of 2019 would give Israel billions of dollars, combat BDS. Retrieved from https://israelpalestinenews.org/first-senate-bill-of-2019-would-give-israel-billions-of-dollars-combat-bds/
Wingfield, M., & Karaman, B. (1995). Arab stereotypes and American educators. Retrieved from http://www.shankerinstitute.org/
World Health Organization. (2013). Mainstreaming the rights of people with disability in Palestinian ministries. Retrieved from http://www.emro.who.int/palestine-press-releases/2012/seminar-mainstreaming-disability-rights-in-palestinian-ministries.html
Yakabuski, K. (January 2019). Democracy in America is down, but not out. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-democracy-in-the-united-states-is-down-but-not-out/
Yin, T. (2010). Through a screen darkly: Hollywood as a measure of discrimination against Arabs and Muslims. Duke Forum for Law and Social Change, 2, 103.
