Contemplating Dis/Ability in Schools and Society

For those interested in pondering how the individual development of an educator can parallel the evolution of a field, David Connor’s book will not disappoint as it vividly portrays the complexities of an innovative educator’s life, demonstrating how the professional and personal are inextricably tied. . . One of the greatest strengths of Contemplating Dis/Ability in Schools and Society is the way in which Connor weaves together the history of the field with the story of his evolution as a lifelong educator. Education is a human endeavor, and to understand how trends evolve is to understand how they rest within the individual educators and scholars who collectively constitute the field. Thus, the reader walks away feeling not only that they know the author more intimately but that they understand in greater depth the course which the field of education (including special education and disability studies) has taken. Connor’s writing in Contemplating Dis/Ability in Schools and Society is warm and inviting. . . . In short, I find this book to be as innovative as its author, offering a unique and personal account of an often clinically-oriented field. * Teachers College Record *
The story of educator David Connor is also, as it turns out, the story of the unfolding relationship between special education and disability studies in the latter part of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. With clarity and humor, as well as love and gratitude for his students and colleagues over the years, Connor weaves his memoir with honesty, compassion, and a keen intelligence. Contemplating Dis/ability in Schools and Society will be treasured by teachers, professors, and others committed to making public education more humane and just for all students, their teachers, and society more broadly. -- Sonia Nieto, University of Massachusetts
In this autoethnographic memoir, David Connor intimately reflects on thirty years as a (special) educator. Organizing the memoir around his career trajectory, Connor compellingly narrates a series of personal and professional experiences beginning with his life as a new teacher, and later as a doctoral student, college professor, and finally, department chairperson. Throughout the book, Connor acknowledges the tensions and conflicted feelings that are shared by many of us whose scholarly work is situated in Disability Studies in Education (DSE) but whose faculty and teaching responsibilities reside in special education programs. David Connor is a prolific writer and compelling scholar whose contributions to education, and DSE in particular, are significant due to the breadth of topics studied and the depth of scrutiny and analysis applied to each project. -- Susan L. Gabel, Wayne State University