Imagining Disability Justice in Arts Education: Loving Critiques and Pathways Forward

Arts educators are rightly passionate about our work and its liberatory potential. However, we must also grapple with the ways in which ableism and racism circulate in arts education spaces, evading change and sustaining injustice. Through a fictionalized vignette, I explore how ableism and racism circulate in arts classrooms to co-construct images of "good" art, "good" artists, "good" arts educators, and the value of arts education to multiply marginalized students. I then illustrate how sustainability and collective access, two principles offered by Disability Justice activism, might counter these constructions and help us imagine more liberatory arts education spaces. I conclude with an appeal to those of us in arts education to critically reflect on our complicity in oppressive systems and engage in pedagogical resistance, moving in solidarity with disabled students of color.