Undoing Whiteness in Disability Studies

The Special Education System and British South Asian Mothers

The Book, titled ‘Undoing Whiteness in Disability Studies- The Special Education System and British South Asian Mothers’ placed in an upright position atop a stack of 5 books on a kitchen countertop

Image Description: The Book, titled ‘Undoing Whiteness in Disability Studies- The Special Education System and British South Asian Mothers’ placed in an upright position atop a stack of 5 books on a kitchen countertop.

Undoing Whiteness in Disability Studies: The Special Education System and British South Asian Mothers

This book offers a nuanced way to conceptualise South Asian Muslim families’ experiences of disability within the UK. The book adopts an intersectional lens to engage with personal narratives on mothering disabled children, negotiating home-school relationships, and developing familiarity with the complex special education system.

The author calls for a re-envisioning of special education and disability studies literature from its currently overwhelmingly White middle-class discourse, to one that espouses multi-ethnic and multi-faith perspectives.

The book positions minoritised mothers at the forefront of the home-school relationship, who navigate the UK special education system amidst intersecting social inequalities.

The author proposes that schools and both formal and informal institutions reformulate their roles in facilitating true inclusion for minoritised disabled families at an epistemic and systemic level.

  • Develops a fresh understanding and an innovative contribution to minority, disability and home-school literature by integrating the feminist theoretical lens of intersectionality

  • Examines the erasure of ethnic minority maternal voices within special education and disability studies

  • Pushes educational professionals and academics to critically evaluate their own assumptions about inclusive practices and consequently to enable a more positive relationship with minoritised families


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From the Back Cover

"I read this in one sitting - a book I want to own not just recommend for my University library. Sana Rizvi does not evade the difficult territory and dominant narratives about race, sex and disability. Instead she problematises issues of patriarchy and ableism, showing how complicated the relationship is between mothers and those structures and contradictory worldviews. Using her intersectional lens to explore the mothering of disabled children from the British South Asian Muslim community, her book challenges myths and misinformation. It is relevant far more widely though, making it valuable reading for anyone interested in inclusion and belonging.”

―Professor Melanie Nind, University of Southampton, UK


“This ground-breaking book attacks the white symbolic order that undergirds educational responses to students with disabilities and special educational needs. Through an engaging writing style, Rizvi offers an intersectional analysis of mothering and education that will have a huge influence on the field of education.”

―Professor Dan Goodley, University of Sheffield, UK