In the past children with disabilities have been neglected, denied, and rejected by society and the educational system. Although special education is set up to help those who are disabled many are still excluded. It is believed that the knowledge, practices, and discourses of special education professionals are grounded in the medical model. Exceptionality is being established by standardized tests that set these children up for failure. The field has designated professionals who are responsible for diagnosing, labeling, and teaching persons with disabilities without considering the perspectives of those for whom the system was designed. However, this dissertation places the special education system and those who marginalize those with disabilities under scrutiny I have chosen to tell an important story: the history of two people who have gone through the special education system in two rather different ways. My daughter Morgan will share her personal experience of what it was like to be labeled learning disabled and how the special education system has affected her life. I will provide the parent's perspective and relate how difficult and stressful the process of special education can be. This paper will also tell how being considered different has affected the quality of my daughter's life and analyze how the practices and societal views continue to oppress those who are different. The research method I chose for this study is narrative inquiry. In successful narrative writing, the author always makes a point. Though on the surface, narratives might appear to be a simple retelling of a particular experience, event, or episode of a person's life, upon further examination, an effectively and passionately told story brings forth important and life-changing moral and ethical lessons.
","abstract_html":"<p>In the past children with disabilities have been neglected, denied, and rejected by society and the educational system. Although special education is set up to help those who are disabled many are still excluded. It is believed that the knowledge, practices, and discourses of special education professionals are grounded in the medical model. Exceptionality is being established by standardized tests that set these children up for failure. The field has designated professionals who are responsible for diagnosing, labeling, and teaching persons with disabilities without considering the perspectives of those for whom the system was designed. However, this dissertation places the special education system and those who marginalize those with disabilities under scrutiny I have chosen to tell an important story: the history of two people who have gone through the special education system in two rather different ways. My daughter Morgan will share her personal experience of what it was like to be labeled learning disabled and how the special education system has affected her life. I will provide the parent's perspective and relate how difficult and stressful the process of special education can be. This paper will also tell how being considered different has affected the quality of my daughter's life and analyze how the practices and societal views continue to oppress those who are different. The research method I chose for this study is narrative inquiry. In successful narrative writing, the author always makes a point. Though on the surface, narratives might appear to be a simple retelling of a particular experience, event, or episode of a person's life, upon further examination, an effectively and passionately told story brings forth important and life-changing moral and ethical lessons.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Compton, Terrie"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies (Ed.D.)","degree_level":"Dissertation (restricted to Georgia Southern)","degree_discipline":"Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Ming Fang He","Sabrina Ross","Michelle Reidel"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:27:12Z","subjects":["ETD","Curriculum studies","Disabilities","Bullying","Discrimination","Oppression","Narrative","Hidden curriculum","Slow learning children","Curriculum and Instruction","Disability and Equity in Education","Education","Special Education and Teaching"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/572","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Ming Fang He","Sabrina Ross","Michelle Reidel"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Compton, Terrie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2013-08-07T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation (restricted to Georgia Southern)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies (Ed.D.)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["ETD","Curriculum studies","Disabilities","Bullying","Discrimination","Oppression","Narrative","Hidden curriculum","Slow learning children","Curriculum and Instruction","Disability and Equity in Education","Education","Special Education and Teaching"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/572"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In the past children with disabilities have been neglected, denied, and rejected by society and the educational system. Although special education is set up to help those who are disabled many are still excluded. It is believed that the knowledge, practices, and discourses of special education professionals are grounded in the medical model. Exceptionality is being established by standardized tests that set these children up for failure. The field has designated professionals who are responsible for diagnosing, labeling, and teaching persons with disabilities without considering the perspectives of those for whom the system was designed. However, this dissertation places the special education system and those who marginalize those with disabilities under scrutiny I have chosen to tell an important story: the history of two people who have gone through the special education system in two rather different ways. My daughter Morgan will share her personal experience of what it was like to be labeled learning disabled and how the special education system has affected her life. I will provide the parent's perspective and relate how difficult and stressful the process of special education can be. This paper will also tell how being considered different has affected the quality of my daughter's life and analyze how the practices and societal views continue to oppress those who are different. The research method I chose for this study is narrative inquiry. In successful narrative writing, the author always makes a point. Though on the surface, narratives might appear to be a simple retelling of a particular experience, event, or episode of a person's life, upon further examination, an effectively and passionately told story brings forth important and life-changing moral and ethical lessons.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["One Story, Two Perspectives: A Mother's and Daughter's Experiences in Special Education in Public Schools"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Ming Fang He","Sabrina Ross","Michelle Reidel"],"dc:creator":["Compton, Terrie"],"dc:date.available":["2013-08-07T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In the past children with disabilities have been neglected, denied, and rejected by society and the educational system. Although special education is set up to help those who are disabled many are still excluded. It is believed that the knowledge, practices, and discourses of special education professionals are grounded in the medical model. Exceptionality is being established by standardized tests that set these children up for failure. The field has designated professionals who are responsible for diagnosing, labeling, and teaching persons with disabilities without considering the perspectives of those for whom the system was designed. However, this dissertation places the special education system and those who marginalize those with disabilities under scrutiny I have chosen to tell an important story: the history of two people who have gone through the special education system in two rather different ways. My daughter Morgan will share her personal experience of what it was like to be labeled learning disabled and how the special education system has affected her life. I will provide the parent's perspective and relate how difficult and stressful the process of special education can be. This paper will also tell how being considered different has affected the quality of my daughter's life and analyze how the practices and societal views continue to oppress those who are different. The research method I chose for this study is narrative inquiry. In successful narrative writing, the author always makes a point. Though on the surface, narratives might appear to be a simple retelling of a particular experience, event, or episode of a person's life, upon further examination, an effectively and passionately told story brings forth important and life-changing moral and ethical lessons.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/572"],"dc:subject":["ETD","Curriculum studies","Disabilities","Bullying","Discrimination","Oppression","Narrative","Hidden curriculum","Slow learning children","Curriculum and Instruction","Disability and Equity in Education","Education","Special Education and Teaching"],"dc:title":["One Story, Two Perspectives: A Mother's and Daughter's Experiences in Special Education in Public Schools"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation (restricted to Georgia Southern)"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies (Ed.D.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:27:12Z"}