Thirtieth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

Studies in the area of Literacies and Critical Literacy have certainly brought to the fore the awareness and the need for considering the diversity of subjectivities in language education worldwide. In addition to that, decolonial studies have emphasized and explained the reasons why diverse subjectivities have been marginalized throughout history in the Global South. In spite of the efforts of language studies to consider marginalized subjectivities, we believe that the disabled subjectivities have not yet been given the attention they should in the field of Applied Linguistics. Therefore, this paper shows and problematizes the discussions that took place in the project called Life and Learning Trajectories with/of People with Disabilities, whose participants were people with disabilities, their family and /or their caregivers, undergraduate students and school teachers. Among the objectives of the project were (1) the getting to know people with disabilities and their trajectories of life and meaning-making processes, (2) the deconstruction of ableism, (3) the understanding of coloniality regarding people with disabilities, (4) the reconceptualization of the term disability, and (4) the attempt to interrupt coloniality. The project has been taking place since April, 2022 and has given us insights as for the need for pedagogical transformations and the interruption of coloniality.