Poststructuralism grounds itself in examining how language creates meaning and social value. Social meanings are continuously negotiated and contested through discourse. Language connects to subjectivity, social organization, and power dynamics. This perspective reveals how "reality" is constructed rather than natural.

Poststructuralism Foundation

Within poststructural ontology, discourse is where social organizations and realities are formed AND contested. Language doesn't just describe reality—it actively constructs it. Discourse becomes the fundamental site of analysis. Social realities emerge through ongoing discursive practices.

Discourse as Reality-Maker

Deconstruction employs critique to expose fixed binary categories and hierarchical relationships. The goal is to reverse and corrupt dichotomies themselves. This reveals how binaries maintain power structures. Deconstruction enables philosophies of inclusion by destabilizing normative categories.

Deconstruction Project

Disability Studies in Education repositions disability as social, cultural, and political construction. DSE shifts focus from individual pathology to systemic structures. Core tenets include contextualizing disability politically, promoting social justice, privileging disabled voices, and rejecting deficit models. This provides theoretical grounding for systemic change.

Disability Studies in Education (DSE) Framework

- Poststructuralism Foundation
- Discourse as Reality-Maker
- Deconstruction Project
- Disability Studies in Education (DSE) Framework

State University of New York at Binghamton

U.S. public schools perpetuate harmful ability/disability binaries by viewing students with disabilities through a deficit lens requiring them to be "fixed" rather than questioning systemic structures. The authors propose integrating Disability Studies in Education (DSE) theory with Discursive Psychology (DP) methodology to analyze how everyday language practices in schools actively construct students as dis/abled. This synthesis enables new research questions focused on institutional discourse rather than individual pathology, revealing how talk in settings like IEP meetings organizes notions of "competent" and "incompetent" behavior. The framework aims to disrupt binary thinking and hierarchical power relationships embedded in school systems, ultimately guiding educators toward equity, inclusion, and rejecting medical deficit models.

Chapter 2: Problematizing the Binary: A Poststructural Understanding of Dis/Ability in Schools

Lester, J. N. (Ed.). (2021). Discursive Psychology and Disability. Palgrave Studies in Discursive Psychology. Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Reference For: Discursive Psychology and Disability

- Schools as Normalization Institutions
- Special Education's Roots in the Medical Model
- Ability/Disability Binary

The Systematic Ways U.S. Schools Construct and Perpetuate Disability As Deficit

Poststructuralism and Disability Studies in Education Theories that Ground Critique

- Analytical Tools and Concepts in Discursive Psychology
- Discourse as Social Action
     - Discourse is Constructed
     - Discourse is Situated

Discursive Psychology as the Analytical Tool for Studying Discourse Empirically

- DSE + DP Synthesis
- New Lines of Inquiry
- Challenging Presumptions of Pathology
- Disrupting Binary Thinking

How DSE and DP Synthesis Creates New Analytical Possibilities

- Moving Towards Inclusion
- Practical Applications for Educators

Intended Outcome for Schools and Students

Chapter 2 discusses the construction of disability in US schooling contexts. It maps DP principles onto Disability Studies in Education (DSE) tenets, allowing researchers to investigate how school interactions/structures continue to "construct some students as disabled".

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