Research in the Teaching of English May 2025

Applying a Critical Disability Studies Lens to Young Adult Literature: Disrupting Ableism in Depictions of Tourette Syndrome

Melissa Schieble Hunter College ; David J. Connor Hunter College

Abstract

This project is an interdisciplinary endeavor to connect research in the teaching of English with Critical Disability Studies, an intersection that is crucial to disrupting ableism and creating more liberatory schooling and societal contexts that embrace broader notions of human differences. Invoking critical content analysis of five young adult novels that depict characters with Tourette syndrome (TS), we asked, how are various models for understanding “disability” invoked in YA fiction that depicts Tourette syndrome? How do these various models function to reinforce, complicate, or reconstruct in a more progressive way notions about human difference in YA fiction that depicts Tourette syndrome? We focused on one of the many pervasive tropes found within all five novels using the psychodynamic construct of splitting. In particular, we call attention to depictions of TS as embodying an animal—most often a dog—that splits off into the bad/dangerous side, usually subsumed within a character’s “normal self.” This trope can be seen as part of broader, historical discourses that have dehumanized disabled people, constructing them as “other” and subsequently rationalizing exclusionary practices. We advocate for and discuss ways for scholars and educators to continue integrating disability from the margins to the center in literacy research.

Journal
Research in the Teaching of English
Published
2025-05-01
DOI
10.58680/rte2025594496
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality race and writing disability studies

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (2)

  1. Phuong et al. (2022)
    Editors’ Introduction: Centering Disability in Literacy
    Research in the Teaching of English
  2. Rosenberg et al. (2021)
    Entanglements of Literacy Studies and Disability Studies
    College English
Also cites 42 works outside this index ↓
  1. Annamma, (2022)
    Introduction to the special issue—Imagining possible futures: Disability Critical Race Th…
    Teachers College Record  ↗
  2. Annamma, (2021)
    Sharpening justice through DisCrit: A contrapuntal analysis of education
    Educational Researcher  ↗
  3. Arndt, (2010)
    “Gotta go now”: Rethinking the use of The Mighty and Simon Birch in the middle school classroom
    Disability Studies Quarterly  ↗
  4. Ben-Moshe, (2006)
    Infusing disability in the curriculum: The case of Saramago’s Blindness
    Disability Studies Quarterly  ↗
  5. Beneke, (2020)
    Teacher candidates talking (but not talking) about dis/ability and race in preschool
    Journal of Literacy Research  ↗
  6. Beneke, (2022)
    DisCrit literacies: Early childhood teachers critically reading school as text and imagin…
    Reading Research Quarterly  ↗
  7. Berne, (2018)
    Ten principles of disability justice
    Women’s Studies Quarterly  ↗
  8. Biklen, (2006)
    Presuming competence
    Equity & Excellence in Education  ↗
  9. Blass, (2015)
    Conceptualizing splitting: On the different meanings of splitting and their implications …
    The International Journal of Psychoanalysis  ↗
  10. Britzman, (2010)
    Monsters in literature
    Changing English  ↗
  11. Britzman, (2013)
    Between psychoanalysis and pedagogy: Scenes of rapprochement and alienation
    Curriculum Inquiry  ↗
  12. Calder-Sprackman, (2014)
    The portrayal of Tourette syndrome in film and television
    Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences  ↗
  13. Collins, (2024)
    Unboxing difference: Cultivating inclusive literacy classrooms informed by disability studies
    Language Arts  ↗
  14. Collins, (2018)
    Every story matters: Disability studies in the literacy classroom
    Language Arts  ↗
  15. Connor, (2006)
    Michael’s story: “I get into so much trouble just by walking”: Narrative knowing and life…
    Equity & Excellence in Education  ↗
  16. Connor, (2006)
    Pigs, pirates, and pills: Using film to teach the social context of disability
    Teaching Exceptional Children  ↗
  17. Connor, (2024)
    Embodying Tourette’s syndrome in young adult literature: Exploring contemporary portrayal…
    Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies  ↗
  18. Curwood, (2013)
    Redefining normal: A critical analysis of (dis)ability in young adult literature
    Children’s Literature in Education  ↗
  19. Donovan, (2021)
    Navigating characters, coursework, and curriculum: Preservice teachers reading young adul…
    English Education  ↗
  20. Dunn, (2015)
    Disabling characters
     ↗
  21. Erevelles, (2010)
    Unspeakable offenses: Untangling race and disability in discourses of intersectionality
    Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies  ↗
  22. Faeth, (2021)
    Agency, power, and disability: A textual analysis of The silence between us
    Children’s Literature in Education  ↗
  23. Goodley, (2011)
    Social psychoanalytic disability studies
    Disability & Society  ↗
  24. Goodley, (2013)
    Dis/entangling critical disability studies
    Disability & Society  ↗
  25. Goodley, (2019)
    Provocations for Critical Disability Studies
    Disability & Society  ↗
  26. Groenke (2015)
    Disrupting and dismantling the dominant vision of youth of color
    English Journal  ↗
  27. Hartman, (2017)
    Premonitory urges and Touretting volcanoes: Force construal in personal narratives on Tou…
    Review of Cognitive Linguistics  ↗
  28. Hughes, (2019)
    A historical sociology of disability: Human validity and invalidity from antiquity to ear…
     ↗
  29. Kim, (2019)
    Critical content analysis of visual images in books for young people
     ↗
  30. Larson, (2014)
    “I be dawg”: Intellectual disability and the animal other in the works of William Faulkner
    Disability Studies Quarterly  ↗
  31. Loja, (2013)
    Disability, embodiment and ableism: Stories of resistance
    Disability & Society  ↗
  32. Marks, (1999)
    Dimensions of oppression: Theorising the embodied subject
    Disability & Society  ↗
  33. McRuer, (2003)
    As good as it gets: Queer theory and critical disability
    GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies  ↗
  34. Meekosha, (2007)
    Integrating critical disability studies into social work education and practice: An Austr…
    Practice  ↗
  35. Meyer, (2013)
    “But she’s not retarded”: Contemporary adolescent literature humanizes disability but mar…
    Children’s Literature Association Quarterly  ↗
  36. Meyer, (2022)
    From wallflowers to bulletproof families: The power of disability in young adult narratives
     ↗
  37. Mitchell, (1997)
    The body and physical difference: Discourses of disability
     ↗
  38. Mitchell, (2001)
    Narrative prosthesis: Disability and the dependencies of discourse
     ↗
  39. Moriña, (2020)
    Higher education inclusivity: When the disability enriches the university
    Higher Education Research & Development  ↗
  40. Penrose, (2023)
    Normalizing disability using children’s literature
    Communication Teacher  ↗
  41. Stiker, (2019)
    A history of disability
     ↗
  42. Toliver, (2020)
    “I desperately need visions of Black people thriving”: Emancipating the fantastic with Bl…
    Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy  ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network →

Related Articles

  1. Research in the Teaching of English Nov 2018
    “What If We Were Committed to Giving Every Individual the Servicesand Opportunities They Need?” Teacher Educators’ Understandings,Perspectives, and Practices Surrounding Dyslexia ↗
    Jo Worthy; Catherine Lammert; Stacia L. Long; Cori Salmerón; Vickie Godfrey
    qualitative research multimodality race and writing disability studies voice and style
  2. College English Jul 2002
    Visible Disability in the College Classroom ↗
    Mark Mossman
    multimodality race and writing disability studies multilingual writers
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2026
    “Is This Ethical?” New Data on the Ethical Principles and Practices of Document Design ↗
    Leslie Seawright; Amy Hodges; Timothy Ponce
    multimodality technical communication disability studies multilingual writers
  4. Computers and Composition Mar 2026
    Accessibility in virtual reality: A multimodal user experience framework for considering hardware, embodied, and spatial access ↗
    Elizabeth Caravella; Rich Shivener
    multimodality technical communication disability studies
  5. Literacy in Composition Studies Feb 2026
    The Schooling of Gestural Listening ↗
    Feibush, Laura
    multimodality disability studies place and space affect and writing