The Unteachables

Disability Rights and the Invention of Black Special Education

By: Keith A. Mayes

Narrated by: Terrence Kidd

The Unteachables examines the overrepresentation of Black students in special education over the course of the twentieth century. As African American children integrated predominantly white schools, many were disproportionately labeled educable mentally retarded (EMR), learning disabled (LD), and emotionally behavioral disordered (EBD). Keith A. Mayes charts the evolution of disability categories and how these labels kept Black learners segregated in American classrooms.

The civil rights and the educational disability rights movements, Mayes shows, have both collaborated and worked at cross-purposes since the beginning of school desegregation. Although special education ostensibly included children from all racial groups, educational disability rights advocates focused on the needs of white disabled students, while school systems used disability discourses to malign and marginalize Black students.

Excavating the deep-seated racism embedded in both the public school system and public policy, The Unteachables explores the discriminatory labeling of Black students, and how it indelibly contributed to special education disproportionality, to student discipline and push-out practices, and to the school-to-prison pipeline effect.

©2022 The Regents of the University of Minnesota (P)2023 Tantor

Save our children

This book explains where the narrative of special education came about, and definition of the categories. As it pertains to children of color. I recommend this book to parents of minority children and teachers.

An eye-opener for every educator!

This book was well written and extremely informative! I learned so much about the history of disability from the lens and perspectives of people of color that I had not heard before! This history must be shared widely to truly understand and change the field of education and special education. The. Unteachables should be a required reading for all educators!