Establishing a Presumption of Competence in the ELA Classroom: One Teacher’s Story of Creating Space for Autistic Culture

Contributors

Christopher Bass, University of Illinois at ChicagoFollow

Abstract/Statement

Much has been written about the exclusive nature of inclusive teaching (Allan 2015; Owen & Gabriel, 2010; Smith 2010; Ware, 2004). Many general educators approach neurodiversity with a deficit approach (Smagorinsky, Tobin and Lee, 2019; Myers, 2019) As an active ELA teacher, I argue that teachers must first establish a presumption of competence (Biklen, 2005), then model and promote asset-based rhetoric around ability. Once students engage with asset-based rhetoric, the classroom may become more inclusive of autistic culture. This article shares the story of my attempt to establish a presumption of competence through student tattoos.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Recommended Citation

Bass, Christopher (2019) "Establishing a Presumption of Competence in the ELA Classroom: One Teacher’s Story of Creating Space for Autistic Culture," Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 14.
DOI: 10.9707/2833-1508.1009

Available at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/ought/vol1/iss1/14