Redefining Inclusion: Critical Perspectives on Disability and Intersectionality

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Redefining Inclusion: Critical perspectives on Disability and Intersectionality seeks scholarly contributions that interrogate and expand the concept of inclusion within educational and societal contexts, through the critical lens of disability and intersectionality.

We invite educators, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and people with lived experience to contribute to a critical dialogue that positions disability within broader conversations about equity, diversity, and social justice in education and society. Contributions may draw from critical disability studies, inclusive education, intersectionality theory, decolonial frameworks, community-based research, and lived experience narratives.

1. Introduction, including scientific background and highlighting the importance of this research area.

In education systems globally, inclusion is often narrowly defined by compliance-based frameworks focused on access and accommodations. While these are important, they frequently overlook the deeper socio-political realities of ableism and fail to consider how disability intersects with other factors such as gender, sexuality, language and culture. This Special Issue challenges such limited frameworks, and invites authors to reimagine inclusion as a dynamic, justice-oriented process situated in the lived experiences of people.

2. Aim of the Special Issue and how the subject relates to the journal scope.

This Special Issue aims to create a platform for critical engagement with the following question: What does it truly mean to include? By placing disability and intersectionality at the heart of this inquiry, we invite reimaginings of inclusion in contemporary society. This Special Issue will explore how educational and social systems can move beyond tokenistic models of inclusion to become truly transformative spaces of safety and belonging.

3. Themes of Interest include (but are not limited to):

• Intersectional approaches to disability and inclusive education;
• Critical disability studies in educational theory and practice;
• Experiences of disabled students and educators in schools, universities, and vocational training;
• Indigenous and culturally responsive understandings of disability and learning;
• Policy critiques: special education, inclusive education, and systemic ableism;
• Neurodiversity, mental health, and non-normative ways of knowing;
• Teacher education, professional learning, and disability justice;
• Community-led initiatives and co-designed inclusive practices;
• Ableism and exclusion in curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment;
• The role of families, advocates, and disabled communities in shaping inclusive futures.

In this Special Issue, contributions must fall into one of the journal’s three categories—articles, conceptual papers or reviews—and address the topic of the Special Issue. We look forward to your contributions.

Dr. Yosheen Pillay
Prof. Dr. Charlotte Brownlow
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as conceptual papers are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• disability and inclusive education
• autism
• developmental psychology