The Épistémè of the Normal Bell Curve in Post-secondary Transition

Abstract

Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have been underrepresented in post-secondary education and employment settings as compared to their typically developing peers (Grigal et al., 2011). Lack of occupational engagement for these individuals after high school has been shown to increase the chances of deleterious health outcomes including depression, anxiety, and other related comorbidities (Corna, 2013; Shattuck et al., 2012). Scholars have employed critical theoretical approaches to better understand the processes of disenfranchisement as well as limited social participation and socio-political representation for students with IDD transitioning to adult life (Kim & Schnieder 2005; Smith & Routel, 2009; Trainor, 2005; Trainor, 2008). Issues of student involvement and self-determination skill building have been under academic discussion in regards to their relation to post-school outcome success (e.g., Smith & Routel, 2009; Wehmeyer & Ward, 1995). However, there is a significant paucity of literature within the discipline of occupational science (OS) that employs a critical approach to understanding the socially constructed occupational opportunities for this specific population. This dissertation continues the pursuit to increase occupational science scholarship that utilizes a critical approach (Angell, 2014; Rudman, 2012; Rudman & Huot, 2013). Michel Foucault’s (1972) Archaeology and Genealogy and Norman Fairclough’s (2009) Dialectical-Relational Approach were utilized as methods to analyze the discourse. Federal legislation and academic and professional journal articles served as data for discursive analysis. Specifically, these artifacts were analyzed to understand how the taken-for-granted occupations in which students with IDD participate during post-secondary transition have been structured to limit participation and broader post-school outcomes. Analysis of these artifacts demonstrates that the transition-related occupations have been shaped by the broader neoliberal rationale of societal discourse that idealize production, independence, and self-efficiency. Issues related to social and occupational justice combatting the inequities of this rationale are discussed for this population Additionally, avenues for creating alternative occupational opportunity for this demographic within professional and academic research are addressed. A critical discourse approach presents a viable and promising endeavor for the discipline of occupational science as well as serving and providing voice for minority populations.Doctor of Philosoph