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This ethnographic study examines the social process of stigmatization experienced by Japanese elementary school-aged children with disabilities at school. Stigmatization associated with disability and special education is a persistent social justice issue at school (Danforth, 2016), including in Japan (Ando, 2019). Across cultures, children receiving special education services report teasing, bullying, and social isolation (Mortier et al., 2011; Tsukada, 2018). Yet a few studies examine the process of stigmatization, including the contexts in which stigmatization occurs. Further, studies on children’s experiences of stigmatization were conducted primarily in Western countries. Japanese elementary schools that value peers as important contexts for children’s social development (Ministry of Education, 2017) provide an excellent context to examine the social process of stigmatization. Guided by an understanding of disability as a social construct (Varenne & McDermott, 1998), this study focuses on disability-related stigmatization in children’s everyday social interactions with peers in various settings at school through participant observation. Understanding the social process of stigmatization is foundational to the development of stigma- and culturally-sensitive programs.
Methods
Participant observation (10 weeks) was conducted focusing on three children with autism spectrum disorders at one Japanese public elementary school, including in their general and special education classrooms in 2019-2020. Fieldnotes described these children’s everyday social interactions with peers and educators and informal conversations with them. Their parents (3) and educators (6) also participated in 30-60 min collateral, audio-recorded individual interviews. They described the children’s peer interactions, including challenges, and their developmental histories. Through repeated readings of fieldnotes and transcribed interviews, common themes across the three cases, such as stigmatization and peer conflicts, were identified using analytic induction techniques (Schwandt, 2015). Collateral interviews also were used to triangulate (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) and contextualize children’s experiences described in fieldnotes (Miller & Cho, 2018).
Results
Children’s experiences of stigmatization varied within the two distinct contexts of general and special education classrooms. All three children experienced social exclusion and peer conflicts, such as teasing, in their general education classrooms. They expressed their willingness to be with same-age typically-developing peers, but they were not considered “full-members” in their classrooms. Takumi (4th grader), for instance, has developed a fear of his general education classroom due to peers’ teasing. In contrast, in their special education classrooms, the three children are “high-functioning” relative to other children, some of whom have intellectual disabilities. Although the three children are supportive of their peers with disabilities, they also consider themselves “better” than other children. Ken (2nd grader), for instance, expressed frustration toward his same-age peer due to her disability and excluded her during an activity.
Conclusion/Implications
Stigmatization also exists within the community of disability. Children with disabilities are vulnerable to stigmatization, but they also can stigmatize others with disabilities. The findings expand the use of critical disability theories, which generally focus on oppression imposed by the general society, to include hierarchical relationships within the disability community, for example, by the types and severity of disabilities. Interventions to eliminate stigmatization should focus on both children with disabilities and typically-developing children.