Introduction
What is the meaning of MoEBLADs and EMBLADS?
EMBLAD: Emergent Bilinguals Labeled as Dis/Abled
MoEMBLAD: Mothers of Emergent Bilinguals Labeled as Dis/Abled
She creates this label to discourage the limiting construct of addressing solely children with disabilities or solely bilingual individuals. These labels address the multidimensions of students and families.
What is Intersectionality?
“The ideology that an individual’s experiences are not the result, nor reflective, of any singular demographic factor such as their gender alone but also their race, their social class, and sexuality.” (pg.15)
Intersectionality is an important concept throughout her book because she emphasizes the importance of acknowledging the multidimensionality of individuals (e.g. bilingual and labeled as disabled).
How did she construct her study?
Her study began with 10 mothers and 3 of them were selected to participate in the testimonio section. All 10 of the mothers had children that received special education services and utilized IEPs (Individualized Education Plans). The three most transparently participatory women were chosen to continue into the testimonio stage.
What solutions did Maria Cioe-Pena suggest?
Solutions: translated material, access to translators, emphasize the importance of bilingual approaches (especially in a highly heterogeneous country)
Who is the author and what were her motivations to write the book?
Maria Cioe-Pena; She was raised with a mostly monolingual mother (speaking Spanish) and a sister who was an emergent bilingual child labeled as dis/abled (EMBLAD) which oftentimes required her to step in as a translator for her family. These circumstances encouraged her interest in studying the social constructions of bilingualism, disabilities, and maternal engagement.
What is Linguistics Human Rights (LHR)?
"The most basic language rights given to humans to live a “dignified life” (p. 18).
How did she build trust among the mothers?
She made sure that their information was confidential using pseudonyms and interviewed participants in environments that were comfortable for them
What are Testimonios?
“the intentional and political act of telling a singular experience - or a collection of interconnected/related experiences - in hope of exposing an injustice that is both personal and systemic” (pg.33) (Acevedo, 2001; Bernal et al., 2012; Beverley, 1989; Huber, 2009a; Passos DeNicolo & Gonzalez, 2015; Reyes & Rodríguez, 2012)
What were the main takeaways from her observations?
The childrens’ schools did not provide the resources for their mothers to remain engaged in their education (e.g. translators, translated materials, intersectional perspectives, and denying the importance of bilingual education) which made the mothers feel disempowered and disconnected to their children.
What do we risk if we don’t reform our education sector to encompass the voices of mothers, and bilingual education, and dismantle the social construct of disability?
If we refuse to reform our education sector to encompass the voices of mothers, bilingual education, and dismantle the social construct of disability, we risk denying intersectionality which would prevent heterogeneous perspectives in our multicultural nation, and restrict humans from their Linguistic Human Rights.
What is Descriptive Inquiry?
A method of research that intends to understand people and what they do through close observation, testimonies, interviews, etc. This limits the opportunity for research to become colored by personal bias and instead, focuses on direct insight.
“The data originated from a combination of narrative interviews that called forth testimonios, observations, communal storytelling through recollections and the gathering of relevant artifacts.” ( p.39)
So What?
María Cioè-Peña’s research emphasizes how our education sector leaves out the voice of bilingual mothers of emergent bilingual children labeled as dis/abled (MoEMBLADs). She offers ways to reform the educational sector so that we honor the needs of both mothers and their children and the necessity for bilingual education in a multicultural country.