“Moving from Silence into Language and Action.” (Re)Imagining Advocacy with Black Motherscholars and Their Motherwork Across Multiple Contexts

Lydia Ocasio-Stoutenburg

doi:10.1080/10665684.2025.2531337

“Moving from Silence into Language and Action.” (Re)Imagining Advocacy with Black Motherscholars and Their Motherwork Across Multiple Contexts

2025-07-23

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OA

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Lydia Ocasio-Stoutenburg *

K

Keishana Barnes

E

Elizabeth Morgan

DOI：10.1080/10665684.2025.2531337

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Racial animus, the fear, hatred, dehumanizing, and othered perceptions of Black people is an ideology that too often undergirds Black children’s experiences within schools. Through similar patterns, the biomedical model’s emphasis on locating the “problem” of disability within the individual has conferred an othered, less-than-human, pathological status toward disabled children. Caregiver advocacy is a channel for parents to contest decisions or request supports, yet it has often been described through a narrow lens. In this article, we present our narratives as three Black motherscholars, advocating for our children and other families across the spectrum of disability services, special and gifted education, and communities. Rooted in Black feminists’ calls to motherwork and activism, we interrogate the structural forces that pervasively harm multiply marginalized children and families, cultivating spaces of resistance and belonging. Our motherwork highlights the power of love in Black mothering, which moves us from silence into transformative action.

Keywords:

Black mothers

advocacy

children's rights

well-being

education

“Moving from Silence into Language and Action.” (Re)Imagining Advocacy with Black Motherscholars and Their Motherwork Across Multiple Contexts

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