We Need to Talk About Education - A Zine About the Fight for Social Justice in Special Education

Oct 15, 2026

We Need to Talk About Education is a community zine presenting participants’ accounts and definitions around the fight for social justice in special education. It centers community voices in Waterloo, IA, connecting race, dis/ability, and K-12 experiences through themed sections and paired illustrations. The zine highlights Dis/Ability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) and examines disproportionality, health considerations, punishment and treatment, discipline disparities, and the need for culturally responsive and communication-focused educational practices with systemic supports.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLifestyle

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time31 min

AccessFree to download

Roadmap to the Zine

Grounding Framework: Dis/Crit

Community Themes

Disproportionality

Health

Punishment and Treatment

Intersectionality

We Need to Talk About Education A Zine About the Fight for Social Justice in Special Education Community Voices and Experiences About Dis/Ability and Race in Waterloo, IA Vincent Ali Scott Ellison David Hernández-Saca Joyce Levingston Chatara Mabry Anna Patch Marietta Shakila Powell Karen Thompson Jamisia Young [Image description: Silhouettes of children in overlapping conversation bubbles.] We Need to Talk About Education: A Zine About the Fight for Social Justice in Special Education Accounts and text within this zine are from the participants of the Equity Spotlight Vodcast Creating Brave Spaces for Community Voices in the Fight for Race and Disability-based Justice in Special Education. In this zine*, we emphasize key lessons from community members in Waterloo, IA, who came together to share their experiences with race and dis/ability in local schools. What is a Zine? A zine is “a small, self-published and distributed magazine rising from the feminist, punk and activist movements of the 1980s. Zines are often used to share personal and political views...zines can be an important part of art practice in that they can showcase art in a widely distributable and accessible manner. Zine culture fosters community, sharing, collaboration and innovation. Zines are a method of diversifying practice, but they can also be a practice unto themselves”(Pickering, 2018, para. 2) . A zine, also known as a fanzine, are pamphlets, usually self-published or published by a small, independent publisher. Zines are used as platforms away from mainstream media to amplify marginalized communities’ voices. Through underground publications, authors take control of the publishing process and get to authentically connect with various communities and organizations. Popularly used for spreading art, poetry, and radical political information to those who cannot access it, we’ve utilized the creation of a zine to serve a similar purpose and distribute academic information to multiple audiences. This makes our message accessible to those who may need and want it the most. Complete with illustrations and definitions, this zine can be distributed to communities, schools, and local organizations. *All illustrations within this zine, except for the cover art, are by Vincent Ali. [Watermark graphic image description: Black and Brown people with diverse hairstyles.] - 1- We Need to Talk About Education: A Note Roadmap to the Zine: This zine captures all definitions and accounts from the partnering Vodcast, paired with illustrations that reflect or expand on the topics. The zine is organized by a set of themes that participants brought up in the Vodcast discussion. The themes are interconnected and illustrate how they experienced their childrens’educational experiences and their interactions with the educational system. To organize the zine, we describe each theme, and then include quotes from Vodcast participants that illustrate these themes as they have experienced them in experienced in Waterloo: • Disproportionality • Health • Punishment and Treatment • Intersectionality • The Impact of Traditional School Policies, Practices and Structures on Black Youth and Families • The Significance Race and Racial Microaggressions Play on Our Experiences in K-12 school • (Special) Education as a Racialized Experience • The Urgency of Culturally Responsive Educators for Black, Indigenous and Youth of Color with and without Dis/Abilities • The Fallout of Interlocking Identity Oppressions • Racial and Dis/Ability Structural and Psychological Segregation • Discipline is Not Created Equally Along Race and Dis/Ability • The Need for DisCrit Administrative Practices and Policies for Systemic Change Efforts • The Importance of Communicative and Non-Violent Practices • The Lack of Follow Through and Systems of Support • Valuing and Respecting Black Children’s Humanity and Gifts in Education Grounding Fr

FAQs

What is the purpose of the zine We Need to Talk About Education?

It shares community members’ lessons and lived experiences in Waterloo, IA, focusing on race and dis/ability in local schools through definitions and accounts paired with illustrations.

What framework anchors the zine’s analysis?

The zine grounds its discussion in Dis/Ability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), which connects critical race theory and disability studies to address the intersection of disability and race in education.

How does the zine organize its content?

It organizes the zine around themes raised in a partnering Vodcast discussion and then pairs each theme with quotes from Vodcast participants and related illustrations.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Jordan Avery