This session is built from my PhD and Spencer Foundation funded research to explore Indigenous perspectives of disability from Turtle Island to Aotearoa. I begin with a Diné ancestral story of Locust and Snail Girl, to challenge deficit framing of ability and expand ways for educators to reframe understandings of disability. I move on to share how similar resonating stories and perspectives are found in wider Indigenous schools in Aotearoa and family perspectives in the U.S, to convey how place-based knowledges, and communities are shifting understandings of what it means to enact Inclusive Education for Indigenous diverse learners. It brings us back to our relational values of connection, that move over space, waters, and land, to show how we can learn from one another to build more inclusive worlds for our diverse Indigenous youth.
