Am I the curriculum?

Zisk, A. H. (2019). Am I the curriculum? Curriculum Inquiry, 49(4), 373-386. https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.2019.1664255

Publication date: 8 Aug 2019 Added to AutiHub: 7 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)

Abstract

When we consider disability and the curriculum, we usually mean preparing professionals to work with people with disabilities or including students with disabilities. Here, I provide a personal description of these ideas colliding. It's Fall 2017, and I'm taking a course on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). That means it's about disability, or really, about certain services for people with disabilities. My classmates are studying to be speech language pathologists. I'm Autistic, and I use AAC part time because I can sometimes, but not always, speak. I'm the first AAC user to take this class. As we go through, the professor keeps saying how much they're learning from me, as an AAC user. So: am I the curriculum or the student? Am I both? Could I be a teacher? As I work on and eventually publish my class project, an overview of AAC use by speaking autistic adults, am I the object of research or the researcher? Am I both?

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Bibliography inclusion overview

These indicators describe the cited bibliography imported for this publication. Cited-reference metrics use the cited-reference total as denominator. Cited-author metrics state whether they use all cited-author occurrences or only occurrences linked to authors already integrated in the AutiHub database. They use cached links between cited authors and authors integrated in the AutiHub database. Last computed: 16 Aug 2026 11:31.

Cited references
36
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
4 / 36 (11.1%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
4 / 48 (8.3%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 4 / 5 (80.0%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 2 / 46 (4.3%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
5 / 48 (10.4%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 3 / 46 (6.5%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
1 / 5 (20.0%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 1 / 48 (2.1%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 1 / 3 (33.3%).
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