Chris Hale

Dr. Hale has spent much of his career as a literacy specialist working with students with learning disabilities and those labeled emotionally disturbed. His years as a teacher allowed him to experience firsthand the challenges faced by special education teachers and to witness the pain and alienation of children who experience the stigma associated with academic failure and disability on a daily basis. Consequently, he is deeply committed to advocating for both groups. He believes that special education teacher candidates deserve to be given the tools to become skilled and knowledgeable professionals, who are prepared to serve the needs of and advocate for their students and their students’ families and who are also capable of critical examination of the ways in which general and special education policies and practices impact their and their students' lives. His research interests include the stigma experienced by children with disabilities who experience academic failure and suffer isolation and alienation due to their participation in special education, the beliefs, understandings, and dispositions, relative to disability and special education, of special education teacher candidates, and the ways in which parenting, social class, and disability interact in our society.