Contact Info
Susan L. Gabel is currently accepting and scheduling areas of expertise interviews. Please use the information below to arrange a meeting.
Campus: Chicago
Email: sgabel@nl.edu
Phone: 312.261.3088
Need Help?
Contact NLU Public Relations to find and schedule an interview with the best source for your story.
Sue Malovany
University Publications Editor
National-Louis University
work: 847.947.5497
cell: 847.624.0919
Biography
Susan Gabel has devoted her 30-year career to improving the lives of disabled people as a special education teacher, disability rights advocate and disability studies researcher. As a disabled woman herself, and as a mother of now-adult developmentally-disabled children with significant needs, she understands first-hand the importance of inclusive educational policy and practice.
Gabel divides her time between her homes in Chicago where she works at NLU, and Detroit where her grown children still live. She began her career teaching special education in Detroit in 1979 and since then has taught elementary and secondary special education in urban and suburban schools.
Currently, Gabel is a tenured, full professor at NLU, where she teaches graduate courses in special education as well as courses in the disability & equity in education doctoral program. She recently received almost $1 million from the U.S. Office of Postsecondary Education to create a model program for including disabled students in postsecondary education.
Gabel’s research focuses on the social and political contexts of disability, particularly as they relate to the globalization of education. Her current research project examines the relationship between disability, race, poverty, and incarceration rates in nine countries.
Education
PhD in Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy & Social Analysis, Michigan State University Med in Reading, Wayne State University BA in Special EducationPublications
Gabel, S. L., Curcic, S., Powell, J., Kader, K., & Albee, L. (in press). “The globalization of disproportionality: An exploratory study.” Disability & Society.
Gabel, S. L., & Connor, D. (in press). “Theorizing disability: Implications and applications for social justice in education.” In W. Ayers, T. Quinn, & D. Stovall (Eds.), The handbook of social justice in education. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gabel, S. L., & Danforth, S. (2008). Disability and the politics of education: An international reader. New York: Peter Lang.
Gabel, S. L. (2008). “A model for policy activism.” In S. L. Gabel & S. Danforth (Eds.), Disability studies in education: An international reader. New York: Peter Lang.
Gabel, S. L. (2007). “Applying disability theory in education: NIDRR’s ‘new paradigm of disability’ as a cautionary tale.” In S. Danforth & S. L. Gabel (Eds.) Vital questions for disability studies in education. New York: Peter Lang.
Gabel, S. L. (2005). Disability studies in education: Readings in theory and method. New York: Peter Lang.
Presentations
Gabel, S. L. (2008). Overrepresentation, globalization, and immigration: A comparative study. Paper presented at the 8th annual Second City Disability Studies in Education conference. New York, NY.
Gabel, S. L. (2006). What counts as policy in disability studies in education. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. San Francisco, CA.
Gabel, S. L., and Connor, D. (2006). A history of disability studies in education: Contextualizing and developing a discipline. Paper presented at the annual Second City Conference on Disability Studies in Education. East Lansing, Michigan.
Images
