Ableism is socially constructed along gender and racial ideologies that lead to institutionalized forms of violence negatively influencing girls and women with disabilities (Ben-Moshe & Magaña, 2014; Parsons et al., 2016). Parsons (2017) defines gendered ableism as “the cross section of discrimination based on both disability and gender having serious implications for women with disabilities who are rendered powerless by society” (p. 209). Gendered ableism leads to higher risks of violence and lack of access to resources for minoritized girls and women (Kim & Shalk, 2020; Moral-Cabrero & Serrato-Calero, 2025). In compulsory schooling, girls with disabilities endure multiple obstacles hindering their wellbeing and inclusion, being vulnerable to facing discrimination, distress, and unmet socio-educational needs (Nanda, 2019; Ramírez Morera, 2022). Statistics reveal how only 41.7% of girls with disabilities complete primary school in contrast to 52.9% of able-bodied girls in Europe (UN Women, 2025). These barriers are the result of enforced heteropatriarchal ableist ways of knowing and being historically operationalized in schools (Dean et al., 2023; Hall, 2011; Zamorano et al., 2024). Likewise, disability hierarchies across the disability spectrum further perpetuate the stigmatization of non-normative bodies (Grue et al., 2015; Pritchard, 2023; Sánchez Rodríguez, 2023). These hierarchies lead to “soft” disability categories such as emotionally disturbed, ADHD, and “mental retardation” (Nanda, 2019). Racialized girls with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to being pathologized across axes of institutionalized oppressions, including racism and cultural erasure (Miller, 2024; Tesfahunegn, 2025).

This literature synthesis analyzes recent studies published between 2015 and 2025 decentering gendered ableism in schools by attending to the perspectives, experiences, and assets of girls and young women with disabilities. This framing shies away from pervasive discriminatory discourses portraying these minoritized learners as depleted and agencyless, when focusing solely on their social marginalization. Thus, this literature synthesis includes only peer-reviewed sources that follow a critical social model of disability (Oliver, 2013). Feminist disability frameworks are used alongside capital theory to examine the literature on gendered ableism in European educational settings. Feminist Disability Studies (FDS) emerged in the 1990s to challenge the medicalized view of disability and recognize it as a complex sociopolitical construct (Garland-Thomson, 2005; Hall, 2011). This framework rejects victimization narratives and condemns ableism as a social ill, impairing everyone’s lives (Kim & Schalk, 2020). In addition, feminist disability studies expose the interlocked forms of violence, including racism, capitalism, heteropatriarchy, hindering the lives and opportunities of girls and women with disabilities (Moral-Cabrero & Serrato-Calero, 2025). The interplay between ableism, heteronormativity and citizenship has been silenced to uphold the cis-ableist state (Glenn, 2015; Patel, 2017). Applied to the field of education, this framework serves, for instance, to explain the overrepresentation of students of color in special education settings (Temel et al., 2025). In addition, Bourdieu’s capital theory is used to problematize the socially constructed nature of disability as a cultural, historical, and political phenomenon (Holt, 2019; Mithen, 2015). In a field dominated by able-bodied discourses and ideologies, the disabled body possesses “disabled capital” (Berezin, 2014). Disability is often constructed through a pathologizing lens, which acts as a barrier to accumulating the valued “cultural capital” (set of normative knowledge, skills, values) that schools relegate exclusively to the status quo (Bourdieu, 1986). This work embraces the socially rejected forms of capital the youth bring with them to school, contributing to the deconstruction of what counts as capital. This literature synthesis seeks to answer the following research question: what are the experiences and perspectives of girls and young women with disabilities exposing gendered nativism in schools? This work holds scholarly significance considering how the topic has been underresearched and these youth’s perspectives undertheorized across educational and disability studies in Europe.

This synthesis looks at what the recent literature reports regarding the experiences of girls and young women with disabilities exposing gendered ableism in compulsory schooling. Both empirical and conceptual research sources from peer-reviewed journals were included. Four scholarly databases were consulted: 1) Education Research Complete; 2) PsycINFO; 3) ERIC; and 4) JSTOR, which allowed the authors to locate articles from different disciplines including education, sociology, and psychology. The initial search yielded over 80 articles and books grappling with topics related to gender, disability, and education from around the globe. Then, the authors narrowed their search down to research conducted exclusively within the European context. Studies that did not make an explicit connection between gender, disabilities, and education from a critical lens were likewise excluded. The search also focused on the perspectives, not just the experiences, of girls or young women with disabilities. As a result, the authors narrowed the search results to a total of 22 articles in European educational settings. Specifically, the literature included 17 empirical articles and 5 conceptual. In addition, 7 quantitative and 15 qualitative research articles were included. Data were analyzed following key tenets of both theoretical frameworks, which included: self-empowerment, rejection of victimization narratives, critical consciousness, and cultural capital, among others. To address the validity of the study, the two authors discussed each of the reviewed papers to achieve consensus. Their negotiated interpretations represented a reflexive research approach to intellectualizing students’ experiences navigating gendered ableism. The authors acknowledge their positionality as European female researchers who have lived and worked transnationally. This research was led by a female scholar with a documented disability (ADHD). Importantly, this literature synthesis works as the foundation of future empirical research that will be conducted in Europe, as the authors currently work as coordinators of the international FRIDA Research Project under a recently awarded Marie-Curie scholarship funded by the European Commission. The FRIDA project, expected to launch in February 2026, will seek to enhance the agency of girls and women with disabilities from culturally minoritized groups. This literature synthesis will be published as part of this larger European research project, for which it will provide a groundbreaking framework.

Based on preliminary analyses of the selected 22 sources examining the experiences of girls and young women with disabilities in schools, 4 major themes emerged, including: critical consciousness, hybrid identifications, inner power, and community anchors. A few studies highlight how systems of oppression impact the academic expectations placed on girls and young women with disabilities, undervaluing and rendering them invisible for purposes of dispossession (Holt, 2019; Mithen, 2015). As Ramírez Morera (2022) argues, gender ableism increases the risk of violence and lack of access to resources for minoritized learners. Articles that apply a sociological lens to investigating ableism in schools expose systemic conceptions that are rooted in notions of deficit, dependency, and vulnerability (Hall, 2011). Biases and lack of preparation make school staff often respond to these issues passively and sceptically (Holt et al., 2019). Such exclusionary practices impact the self-esteem, emotional well-being, and academic performance of girls with disabilities, as they persevere to meet their academic expectations (Garcia-Molina et al., 2025). To counter such gendered ableist structures, these girls develop strategies that validate their agency taking charge of their educational achievements (Pritchard, 2023). Some of the strategies reported in the literature include the development of a positive identity, a critical consciousness and community engagements. It is concluded that a solid network of material and human resources is needed in institutional attempts committed to re-imagining educational inclusion. The key to building this educational network are teacher training, peer interaction and community anchors that uplift and value diversity, both inside and outside educational arenas. It is vital to follow a conscious approach to include the voices and experiences of girls and young women with disabilities in order to constructively and self-critically interrogate the practices currently being used for the advancement of transformative measures.

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