About

Carlyn Mueller is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She earned her PhD from the University of Washington and previously held a position as an Academic Pathways Postdoctoral Fellow at Vanderbilt University. Her research agenda centers on disability identity within school contexts, focusing on areas such as disability representation in curriculum, the development of community and identity within special education, and the intersectionality of race and disability.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Social Science
• Psychology
• Pedagogy
• Gender studies
• Social psychology
• Law
• Medicine
• Epistemology

Selected publications

• What does it mean to be proud: A scoping literature review of disability pride.

  Rehabilitation Psychology · 2026-03-30

  article1st authorCorresponding

  PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this scoping review was to explore extant research on disability pride, focusing on populations and methods, conceptual definitions, and relationships between disability pride and related constructs. We aim to build a shared definition of disability pride (Baumeister & Leary, 1997), which could benefit rehabilitation research. RESEARCH METHOD/DESIGN: Our scoping review began with a cross-disciplinary search of multiple research databases. Next, we conducted a two-step abstract and full-text review process to evaluate the articles that resulted from this search. In total, 24 articles were included in the review. Finally, our team proceeded with coding each article, identifying key themes and arguments (Onwuegbuzie et al., 2016). RESULTS: = 6) utilized qualitative methods to investigate individual experiences with disability pride. Finally, only three articles utilized scale- and survey-based methods to explore disability pride. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: The results of this review revealed a close relationship between identity and pride as defined in the literature. The review suggests that specific dimensions of disability pride require further examination as a unique construct specifically for assessment development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• “Tell her she's not any different”: Family roles in disability identity development.

  Rehabilitation Psychology · 2026-04-06

  article1st authorCorresponding

  PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: Disability identity development is an essential process that individuals with disabilities engage in to understand the impact of their disability on their sense of self and their ongoing connection to the disability community (Dunn & Burcaw, 2013; Mueller 2021). In this qualitative study, we explored the ways that disability identity is shaped by families. RESEARCH METHOD/DESIGN: Drawing from a larger study of youth and adults with disabilities, we discuss a specific population of six women with physical disabilities' meaning-making and reflection on their families' involvement in the development of disability identity. We utilized qualitative interview methodologies, including a life history interview (Plummer, 2001) and a semistructured interview (Merriam, 2009) on the development of disability identity. RESULTS: Across participant narratives, there are common threads about how families participated in the development of disability identity for their female children with physical disabilities. The common actions included family members wrestling with disability stigma; intervening on behalf of the daughter in school; emphasizing how the daughter is "just like everyone else; and making connections with the disability community." CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: This study's findings support generating new resources and tools for families and communities who are interested in positive disability identity development, specifically for people with physical disabilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• “Seeing pictures that other people can’t see”: disabled youth understanding of disability community issues

  International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education · 2026-03-13

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Youth Crip Technoscience: Towards Youth-Centered Disability Research & Practice in Schools

  Culture Studies &#x2194 Critical Methodologies · 2026-02-09

  article1st authorCorresponding

  In this paper, we engage with a new theoretical lens to the field of education for youth with disabilities, crip technoscience, and offer three applications of what we describe as youth crip technoscience. Youth crip technoscience asserts that youth with disabilities are makers and co-creators of disability; that disability is a creative, cultural experience for youth beyond accommodation and intervention; and that school and classrooms paces can be designed to support crip futures and disability justice. Youth crip technoscience as a framework offers a unique approach to research, practice, and activism in educational research with disabled youth that values their ways of knowing, being, and doing and aims to co-create visions of disabled adulthood, disability identity, and disabled futures within and through curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment.

  PublisherDOI

• Exploring a Disability Justice Generation With Youth-Authored Disability Texts

  Exceptional Children · 2025-11-19

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Literary works authored by youth with disabilities provide insightful perspectives on their lived experiences, understanding of disability community, and processes of disability identity development. In this paper, we respond to the question raised by Erevelles et al. (2019) , “What would curriculum studies look like if disabled people re-imagined the curriculum?” (p. 358) by examining literature written by disabled youth. We propose the existence of a disability justice generation whose perspectives are crucial to consider with the K–12 curriculum, particularly to extend existing notions of justice within education. Nine texts written by disabled youth about their lived experiences were analyzed to learn about their perceptions of disability and disability identity. The texts were analyzed using a disability justice framework. Results indicated that texts highlight the importance of the disability community and meaning-making related to disability identity. Intersectionality and the interdependence of their relationships with their peers with disabilities, educators, and families were important themes across the texts. Results highlight the rich and meaningful experiences of disabled youth, and we consider what stories of and by disabled youth can offer to curricula.

  PublisherDOI

• Beyond Community to Collective Care: Reimagining Inclusion for Rural Students with Disabilities

  The Rural Educator · 2025-11-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This conceptual piece examines how prevailing notions of community in rural schools influence inclusive education practices for students with disabilities. While rural communities often emphasize care and belonging, these values can mask exclusionary practices when inclusion is treated as sameness or is assumed rather than actively cultivated. We explore how disability is acknowledged or overlooked within rural community traditions and how these dynamics sustain outdated models of special education service delivery and reinforce exclusionary practices. To reframe inclusion as a collective and relational practice, we introduce a care-based framework rooted in three interrelated components: mattering, interdependence, and accountability. Informed by interdisciplinary scholarship across rural education, disability studies, and ethics of care, this framework offers practical strategies for creating inclusive educational communities that can attend to the needs of all their members through shared responsibility and collective dreaming.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• “I knew I had it good, but I didn’t know just how good until this class”: Learning about race and disability towards educational justice

  Equity & Excellence in Education · 2025-02-19

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• “I Knew I Had It Good, but I Didn’t Know Just How Good Until This Class”: Learning About Race and Disability Toward Educational Justice

  2024-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• A call to action for disability and rehabilitation research using a DisCrit and Disability Justice framework

  Disability and Rehabilitation · 2023-08-22 · 24 citations

  articleOpen access

  Purpose Disability and ableism exist within a societal context that does not ignore the many facets of a person’s identity, however often our disability research does not recognize how experiences vary based on the intersecting identities individuals hold. This article utilizes Intersectionality, Dis/ability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit), and Disability Justice to identify ways for rehabilitation researchers to adapt their research practices for maximum inclusivity and representation.Materials and Methods Using these three frameworks, we have developed a call to action including recommendations for rehabilitation researchers to consider as they design and implement research projects.Results Incorporating these frameworks provides an opportunity to reimagine current research practicesConclusions An accessible approach can help researchers better understand and report on the nuances of intersecting identities on the lives of disabled people.Implications For RehabilitationDisability identity and ableism must be viewed intersectionally, and disability related research must attend to the many facets of a person’s identity.Intersectionality, DisCrit, and Disability Justice provide useful frameworks through which we can conduct more inclusive and accessible disability research.We present a call-to-action including seven general considerations that researchers can implement to guide the development of intersectional and inclusive disability research.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reflexive Quality Criteria: Questions and Indicators for Purpose-Driven Special Education Qualitative Research

  Exceptional Children · 2023 · 60 citations

  • Sociology
  • Psychology
  • Political Science

  Qualitative research (QR) has gained visibility and acceptance in the field of special education due to early efforts to identify quality indicators focused on technical and methodological aspects of QR. Whereas these indicators focused on credibility and trustworthiness of data, this article articulates additional QR quality indicators to enhance the value and power of researcher reflexivity as a means to expand the capacity of purpose- and equity-driven special education research. First, the need for reflexivity criteria is addressed. Next, reflexivity criteria are operationalized in key questions that engage researchers in self-reflection: (a) Why do QR? (b) By whom, for whom, and with whom is QR being conducted? and (c) Who is affected by the benefits and costs of QR? These questions encourage researchers to grapple with the complexity of experiences, outcomes, and structures associated with special education and ultimately advance more equitable policy and practice.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Margaret R. Beneke

  University of Washington

  4 shared

• Anjali J. Forber‐Pratt

  2 shared

• Heather Hensman Kettrey

  Clemson University

  2 shared

• Gabriel J. Merrin

  2 shared

• Larry R. Price

  Texas State University

  2 shared

• Ivanova Smith

  World Institute on Disability

  2 shared

• Roxanna N. Pebdani

  University of Sydney

  1 shared

• Elizabeth A. West

  1 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  2005

• M.S., Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  2002

• B.A., Psychology

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  1999

Awards & honors

• Outstanding Dissertation , AERA Special & Inclusive Educatio…
• Pediatric Rehabilitation Poster Award , Rehabilitation Psych…