“We Don’t Kiss in School”: Policing Warmth, Disciplining Physicality, and Examining Consent of Latinx Students in US Special Education Classrooms

Special education programs in the United States teach students “appropriate” behavior that reflects the dominant culture’s rules and standards. In the US public school system, this means the behavioral expectations that are taught uphold a white and upper-middle-class norm. For Latinx students with dis/abilities, these expectations are often dissonant with the expressions, interactions, and behaviors of their communities and families. This chapter explores how Latinx cultural mainstays—like kissing in greeting—are criticized, diminished, and often criminalized in special education programs. When students are told that in order to be “proper,” “appropriate,” and “successful,” they cannot engage in reproducing the culturally-rich and valuable behaviors and expressions of their communities.