Professor Yoon‑Joo Lee of the School of Education is driven by a clear and urgent question: How can society create environments where individuals with disabilities—especially young children and those from culturally diverse backgrounds—are fully included, supported, and understood?
For Lee, this work is not abstract; it’s personal.
“Born with a physical disability, I navigated the challenges of being a student with special needs both in Seoul, South Korea, and the United States,” she explains.
These experiences shaped her understanding of how family, school, and culture deeply influence the lives of children with disabilities—and how often their voices go unheard.
Her scholarship explores social inclusion in early childhood classrooms, the cultural dimensions of disability, and the lived experiences of individuals with disabilities. By centering real stories and personal narratives, Lee aims to challenge deficit‑based models and replace them with humanizing, culturally grounded understandings. Her work seeks to foreground the voices of individuals with disabilities and their families, voices often overlooked or misunderstood.
Brooklyn College students regularly encounter Lee’s research in her courses, where discussions center on disability, reflective practice, and inclusive teaching. In one of her recent articles, “To Be the Best Teacher Possible: Stories of Teachers of Color with Disabilities,” she highlighted three former graduate students whose intersecting identities shaped their journeys as educators. Her findings reaffirm a message she hopes all students carry forward: They can be powerful agents of change.
Lee’s work resonates deeply with the Brooklyn community. Many students are first‑generation, multilingual, or navigating their own cultural identities; many are preparing to become educators themselves. Her research speaks directly to their lived realities: navigating educational systems that may not understand them, reconciling cultural beliefs about disability, and learning to advocate for themselves and their future students.
Ultimately, Lee hopes her work fosters more inclusive classrooms and more empathetic communities. By elevating the experiences of disabled individuals and their families, she invites all of us to reimagine what inclusion can, and should, look like.
