“H”ome and “h”ome in the Nahongvita Model: Empowering Indigenous Disabled Youth

Developing an Indigenous framework that situates an asset-based cultural framework of resilience (Brayboy, Anthropol Educ Q 36(3):193–211, 2005; Joseph and Windchief, J Am Indian Educ 54(3):76–97, 2015) to inform the ways of doing in Special Education advances the long-term postsecondary outcomes for Indigenous students. Nahongvita is a model that can prove to be useful in guiding opportunities to empower Indigenous disabled youth. A synthesis of Indigenous education and special education provide contexts for the conceptual model of Nahongvita (Joseph and Windchief, J Am Indian Educ 54(3):76–97, 2015). The critical frameworks of Tribal Critical Race Theory and Disability Critical Race Theory are then presented to synthesize the experiences of four Indigenous disabled youth in their journeys to persist in educational settings. The experiences of five Indigenous disabled youth provide a valuable lens for identifying strategies to engage cultural models that contribute to the empowerment of youth.