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Teaching and instruction

Submitted by adrayer on

This is for folks supporting and providing instruction. Instruction could come in a workshop, a class visit, online training modules, or other learning points libraries create.

Introduction

In Academic Ableism: Disability in Higher Education, Jay Dolmage lays out the historical roots of the modern-day academe. At its very founding, higher education was designed to serve the "elites." In contrast, lower education institutions such as prisons and asylums were structured to educate the "others," including those whose perceived abilities did not conform to societal standards.

As Dolmage notes, the belief was, and persists to some degree, that people with disabilities were to be studied, not doing the studying. As the academe shifted its perspective to appreciate those with disabilities as agents within themselves, the narratives became stale; confined to stories of either those who were to be pitied or those who are heroes rather than everyday folks living complex, imperfect lives. Imperfection as it relates to the still meager outcomes for those with disabilities who are:

  • able to access higher education,
  • graduate with a higher education degree, and
  • be appointed to a higher education staff position and still fewer in positions of power to provoke systematic change within higher education.

A more inclusive learning campus environment understands the challenges of folks with disabilities, providing universal design practices (while still accommodating individuals' unique needs) and refocusing its lens to meet folks where they are at. This re-imagined environment contrasts with the current ideology that expects that everyone reaches an unreal perfect standard that is exclusionary for many and unhealthy for most.

As Dolmage notes, some might suggest that making an accommodation for students, faculty, or staff by revising traditional standards of learning, teaching, or professional work is a sign of weakness or inferiority. Further, some instructors are not familiar with appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities, and at times, students themselves have to educate faculty members. When students go to their disability service offices, they are often offered a menu of services rather than those best suited for their circumstances; an event exacerbated for international folks and those from underrepresented communities.

This perspective of inferiority reinforces the ableist, racist, patriarchal foundation on which the modern-day academe was founded, and the residue persists today.

Education reform is needed to create a welcoming, inclusive teaching, learning, and work environment. Teaching can utilize pedagogical frameworks such as the Center for Applied Special Technology's (CAST) Universal Design in Learning (UDL) to change how we assess understanding and learning. UDL has three main principles:

  • Provide multiple means of representation. Learners differ in the ways that they perceive and comprehend information that is presented to them.
  • Provide multiple means of action and expression. Learners differ in the ways that they can navigate a learning environment and express what they know.
  • Provide multiple means of engagement. Learners differ markedly in the ways in which they can be engaged or motivated to learn.

Still, more must be done regarding reconciling our past as an exclusionary institution. We can begin by refocusing our perspectives on what it means to work with students, faculty, and staff with disabilities and building a culture where everyone can experience and bring their whole selves.

Core skills

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Other general sources

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