Written by Alyssa Carbutti with support from the DAC team.
***This post is in reflection of ideas discussed during an interview with UConn Professor Erin Scanlon regarding her Accessibility Fellow. The link to the interview transcript can be found here
I love the idea of having a learning community for UConn professors to become educated on disability in the classroom, on campus, and just disability studies in general. I think Erin Scanlon is doing a fantastic job of changing the conversation and taking action on campus to spread this awareness, in an attempt to make the classroom more accessible to everyone, not just people with disabilities.
I think there is a big question of how we should teach universal design in general. Universal design isn’t only for people with ADA recognized disabilities. It is for all people with a range of abilities, disabilities, languages, skills, learning preferences or other factors – such as age or native language –that might affect the learning process or use of a learning text.
I really applaud the idea of using universal design within the training for the learning and teaching community to also encourage interest in disability studies. My only concern is that there is no accountability for such faculty training to actually be implemented at the moment. The faculty don’t have any specific requirements, just a dim hope that they’ll “take something away”. Which, quite frankly, doesn’t feel good enough to me. Especially because the whole point of universal design is to offer multiple outlets for students to complete an assignment in different ways—but there is still a deadline/requirement being asked of the student. It feels a little bit hypocritical for professors to not have specific requirements or deadlines to put the skills they learn into action.
And so: I agree with the intention but not the execution. The lack of accountability for the faculty embodies how the disabled community has to beg for people to take interest in disability studies and basically be grateful for whatever the community gets out of able bodied people. These professors are also getting a sum of money, benefits for participating in the program which adds to my uneasiness about the lack of accountability to practice what is learned. I can see a lot of professors only participating for the benefits and not actually caring about the subject matter. If a professor is coming in with no interest in the matter, and then not being required to implement a certain amount of universal design in their classes, then I don’t see how this benefits the students at all. It just feeds into the idea that professors are too busy or that it is too difficult to change old ways of teaching.
There was also a comment about “meeting them where they are” in reference to the participating professors. This also caused some mixed feelings in me because again the intentions expressed here are good but they also expressed an internalized acceptance of seeing disability studies as something not necessary or an “extra”. Even the word “extra” elaborates the emotions because students asking for accommodations are usually seen as an “extra” process with negative connotations to that “extra” designation.
I do believe that in order to teach universal design the model should be used in faculty training and this faculty learning community. But I also think there should be a certain requirement to measure the amount of universal design that the professors implement in their classes after the training. Even if the classes are on different subjects, there are still ways to measure how many universal design tactics are used, or how many accommodations are offered—-for everyone, not just students with disabilities.
Finally, I don’t think that there really is any teaching design that is universal because every student is an individual with separate needs and learning habits. I do think that universal design is very beneficial to all students though, offering more autonomy in the classroom with different options for completing an assignment. I believe in giving more choice to students. I believe that professors should interact more with students on a personal level to understand their needs, instead of just assuming that certain students are failing because they “aren’t trying hard enough.” I applaud this idea of teaching professors about disability studies, as well as universal design, and providing them with the necessary tools to create a more accessible classroom for everyone!
Disability & Access Collective 