One key takeout for me in our opening session was how do we support students to feel they have agency? Agency is the “sense of having control over the action and outcomes of one’s life” and this was the core reflection for me as I navigated these resources….
Film by Christine Kum
Agency was evident in Film by Christine Kum and I can imagine using this resource to discuss how students can bring their own unique perspectives, talents and interests to their work. I think this is an inspiring resource to encourage boldness and also to find your own intepretation
Deaf Accessibility for Spoonies: Lessons from touring Eve and Mary are having coffee
This triggered a reflection that whilst we encourage students on my course to consider their own positionality, we don’t necessarily get them to consider the intersectionality of participants in their own research, particularly for final major projects. We often have students researching and designing for issues such as women’s health and I’m now conscious that we could do more to help them reflect on their research participants, who they wish to speak to and more thoughtful consideration of the research findings in relation to that intersectionality.
UAL Disability Services Web page
Reviewing this content highlighted to me that I personally have very little insight into any disabilities the students on my course have. The line between student confidentiality and understanding the disabilities in the cohort is unclear for me.
Does it matter that I don’t know? If my starting point is inclusivity is that enough to ensure my teaching practice will cover any ‘gaps’ in my knowledge of students lives and intersectionality?
I had recent experience with a student who was quite emotional after a teaching session, I had shared my own experience of working with a colleague with ADHD and how challenging both of us had found some of our interactions. The student had ADHD and some of the discussion had been quite triggering for her. In hindsight I could have highlighted this content more effectively even though her reaction was how positive she had found the discussion, it had still been an emotional situation for her.
Shades of Noir
On reviewing the terms of reference for Disability in SoN I discovered the Evolution of Disability models based on posts by Drake Music, it was a revelation that there are so many interpretations of disability from political, social and personal perspectives. I followed the link through to Drake Music where again the issue of language and terminology emerged,
“One of the biggest hurdles to achieving this is that, in talking about disability, people often get stuck on finding the “right language”. However, there isn’t 100% fixed, agreed or rubber-stamped good language”.
In terms of my practice, I have never really discussed with my colleagues how we reflect on our individual cohort and the needs they may have to ensure we give a cohesive and intentionally designed approach to develop our teaching practices around unseen and seen disability. It would be fascinating for us to discuss these models as a teaching group, what do we feel is most pertinent, how would we want to integrate these models into both our approach to students and in supporting student projects when they are exploring issues of design related to disability.
- https://www.arts.ac.uk/students/student-services/disability-and-dyslexia
- https://vimeo.com/31083172
- https://www.huffpost.com/entry/confronting-the-whitewash_b_10574994?guccounter=1
- https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/disabled_people
- https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/disabled_people/18