https://time.com/6299599/autism-research-limited-essay/
Showing posts with label Accessibility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Accessibility. Show all posts
Improving Accessibility
Amazing piece by @PDSoros fellow and @TheOpEdProject fellow @HariSri108 on the importance of flexible work and improving accessibility
NASEM: Cultivating Accessible Educational Pathways and Spaces
Event by National Academies of Sciences, Engr and Medicine.
Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM:
Cultivating Accessible Educational Pathways and Spaces
THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2023,
I was on the the panel that runs from 1:35pm ET - 2:15pm ET
Recording link
"This virtual session is a critical element of Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM: Cultivating Accessible Educational Pathways and Spaces, the fourth event in the five-part Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM conversation series. Overall, this event in the series will focus on the important role of education in preparing students with disabilities as they enter the STEM ecosystem. Discussions will focus on the need to challenge assumptions about who can learn and succeed in STEM and the need to make direct changes to policies and practices to facilitate positive educational experiences for students. Examples will include asset based approaches to learning in classrooms, laboratories, online, and in the field.
Got a nice feedback email today.
"My name is ____ and I work at a medical university in a northern town in ___Ontario Canada. I saw your presentation today on cultivating accessible educational pathways and spaces. I was completely blown away by your presentation. What you have accomplished is incredibly impressive. I not only applaud you but the professors who went out of their way to make labs accessible for you. I think as a medical school, we are behind the ball so to speak with regards to accommodating the needs of those with different abilities....... This entire series has been fascinating to me. Thank you for sharing."====
On behalf of the planning committee, I want to thank you for being part of the NASEM Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM discussion series. This event was very well received, and your panel’s discussion was truly fantastic. Thank you for your leadership and for taking time to share your insight and expertise.
It feels like a historic and meaningful inflection point for people with disabilities in STEM, and we are grateful for your role in driving that change.
======
On behalf of the planning committee for the Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM conversation series and the National Academies staff, I wanted to express my sincere gratitude to each of you for an informative and engaging panel session. We are proud to have brought together such an amazing group of individuals to speak about Lived Experiences: Listening, Learning, and Acting. I am certain that your discussion was greatly appreciated by the over 320 who attended on June 15th to learn about issues related to Cultivating Accessible Educational Pathways and Spaces.
Your expertise and insights were invaluable, and we are so grateful for the time and effort that you put into preparing and delivering your remarks.
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Disability Studies Scholars
Why do Disability Studies scholars want to use such complex, almost convoluted language when the same ideas and issues could've been distilled into less complex language?
Surely less complex formal language can be equally as powerful in its informational, argumentation and persuasive capability and in getting the point across successfully; without becoming "less scholarly".
I'm taking not one but two Disability Studies classes at U C Berkeley this semester, and while I love the lectures and discussion during class delivered by the outstanding professors here, my take on some of the "scholarly" readings are quite another thing.
In a recent reading it took many many pages before to express a simple idea. It was like going through layers of camouflage to get to that idea; jargon-ny language being the camouflage.
There are actually some very good ideas and thoughts, that make us think, reflect, think of the interconnectedness of disability justice, climate justice, animal rights, marginalization, accessibility, stigma, discrimination etc.
But these all can be unearthed only after you strip off these veneers of other language which almost get in the way. You are left with a partial feeling of annoyance, impatience and exhaustion, when your mind should be fully engrossed over the thoughts presented in these readings.
The irony: Disability Studies talks the talk about accessibility and limited-spoons in the disability community. They need to walk the walk by showing and demonstrating how scholarly language itself (including their own) can/should be accessible.
irony is that many of these reading underline societal inaccessibility as a fundamental issue. Yet these very disability study readings are the very picture of inaccessibility.
This is not a critique on other disciplines, that is a whole other discussion, but specifically disability studies.
The other question is, Does it not take extra spoons to strip off all those additional veeners to get to the gist of what the author is saying, for a "limited-spoons" disability population.
For those unfamiliar with the idea of spoons or spoon theory, its the idea that all of us have only so much bandwidth/spoons in one day. Every task takes some level of time and effort. When u are disabled, your bandwidth shrinks even more as some/much of the time is taken up by disability related challenges. You have to weigh in on where your spoons are best spent so you can carry onto successfully navigating another day.
The point: Disability Studies scholars in particular need to lead by example to demonstrate what accessibility can look like in their own work.
And I'm taking not 1 but 2 disabilities studies class this sem.
As much as I love the lectures and discussion in class taught by some amazing faculty, some of the readings are quite another issue. In one recent reading it took over many many pages to explain one simple idea. All the while I was distracted, mentally jumping impatiently, almost a little annoyed, with a, What are you trying to say? & Just get to the point please."
The irony of accessibiliy
What do you do when your instructor assumes that everyone has "handwriting" ability and sends out this announcement? The irony is that this is a Disability Studies class where accessibility plays a prominent role. My poor fine motor and motor dyspraxia means I have not mastered the art of basic handwriting let alone drawing.
Research on Accessibility
Our unique makerspace Disability Lab is doing a research project on accessibility.
If you are interested in participating, please contact
everett_wool@berkeley.edu or (818) 450-6743
www.disabilitylab.berkeley.edu
Online is a critical disability accommodation for education access
The article below highlights how online and hybrid options are a critical but overlooked disability accommodation that makes education accessible to many in the autistic/disability populations.
https://www.onlinecollegeplan.com/can-someone-with-nonverbal-autism-attend-online-college/
"Communicating their needs is something that almost everyone with ASD struggles with so for someone who doesn’t communicate in a typical way, those struggles can be exacerbated, especially in school. "
"Colleges and universities across the country offer online programs and more and more of them are implementing support programs to help autistic students transition into college life more smoothly and to excel. These two things can come together and absolutely transform the future for students that can’t speak. The minimized interaction in a self-paced distance-learning degree program allows the student to focus on the things that they can do instead of having to consistently confront the things they can’t as they try to navigate their coursework. The support programs in place at many colleges are there for all students whether they are learning on campus or online and they can help to provide proper resources to students that need them, to help them stay motivated and organized, and to be there for the times that college gets to be a bit overwhelming. A nonverbal autistic student would be able to get the full college experience regardless of what method they chose to complete their degree, but it seems that online college would help reduce the stress of going to college and make communication between advisors, professors, and classmates a lot simpler."
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