Re/Framing Disability American Association of Colleges & - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Re/Framing Disability American Association of Colleges & Universities Dr. Amanda Kraus

To achieve meaningful and equitable inclusion, we must reflect on what we believe about disability with humility.

Prevalent Thinking Due to a physiological difference, diagnosis, injury or impairment, individual is at a deficit . The individual is the problem - must be cured or pitied Framing or accommodated. Fear, separateness, burden. Language, media, design, policy.

Emerging Thinking The environment disables people with impairments by design. The environment is the problem and must be Reframing redesigned ! Access is a right , not a special need. Social Justice, Civil Rights, Disability Studies, Universal Design

How do we Pity Social Justice shift our Cure Universal Design thinking? Compliance Disability Studies

Critically analyze language, media and design.

Negative “Positive” Identify – Inspirational • Tragic, pitiful – Heroic Common • Needy – Special Stereotypes • Scary – Resilient • Lazy (in Higher – Preferential treatment • Liars Ed) - help, attention • Angry

1. Denial of identity 2. Avoidance/Separateness 3. Helpless/Secondary Gain 4. De-sexualization Disability 5. Denial of privacy Microaggressions 6. Patronization/Infantilization 7. Spread effect 8. Second class citizen/Burden

There but for Spaz Abnormal Turn a blind eye… the grace of Maniac God… Afflicted Gimp Crazy Lunatic Sickly Maladjusted Vegetable Simpleton Blind as a bat… Psycho Lame Suffering Brain Dead Needy Retard Deaf and dumb Freak Insane Invalid Stupid Maladjusted

• The economy limped • She turned a blind along… eye… • He’s a lame duck • It fell on deaf ears… candidate… • The company was • She doesn’t have a crippled with debt… leg to stand on. Metaphor • He’s a real stand-up • I can run circles guy… around… • You’d have to be • Stand on your own crazy to… two feet… • Paralyzed with fear… • Cut him off at the knees…

– Confined to a chair, – disABILITY wheelchair-bound – Special needs – The disabled, the – Differently-abled “Disability” blind, the deaf, – Handicapable Language – Person-first language – Physically-challenged

Person-first versus Identity-first Language What are the implications?

Critical Media Representation

– Most of us could never • She didn’t let her imagine [insert horrific disability stop her! impairment] happening • He suffers from… to us, but... • Confined to a – Through the miraculous wheelchair! assistance of Media “Bingo” [something cmopletely • If you saw her doing non-miraculous]... [anything], you’d never know she was disabled. – Courageous battle... • Defying the odds... – ....proving you can achieve anything if you really try!

Helpless Fear Heroic Angry Jokes Supercrip Charity Inspirational

17

– Disabled people share a history of oppression. – Consider disability an identity and community, a value-added perspective. – Seek out input and feedback from disability How do we community. do the – Hold disability on par with other lived experiences. work? – Critically consume media. Question language and policy choices. – When there are barriers, ask why?

– Involvement and engagement (Astin, 1984; Lessons from Kuh, 1998) student – Marginality and Mattering (Schlossberg, 1989) – Validation (Rendón, 1994) development – Identity development theory – Role of environment

How can design disable?

Curricular Policy Physical Social IT

Letter of the Law vs. Spirit of the Law What do we have to do? What can we do?

– Include information on access features/requests on all marketing and materials – Hand-outs in advance, electronically, large font – Infuse disability and diversity content and Communication images into marketing and programming & Info – Captioning – Describe images in presentations – Accessible emails, PDF’s – Use the microphone! – Commit to inclusive language

– Common entrances, exits, paths of travel – Accessible parking, transportation, elevators, Physical restrooms – Good, clear signage for access features Space – Distributed seating

– Check our biases. – Hold all students to the same standards. – What is essential? Curricular – Multiple methods of assessment, engagement, participation.

Events: To request disability-related accommodations or with questions about accessibility, please contact: Accessibility Statement Syllabi : At X, we strive to make learning experiences as accessible as possible. If you anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers based on disability or pregnancy, you are welcome to let me know so that we can discuss options. You are also encouraged to contact Disability Resources to explore reasonable accommodation.

Disabled by design, not impairment.

Access ≠ Equity