If one was to explore the literature on disability and pedagogy, they would quickly find that that majority of scholarship in this area relates to disabled student bodies and able-bodied teachers. Of course, those of us who have disabilities and teach in postsecondary spaces recognize that there are relatively few of us here (or at least, relatively few of us here who identify as disabled). We also know that the weight of the stigma surrounding disability that we carry comes with us into our graduate school, job interviews, and places of work. Unfortunately, the feeling of being unwelcomed and the other’s implicit desire for able bodies is sometimes affirmed, which can make such spaces difficult to access and even more difficult to remain within. Nevertheless, we are here, and we are valuable members of our professions in spite of and because of our disabilities.
In the scholarship that does exist on teaching with a disability in higher education, conversations tend to fall into three categories. The first, and arguably the most prominent, centers on the challenges associated in teaching with a disability (i.e., institutional, personal, and societal). The second identifiable theme relates to the value of a disability perspective in teaching subjects at the intersection of disability studies. Finally, and maybe most subtly, there is a conversation about the broader value of disability perspectives in the classroom, ranging from conversations on our acute awareness of building universal design into our courses to the strategies we use in navigating the world (and our classrooms in those worlds) within our own bodies that have had profound effects on students, which could be used by all faculty to enhance student learning.
This webinar invites conversation around these three themes, encouraging scholars with and without disabilities to share their stories to build community and inclusivity in our professions and to celebrate the value of the disability perspective in our classrooms.
This is the first in a four-part webinar series organized by the Status Committee on People with Disabilities in our Professions. The second in the series will be on UDL 3.0 and will take place in late July.