Twenty four percent of first-year university students in Canada self-declare as having a disability, most commonly related to mental health (Canadian University Survey Consortium, 2019).
That 24% is in stark contrast to the 6-9% of students who get help.
We have a generation of students who are much more likely to experience higher education as disabling, and much less likely to seek help (NCHA 2018).
Under the medical model, we focus on cataloguing and inventorying and centering medical impairments or differences that should then be ‘fixed’ or changed by medical and other treatments.
The medical model looks at what is ‘wrong’ with the person and not what the person needs.
The other model that powerfully interacts with the medical model on campus is what I would call a legal model of disability.
The legal model only recognizes medical framings of disability, and the legal model is the only way to access rights (and resources).
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Steep Steps: Monsters University
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Steep Steps: Monsters University
�“Access” at the University of Hull�
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Identifying
Barriers
In a pre-pandemic study of engineering students with disabilities at the University of Illinois, results from 303 responses from 49 different courses showed that students with disabilities have always, well before the pandemic, been asking for:
Recorded lectures as videos, transcripts for these videos and for lectures, as well as course textbook and instructor notes/slides that they could engage with offline (Amos et. Al.)
These are all things we began to offer quite broadly during COVID.
Universal Design:�CMHR Exterior�
Universal Design:�CMHR Interior�
Universal Design For Learning:��Multiple means of representation, to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge;� �Multiple means of expression, to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know;� �Multiple means of engagement, to tap into learners' interests, offer appropriate challenges, and increase motivation.��
��Academic Ableism in Open Access version here:�https://www.press.umich.edu/9708836/academic_ableism��List of Universal Design ideas for teaching:�https://bit.ly/3f7zn8p��Lots of linked resources at:�www.beyondaccommodation.wordpress.com���