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ACCESSIBILITY & UNIVERSAL DESIGN IN HIGHER EDUCATION

By Nicole Schroeder, PhD Candidate

Corcoran Department of History GHSA Pedagogy Conference

August 18, 2020

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LEARNING GOALS

  1. Ableism is NOT rare in higher education
  2. Ableism prevents the full inclusion of students, faculty, and staff on Grounds
  3. Accommodations help disabled students, but they are not the sole solution to ableism
  4. Universal Design Learning (UDL) offers guidelines for inclusive, accessible, equitable classrooms

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ABLEISM IS PERVASIVE

  • Higher education has been incredibly slow to evolve
  • Historically we see a rising disabled population, but we’re not seeing disability accepted fully as a minority status
  • Disability continues to be stigmatized

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ABLEISM AFFECTS ALL LEVELS

  • 26% of the population is disabled (CDC)
  • Only 8% of master’s students and 7% of PhD students are reported to have some type of disability (NCES 2009)
  • The latest US Dept of Education report shows that only 3.6% of tenure-track professors are disabled (2004)

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ABLEISM AFFECTS US ALL

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“Universities continue to function to keep certain groups of individuals out of the work force and away from status positions, and away from knowledge and dialogue and power, and not just through admissions.” – Jay Dolmage, Academic Ableism

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IT EFFECTS THOSE WITH THE MOST POWER/PRIVILEGE…

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“For many disabled scholars, the sorts of choices they face around disclosure and negotiating job market accommodations are deeply complex, fraught and, above all, risky. And for none of them is the process easy, uniform or predictable.” (Wanted: Disabled Faculty Members)

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AND IT IS UNLIKELY TO CHANGE

“Only when disabled faculty members are allowed to teach and research unencumbered by a need to advocate for access will students be able to see the possibilities of a career that extends beyond their disability.” (Grigely)

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STAKES AT HAND - DATA

  • Despite underreporting, disabled students securing accommodations made up at least 20% of the student body from 2015-2016 (U.S. Department of Education, 2019)
  • Even though disabled students are entering colleges, they are far more likely than their peers to drop out of school
  • See #WhyDisabledPeopleDropOut for individuals student stories

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STAKES AT HAND - DATA

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Only 13% of US citizens over age 25 with a disability have a bachelor’s degree or higher, as opposed to 31% of US citizens over age 25 without a disability – US Census

Disabled Students Earning Bachelor’s or Higher

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STAKES AT HAND - DATA

  • 2/3 of students with disabilities who enroll are unable to complete their degree within six years” (Smith)

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  • Disabled students are likely to have up to 60% more student debt by the time they graduate (Mohamed)

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RISK/REWARD BALANCE

Risk

  • More likely to drop out
  • More likely to go into debt
  • Will face ableism
  • Will be disjointed from care networks
  • will have to find new health care providers
  • Will have to work out accommodations with each professor

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Reward

  • Chance to attend college
  • Chance at social mobility

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STAKES AT HAND - DATA

  • An estimated 2/3 of disabled college students “don’t receive accommodations simply because their colleges don’t know about their disabilities” (Grasgreen)
  • Even when students disclose, they struggle to access meaningful accommodations. Disability services are underfunded “the average annual DS office budget was $257,289 a year”
  • 1:80 ratio of disability service staff to students (Harbour)

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UVA

  • Undergraduate student body: 16,777
  • Estimated 20% of students are disabled
  • 20% of 16,777 = 3,355 disabled students on campus
  • If we take our funding average for accommodations and divide by the number of disabled students (257,289/3,355) we get our total spending
  • UVa average spending per disabled student - $77

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STAKES AT HAND - OUTCOME

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“When academic institutions respond inadequately to discrimination, mental health symptoms are worse. Providing good support did not seem to lessen mental health symptoms. We recommend that academic institutions focus on prevention of disability-related discrimination rather than providing support only after discrimination happens”

- Lett, Tamaian & Klest

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SO HOW CAN WE HELP?

  • We can normalize the experience of disability & the use of accommodations
    • Provide resources in your syllabus
    • Talk about accommodations on the first day of class
    • Continually send resources and links to SDAC

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DISPEL MYTHS

  • Myth: people will see my medical information
    • Truth: it is illegal for educators to disclose individual accommodations
    • Truth: educators receive NO information about medical diagnoses
  • Myth: I’ll have to disclose to my educator
    • Truth: you don’t need to discuss your health issue or disability at all
  • Myth: I don’t need time and a half, so I don’t need accommodations
    • Truth: Accommodations take many forms

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DISPEL MYTHS

  • Myth: I don’t need time and a half, so I don’t need accommodations
    • Truth: Accommodations take many forms
  • Myth: I’m not “disabled enough” for accommodations
    • Truth: it’s better to secure accommodations when you don’t need them, than midway through the semester

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PROVIDING ACCOMMODATIONS

  • Any Professor or other TA who refuses to grant accommodations is in violation of the law & should be reported to SDAC
  • You can circumvent issues if they arise with your Professor by handling accommodations yourself (you will likely be responsible for them anyway)

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PROVIDE ACCOMMODATIONS

  • Do not disclose the disability status of anyone in classroom to anyone but your Professor (who already knows)
  • Communicate individually with disabled students, do not send chain emails
    • This is a frequent mistake when scheduling quiet test areas
  • Get a notetaker early in the semester and check that their notes are good
  • Communicate with student frequently to check that accommodations are working

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MOVING BEYOND ACCOMMODATIONS

  • Accommodations offer the FOUNDATION for inclusion
  • Depending on accommodations is a mistake
    • Medical diagnosis is inaccessible for many students
      • Medical racism and sexism is rampant and prevents many from securing dx
      • Testing for learning disabilities is incredibly expensive
      • Screening has been halted or postponed during COVID-19
  • Accommodations DO NOT COVER immunocompromised students

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INCLUSIVITY AND UDL

  • Universal Design Learning absolves the need for most accommodations. If our classes are designed to be fully accessible, more of our students will find them inclusive.

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  • Note: accommodations like screen readers and accessible tech are still important within the UDL model

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WHAT IS UDL?

  • UDL is a “framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning”
  • Model includes three main goals for learners:
    • 1. Students are purposeful and motivated
    • 2. Students are resourceful and knowledgeable
    • 3. Students are strategic and goal directed

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BACKWARD DESIGN

  • Reassess our class design from goals backwards
    • Do my assessments prove that students have met class goals?
    • What kinds of activities set up the skills I will assess?
    • What kind of classroom policies are needed to engage students in activities and assessments?

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OTHER QUESTIONS

  • Is my class accessible? Consider your
      • Materials
      • Daily activities
      • Assessments
      • Communication models

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UDL FEATURES

  • Emphasis on flexibility and individuality
  • Pushes us to see students as individual learners,
  • Reminds us that students have different:
      • Experiences
      • Privileges
      • Skill sets

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UDL AND COVID-19

  • UDL is particularly flexible to accommodating new challenges of the pandemic
  • We need to reassess classroom policies for online teaching
      • Excused absences
      • Flexible deadlines
      • Equitable testing measures

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ENGAGING CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

  • Vary activities week to week
  • Imagine new types of engagement
  • Make use of collaborative online tools
      • Use MindMup to make mind maps
      • Use Timeline JS by Knight Lab for timelines

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USE THE “UNESSAY”

  • The “Unessay” has become a popular assignment since 2012
  • Goal:
    • Ask the student to come up with the topic
    • NO PROMPT
    • Allow them to design a project centered around that topic

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SOME EXAMPLES OF THE “UNESSAY”

  • Write memoirs from the perspective a historical character
  • Curate a digital archive using Omeka
  • Plan and produce a podcast episode
  • Draw a comic book or graphic novel like Ghost River
  • Write an op-ed or book review
  • Design a board game

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ACCESSIBLE MATERIALS

  • Remove inaccessible materials from the course
  • Check all of your written materials for accessibility issues
  • Check your PDF readings for accessibility
  • Use UVA’s Accessibility Coordinator, library services, and SDAC
  • Ask for help, share success

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ACADEMIC ASSUMPTIONS

  • Microaggressions are often tied to the performative nature of academic work
    • We privilege certain forms of communication above others
    • We front certain standards of professionalism
    • We value certain behaviors over others

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CONCLUSION

Do you care whether your students are learning or not? Or do you care about the performativity of learning?

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SOURCES AS APPEAR IN TEXT

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