MAKING THE SHIFT
Conversation Kit #1
When they’re designing a building, architects do not know each individual who will use the space and what unique needs each individual will bring. Instead, architects plan ahead using information about the widest predictable range of users to create a space that works well for everyone. This is the universal design approach that brought things like ramps, closed captioning, and automatic doors into everyday design.
While architects are designers of physical spaces, as professional educators we are designers of learning spaces. In this module, we'll be exploring the shift from responding to individual differences in the classroom to designing for systemic differences. We'll explore examples from the built, digital, and learning environments. This shift, from response to design, from the individual to the environment, is a key shift to using a UDL approach.
LEARNING GOAL
Shift from thinking about accommodations for individual learners with disabilities to thinking about designing for a variety of learners.
DISCUSS
Think about a time a product or place wasn’t accessible or usable for you. What did you have to do to work around it? How could it have been designed differently to make it more accessible and useable?
Many learners deal with learning spaces and environments that aren’t accessible or useable to them. They must ask for “retrofits” (aka accommodations) to make the environment work for them. What are some common retrofits that students ask for? How do those retrofits make the learning environment more accessible or usable for students?
How could you plan to design, not just respond, to a wider range of learners?
READ
Here is the definition of disability from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:
“Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental,
intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers
may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis
with others.”
Here is the definition of disability from StudentAidBC:
“Permanent disability means a functional limitation caused by a physical or mental impairment that restricts the person’s ability to participate in post-secondary studies or in the labor force, and that is expected to remain for the person’s natural life”.
What stands out to you in each definition?
What similarities or differences do you notice from each definition?
Why does the interaction of an individual with barriers so important in the built environment and the learning environment?
WATCH
In this YouTube video, Social Model Animation, the narrator shares a story about an environment that is designed without the able-bodied in mind.
In this video, how do the individual and the environment interact to create disability?
How does this perspective shift or confirm your thinking about disability and environments?
DO
Explain how disability is caused by the interaction between a person and their environment and provide three examples. Use visuals, pictures, or other ways of explaining this concept.
REFLECT AND EXTEND
When working with students with disabilities, how much do you respond and how much do you plan ahead?
What resources, knowledge, strategies, partnerships would support you planning more intentionally for students with disabilities?
How do you anticipate this planning would impact student access? Student learning? Student engagement?
How do you anticipate this planning would impact your teaching? Assessment quality? Prep time? Materials and media?