Disability

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Blogging Task 1- Disability

This Blog is a work in progress, I am using it as a way to process my thoughts and my learning. I will continue to edit and update it.

How could you apply the resources to your own teaching practice?

Through my reading, I’m more aware of how some some disabilities might not always be visual and that some students might choose to not disclose information about themselves. It is important to never assume that everyone’s experience of learning is the same. I think as a tutor it’s important to be aware of the issues that some students might be facing and to teach with his in mind.

In Christine Sum Kims film, I love the idea of her ‘reclaiming sound as her property’ even though her way of engaging with it is different from ours. She feels sound rather than hears it. I love the idea that we can all experience things in different ways all the time, and that people shouldn’t just be presumed to not be able to experience something due to their disability.

In the social model of disability it says ‘we are not disabled by our individual differences, we are disabled by the the barriers in the world around us’. This is so poignant, as changes can be made in the buildings, attitudes and of course, the courses we teach. But representing these attitudes in our teaching we can inform change and greater understanding and inclusion.

In my teaching I try to facilitate an environment of sitting along side my students, that they feel there is a relationship of trust. I like to make myself available in an informal manor. Since teaching moved online we have lost the ‘packing up at the end of the session chat with students or the talk down the corridor’. I found that this was often the time when students found a safe informal space that created and opportunity to share. I try to replicate this in my online teaching by being the last one to leave the session and to hang around incase anyone has something they wish to discuss. Occasionally, students have stayed on and shared personal information that affects their learning. I think the issue of mental health has been one that has become more prevalent this year. This is a delicate subject with no visual signposts and one that students don’t often want others, even tutors, to know about. I think the article Mental Health & Creative Healing by Shades of Noir, on mental health highlighted some of the things we as tutor can look out for eg- attendance, building rapport with students and highlighting support services that the University offers, for all the student to accessed if they need to. I try to support the students, by show that we are all have different ways of learn, engage and relate. When giving feedback to be mindful of how I/we deliver it, to be supportive and kind.

How could you integrate the research/work your students do on this subject into your teaching/professional practice?

I think I could incorporate but asking for feedback, how they felt about a unit, if they encountered anything that I could imporve on in the future. to let them know we are all on the journey and that I don’t always have all the answers and wish to learn from them too. That it’s a cycle of ‘to and fro’ .

To check-in and highlight that things can be though and this might affect them at different time but give the resource of space to be able to reach-out if they struggle. On the course I teach, most of the students are from overseas and resource from county to country might differ but also their coping mechanism can change. Not having family and friends to help, meeting new people, anxiety and loneliness can all be unknown feelings.

Mental health and wellbeing is very much a topic that is now being acknowledged and discussed in the UK, this can still be a taboo in many cultures. These are areas that for some of my students could be deemed as ‘hidden or unspoken or misunderstood’.

It not just mental health, in many countries being disabled is treated badly with no support or respect. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-33523742) What we teach can impact everyone and change the conversation.

Can you cite examples? You will share your thoughts within your groups and comment and share further resources you use in your own context.

Christine Sum Kim

Christine Sum Kim is fascinating expression of how, as a deaf, person she has chosen to reclaim sound. She is a visual artist who works with concepts around sound and visual language. She has been deaf since birth, but she deals with sound as a medium that can be physically expressive, communicative, and experienced viscerally. In her work she sets out to ask asks audiences ‘to consider the role that sound and listening have in building an experience of both inner and outer worlds and the way that touch can inform listening and language’.

#DisabilityTooWhite article

This article on Vilissa Thompson talks about the need to diversify disability, and that people are colour should be equally represented, be part of the conversation and for there to be a wider support for their voices. The lack of a media representation makes it hard for people to understand what it’s like to be a person of colour and disabled. By the the media industry highlighting the portrayal of disabled actors and actresses it will allow then to be more visual and enable them to tell their stories. She goes on to-say that when the media does represent people of colour its usually as a ‘charity model’. The lack of representation hinders the ability to belong as a person of colour and as a disabled person.

Mental Health & Creative Healing by Shades of Noir

This was a really insightful guide to many different aspects to mental health, from the key terms that are used to distinguish the types of mental health disorders to addressing depression, anxiety and safe space. I found the essay on ‘key advice for tutors’ a simple yet powerful way on how we can acknowledge, support and address mental health with our students. I will use this in the future and dip into it throughout my teaching as it gives me ideas and reminders as to how we can help and how we all need support even tutors.