Wow! What great presenters we had in our EDT 517 class. Nancy and Luis are two people who face challenges in their environment. They both had disabilities that vary from one another but DO NOT let that interfere with their lives. They are positive role models who are changing the way others think of special education and the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and accessibility for all.
Nancy provided me with some information that I found interesting that I am going to share with you. Nancy lives in Canada and their people with disabilities are one out of seven were here in the United States we have one out of four persons who have a disability. I thought that was interesting. I like when Nancy said, "accessibility is sort of like being asked to join the party and inclusion is being asked to dance." This quote speaks volumes and portrays these two categories appropriately. Nancy has a physical disability and has a wheelchair so this is an adjustment in her lifestyle she is adapting to as well as using assistive technology on her apple watch that detects if she has fallen. Nancy left us with some fails she has experienced as well or that we have failed as a community. Nancy was trying to go into a store but the sign stated: "wheelchair ramp inside." This does no justice for a person in a wheelchair who is independent. This goes to show we still have a ways to go with adapting our environment for all.
Luis has a big role with UDL. Luis also has a visual impairment. Luis made me realize I was doing things the wrong way when I thought it was right. I tend to say "person with" rather than identifying the disability first. It was nice having this input from an insiders perspective and I will be more aware when writing. I like when Luis said, "one size fits none." How true is that? I thought it was informative that Luis works at CAST which is the creator of the UDL guidelines. Luis also stated that accessibility is a modern-day civil rights issue. People are still fighting for equity to this day. A take away I had from Luis' presentation was using grackle in google docs. This program has an accessibility check and shows users how to improve their work to include accessibility. I think that is vital and should be utilized by all.
I enjoyed both the presenters and the information provided. I hope you learned some new things as well!
Hi Meghan!
ReplyDeleteI had that thought about the "person first" language too. I feel like that is one area that keeps changing. I graduated with my special education degree in 2013 and the language changed several times while I was in college, and since my B.S. I do not work primarily as a special education teacher, so it is hard to keep up! I understood what Luis was saying, and while I agree with him, I think that you also have to know your audience. Different schools and even different sets of parents seem to have different policies for what they want to hear. I think that as long as you are modeling your language off of others where you work, you will be fine.
I also liked how you included Luis' quote, "one size fits none." I completely agree with that too! Every students without IEPs often require models and accommodations. This week I am working on my unit plan for Dr. Penny's class, and really benefited from having the model he provided. it showed me how others interpreted the same assignment and gave me some ideas for what I could do. I need to remember to do this more with my students. They need to see examples and models of how to do the work required.
Hi Meghan,
ReplyDeleteI thought Nancy and Luis were great guest speakers too! Like you highlighted, they both have such a personal interest in accessibility and UDL because they both live with a disability. It definitely provides us another standpoint- if I was walking down the street I don't know if I would have even noticed a sign saying wheelchair ramp available inside, but that is clearly such an inconvenience to someone in a wheel chair and takes away independence.
I was glad you brought up the Grackle add-on for google docs that Luis spoke about. That was something I had never heard of before his presentation but it is such a cool feature available on google docs. His presentation made me a lot more aware of the visual layout/color scheme of papers and also the importance of adding text descriptions of pictures and utilizing headings appropriately. There are so many different resources that are available to promote accessibility and I’m glad we are learning some to bring to our school!
Great post!
-Mary Kate