G. The Place for Disability Representation

One of the questions we were interested in was what it meant to learners to have experiences of disability spoken about openly in the classroom. Was it helpful to have disability representation in classrooms? How could or should that representation look, and did it mean anything in terms of empathy, modeling, or action? Did it mean anything for a sense of safety? A sense of support?

Like pedagogy, the students we spoke with had a lot to say about disability representation, and these thoughts can have dramatic implications for how we recognize disability and fight stigma.

Jenna: There should be actual institutional support for teachers because, you know, I don’t blame them for not knowing, especially if like I, myself, experiencing disability didn’t even know that was disabled. Which actually, like that’s what I do, I educate them just on what disability is at the beginning of every term as I tell them about my own disability because it affects our class but I just hope that through talking about it, they’ll, they seem to be learning more this younger generation about disability but that seems to be like the biggest issue is that there’s just so little understanding as is culturally.

A dominant idea that emerged when asked about disability representation, was the idea that lived experience generates a sense of empathy and softness in approach around disability related barriers.

Chandra captures it most simply: That’s what made them supportive, their own personal experiences.

Chandra: I think my most supportive instructor was the one at my [post-secondary institution], the one who has, uh who is under therapy for depression, and I think her own experiences with the mental health issues has made her more empathic to who I am and how I deal with stuff.

Chandra: I haven’t, I feel like instructors who are able-bodied, they often tend to gaslight you and tell you that it’s all in your head and you just have to have a better attitude or whatever because that’s not what mental health works.

Tal: She was supportive because she also had a disability. Um, and so she really knew, you know, what that’s like. Um, and she was always, she just was really accommodating and would always ask like, ‘Is there any way that I can support you? Is there anything you’re not getting that you need? Is there any way that I can help you with your other professors?’, um, just like she was a really good advocate, and um, she had that lived experience as well.

Tal: We connected over having a disability and like, that added lens to environmental studies. I think just like was a good connecting point.

Rin: The profs and the instructors and the places in the faculty that I have found the most accessibility, are those who actually experienced the most marginalization, whether that’s race or disability or sexuality or gender. Um, and in those spaces, I find that there’s a lot more room for that exploration and rather than the performing, there’s a lot more understanding about, um you know how to make a classroom more inclusive and how to um, kind of put in uh measures to make sure that, not that we’re building safe spaces because we can’t guarantee it’s safe for everyone but that we are um working towards the understanding that there is a whole myriad of experiences that people will come to in this space of higher education but also in our field in practice. Um, those are the spaces that I find that there is the most inclusivity and accessibility, but they are pretty few and far in between.

Stephanie: My most supportive instructor shared that they had dealt with health issues while they completed their post-secondary education. Because of this, they posted their lectures online and made themselves very available for extra help. They were also very open to adjusting the course presentation and distribution of marks. I felt safe and supported in this class because I felt like the instructor wanted us to be successful.

A question we wanted to explicitly investigate in this research was the relationship between instructors with disabilities and disabled students. We were interested to know what it meant to convey disability-related information through pedagogy. This could take different shapes. In some cases, students with disabilities taking courses on disability learned about their own diagnosis and reflected on their lived experience as in Samantha’s case:

The main topics we learn about are autism and learning disabilities and that type of thing and like Down’s Syndrome. And so, them teaching me about autism has really made me feel supported because I received my autism diagnosis many years ago, but I realized during this course I didn’t really know anything about it. … and so my teachers have been really supportive in helping me understand what it is, helping me with more self-acceptance.

For Jenna, having an instructor who also had a disability meant that the terms of meeting were flexible to accommodate both. For Jenna, this meant any guilt she felt at having to rearrange meetings was alleviated since both her and her instructor engaged together in changing meeting times.

He has, like, more accessibility issues than I do, particularly around built environments, … and we would both come in with issues where like we need to meet and he would initiate having to miss our meeting, I would initiate, so, even just having the recognition of someone else being the one to disrupt our regular meeting was really nice because I think you really internalize a lot of guilt in doing that.

In other cases, students spoke about the importance of relationships with instructors, using words like kind, nice, and understanding. What this translates to, in other words, is the willingness and ability on the part of the instructor/professor to acknowledge that additional barriers are present for students with disabilities, particularly when they are managing chronic physical and mental health conditions. In fact, one of the key suggestions that came through from students was talking through barriers and using kind language, such as in Sue’s and Aleema’s cases:

Sue: I think also if a professor was able to kind of communicate that like, you know that people with disability, or people who are struggling or people who need extra support to come and talk to them, I think that’s like a very critical thing because I think at least for me, it’s really important for me to have connections with the people that I’m learning from.

Aleema: Simply in the use of their words and the kindness that they could convey within their words, um how simply in the things they say they could like bring you crashing down or like give you so much hope and lift you up. Um, they could make such a difference in simply things they say, even if they don’t know the story, they don’t know every single detail behind it.

Claire had an instructor whose supports took the form of technological and institutional accommodations and even questions about building and managing a life:

Every time you have a question or before class I would show up like five minutes early and just be like, Oh my gosh, can you look at my laptop with me I don’t care if you see my banking information just help me with this and I feel like I have a life question, she’s like “What’s your life question?” I’m like yes, I need help with this banking information, she’s just very open and accessible.

Josh: I had a mental health burnout thing that first class I took with her, and she was just absolutely understanding and wonderful to make sure that I could still pass the class so she was great. She was guiding us a bit too because we’re like what do we do.

Vivian: They asked me what I needed instead of assuming what I needed.

Tal: I think she was really good at like, outside of class, I think, forming that connection and being a really good advisor, and I could always ask her questions and I felt very comfortable with that. Um, so I think it was, like a mix of a really good in-class environment, and also having that time outside of class as well to um, talk with her and get to know her.

Ramona: When I handed her my official accommodations form, I also explained my medical condition and what she could expect during class (potentially me looking very ill, leaving the room promptly to lay down in the hallway or go to the bathroom). I also said I was happy to answer any questions. The instructor did ask a few questions, like how often these episodes happen, if it would help me to be able to lay down inside the classroom instead of leaving, etc. I felt like she really cared and wanted to make sure I was as comfortable as possible. She also never gave me any shit about the accommodations or missing class when I needed to. She even sent someone to check on me once in the hall when I was gone for a while.