elizabeth brewer » community » implications
Implications and recommendations
One of the benefits of building classrooms that are safer spaces is that there are tangible steps we can take to do this right now. We as individual instructors can consider how our attitudes could be more welcoming to students, and we can make a commitment to routinely re-evaluate our pedagogy. While we may not have the power in our institutions to immediately make structural changes like widening entranceways and remediating PDFs, we can start to approach our classrooms with the attitude of making them safer spaces. We still need structural changes, but an attitude that expects and welcomes disabled minds and bodies into our classrooms and offices is also needed. Some suggestions for practical ways we can begin making our classrooms safer spaces are below.
- Think about the language we use—Does it reflect an assumption that some of our students are disabled? For example, we might stop using the words like “insane” or “lame” lightly, and remember that these terms are not neutral and our classrooms are not neutral spaces either.
- Consider going beyond a brief mention of the Office for Disability Services—Spend more time explaining the resources that are available to students, including counseling services and peer groups. This communicates that we are happy to provide accommodations to students and are not unwillingly doing so. (Tara Wood and Sharon Madden's PraxisWiki piece on "Suggested Practices for Syllabus Accessibility Statements" elsewhere in this issue is of use here.)
- Check in on students who may be missing classes or seem to be having difficulty—Let students know that they are part of the classroom community and that their absence is noticed. This indicates that they are a welcome part of the group.
- Make expectations transparent—As much as possible, clarify any ambiguous or perhaps even unstated expectations that students will be held to (such as participation and how you understand what it means to participate). This kind of openness is a sign that students’ needs and perspectives are valued.
- Be willing to consider alternative assignment formats—It is often the case that the learning objectives for an assignment can be met in more than one way. Consider the format that assignments are required to be in and locate opportunities for students to decide the ways in which they compose (in written, oral, visual, or multimodal forms) and the ways in which they participate (in written or oral forms).
