Blog Task 1: Disability

Christine Sun Kim 

This video highlighted to me how much I take my ability to hear for granted; it also showed me how a disability (whether hearing or otherwise) can be used to make us aware of an individual’s experience of the world. In terms of how this could be applied to my own teaching practice, it is important for me to continue to develop an awareness that my students have a range of abilities but also experience the world differently (whether due to a disability or not), to be empathetic of this and highlight practices, such as Christine’s so that they are aware that there is work being produced around topics that might be of interest to them. The latter is something I need to develop further as a teacher. One way that I believe I could do this is by introducing students to projects by practitioners with disabilities. I try to highlight a diverse range of practices at the start of project briefs but must admit that more effort needs to be made on my part to show practioners with disabilities. 

UAL Disability Service Webpage 

This was a fantastic opportunity for me to become aware of the services that UAL offers to students with disabilities. I found the Social Model for Disability quite powerful, especially its aim to change the environment around the disabled as opposed to trying to change the individual. I felt that overall, the content on the page was a good start to highlighting the services that are available to students but do not think that all the information is easily accessible or digestible. Given that this information is for individuals who are disabled, restructuring it in a way that is more accessible might be helpful. The Scope site more clearly articulates information: https://www.scope.org.uk/about-us/social-model-of-disability. 

Thinking about the accessibility of content of the UAL page makes me think of how we structure, word, and design our briefs on MA Graphic Communication Design. I would like to think that they are structured in a straightforward way, but I cannot say if an individual who is neuro diverse is able to digest the document the same as someone who is not. It would be a good idea to share our briefs with someone at UAL Disability Services to see what they think.

DisabilityTooWhite 

This article highlighted to me the importance of having conversations about diversity in disability but also articulates the importance of having disabled individuals in roles in the media. These actions would help to acknowledge that disabled people are able to participate in any role a non-disabled person can. Secondly, this article shows how social media can be used to engage in conversations about these topics and bring to light issues regarding disability in media. 

When reflecting on this article and thinking about it from the perspective of my teaching, I realise that I am not having conversations regarding disability with my students and that they are not necessarily mentioning issues related to this in tutorials. As the article states, it is important to have these conversations and I feel that part of my role as Lecturer is to give room for students to voice their thoughts should issues related to diversity arise. Some students have done projects regarding mental health issues, and this has opened great conversations around this during tutorials. There seems to be a stigma associated with disability and perhaps that is why students feel uncomfortable bringing it up in class. 

Deaf Accessibility for Spoonies 

This article really highlighted to me the journey of a woman’s experience of getting the medical attention that she needs and the hardship that she has gone through to get it (due to race and gender judgments) as well as how she has used her art to show people the hidden pain that she experiences. It also speaks about acceptance of oneself and sharing of our experiences. This vulnerability and bravery is important as it opens a dialogue about disabilities, but also helps people feel less alone. Vulnerability is also an important part of being a student, being able to express your thoughts and ideas freely. But this vulnerability can sometimes be a product of confidence, and it is the more confident of my students that are the most expressive. Part of my role as a teacher is to reinforce and build confidence in my students in the hope that they can express themselves as meaningfully as Khairani 

Portrayal of Disability in Film (pg. 200) 

The main point that came out from this article for me was that it is not the place of the non-disabled to dictate whether content depicting a disability is offensive or not. Even though it was not the intention of Lupita Nyong’o to cause offense, creating a villain with a disability perpetuates negative ideas towards disabled individuals. It thus becomes important for the media and those who work in it to develop an awareness of how seemingly small actions can have an impact on a wider group of people. 

One of my students explored an excerpt of a documentary regarding the bombing of Hiroshima and how that had an impact on the people of that region. There were many individuals who became disabled from that event; however, she did not explore this point of view, she had a more macro perspective of the event. As a teacher I should have encouraged her to at least look at the personal perspective of individuals effected by the bombing, just so that she would have had a more thorough understanding of the impact such events leave on the individual as well as the population.