Unhiding Ableism in Education

Conscious and unconscious ableism in technology-integrated learning presents in many ways. It can show up in our digital practices – our digital skills, choices and actions. It can be found in course design, assessment design, as well as our curation and communication workflows. It can also influence technology-integrated learning research design and research dissemination.

The antidote to ableism is critical questioning of our taken-for-granted practices.

A crumbling concrete wall with a surveilance camera and ivy growing up it represents the academic integrity in the Academy

The Academy has become a disabling workplace for many educators and learners.

The pace at which technology changes is dizzying. Many feel unstable and unsupported to keep up.

Rather than supporting the learning community to develop more accessible digital praxis and more critical and liberatory relationships with learning technology, the Academy tends to uncritically valourize faculty and learners who work at the bleeding edge.

But who isn’t able to work there? For whom is it even meaningful to work there? And what does continuously pushing people to the bleeding edge do to a community?

Faculty burnout and academic integrity are the most pressing teaching and learning challenges at post-secondary institutions across Canada.”

Johnson, N. (2023). An Increasing Demand for Technology Use in Teaching and Learning: 2023 Pan-Canadian Report on Digital Learning Trends in Canadian Post-Secondary Education. Canadian Digital Learning Research Association.

Even and especially in this context, critical questions are tools for change.

Does educator workload trump accessible teaching and learning practices?

Very often, yes. So what do we do with that?

Sticky Notes on a Laptop and all over a desk. One posted in the middle of the laptop screen reads help.

Does educator workload trump accessible teaching and learning practices?

Very often, yes. With an untenable workload, educators have to prioritize. Those priorities can reflect both the ableist values of the institution and the precarity many educators feel. The development of accessible practices within HE relies on faculty and other staff having the knowledge and skills necessary to change and improve what they do; therefore,…
close up of a Brown Mosquito on a person's shirt, signifies annoyance

Inconvenience

The ad hoc accommodations model renders learners an inconvenience.Typically, a learner is responsible for informing the educator at the start of term, if they have been granted academic accommodations.
Art students listen to a student's presentation

Presentation assessment specifies one ICT

Presentation assessments can make a lot of learners nervous. They be made more accessible to all learners when learners choose what ICT and presentation format will work best for them.
Two students of colour. One reads on computer one reads a print textbook.

Assuming learners can “figure out” any ICT

Not all learners are able to meaningfully engage with all forms of ICT. Educators can inadvertently create disabling assessment requirements by specifying novel ICT or putting limits on how a learner can operate an ICT.