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Today is International Day of people with disabilities. I want to write a thread about something that’s been on my mind.
I teach science, with mandatory practical components. For students on campus that’s 2-3 hour weekly labs. For online students,a 3-4 day intensive school. 1/8
I teach science, with mandatory practical components. For students on campus that’s 2-3 hour weekly labs. For online students,a 3-4 day intensive school. 1/8
Now I’m not going to argue that practical experience isn’t necessary (yes I want my students to have lab skills and it’s where so much learning happens etc. etc. I know) but these mandatory components are a big barrier to students with disabilities (not the only barrier!) 2/8
We make “reasonable adjustments” to try and make it work - but at the end of the day if someone has a disability that prevents them travelling and spending 3-4 intense days in a lab doing pracs, they’re not going to meet course requirements. 3/8
I’ve seen students forced to leave because of this. Students who are otherwise completely capable but can’t overcome this hurdle of mandatory prac work, work experience or similar. But no, we can’t make exceptions - everyone has to follow the same rules. 4/8
Anyway, come 2020 and COVID, suddenly it turns out that maybe it’s not always necessary to complete mandatory lab work. Maybe students can meet course requirements/learning outcomes via alternative activities after all.....maybe the rules are more flexible than we thought... 5/8
So my question is, why can’t we make these adjustments normally for students who need them? Funnily enough, much like a one size fits all hat never fits my head, our one size fits all models of education don’t work for everyone. 6/8
We say we want science to be more diverse and more inclusive, but from day 1 our systems and rules tell people with disabilities “nah, this isn’t for you, you can’t do this”. And those that are bold enough to try have to fight for themselves the whole way. 7/8
Anyway, for #IDPWD2020 I want to shout out particularly to all those #DisabledinSTEM folks who’ve had the system tell them no, and gone ahead and done it anyway. I can’t pretend to understand what it’s like, but I’m listening, and will do what I can to change things. 8/8
