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http://technorhetoric.net/18.1/coverweb/yergeau-et-al/pages/index.html

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Most of my sources are attached to each block, but here are some others that contributed to this Photoessay:

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Most of my sources are attached to each block, but here are some others that contributed to this Photoessay:

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•http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/section-504/

•http://www.uwyo.edu/udss/campus-access-resources/transitioning.html

•http://www.pacer.org/publications/adaqa/504.asp

•https://www.berry.edu/uploadedFiles/Website/Academics/Academic_Affairs/Faculty_Resources/Academic_Disability_Support/_Assets/Documents/DISABILITY%20SERVICES_faculty_2.pdf

•http://www.spcollege.edu/central/hr/accommodations_manual.htm#psych

•http://www.udlcenter.org/sites/udlcenter.org/files/UDLinPostsecondary.pdf

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In June of 2014, I was on my bike riding home from our rental house. I was not wearing a helmet. I have no idea what happened, but I woke up at Medical Center of The Rockies (MCR). I could not answer any of the questions that were asked, and did not know where I was. I had suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that was not severe but moderate. Long story short, I was transferred to Craig Hospital in Lakewood. A former 35 year old (at that time) Reading and English teacher who could no longer read or write was petrifying.

I suffered from “conduction aphasia” on my left side, which is responsible for reading, writing, speaking, and parts of the memory. Just in the last months I can say some words without slurring them and my speech sometimes does not come out like it should with certain words. Especially after a long work day.

I am a privileged white male, and my privileges were taken away in June and July of 2014. Mentally, I knew what I could do, but people around me constantly told me when and where I need to be, go, and do. I was forced to listen and do what I was told because if I did not, I would be forced to leave Craig Hospital and insurance would not pay for anything.

I was locked in a wheel chair; I had to sleep in a bed for the first month where I was locked in at night (Posey bed); I had to ask to go to the bathroom and needed a nurse or my wife to bathe and shower me, even though I knew I could do those things on my own; I was required to be in line of sight, everyday; I could not go anywhere without permission or my wife to go outside; I had to ask permission if I could leave my room; I had to prove I could spend a budget at the grocery store and cook, wash dishes, and prove I could be independent. I was basically one of the students whom I advocated for since I entered the field of Education and now I had a label.

In comparison to what I saw happen to individuals, families, and the effects that TBI can cause and destroy families, I consider myself lucky. I am lucky to be here, and understand that many people suffer more than I ever have. I am lucky and worked hard to get where I am at today. Doctors, nurses, and physicians told me and my wife (behind closed doors) these things were not possible.

I get motivated when people tell me I cannot do something, or that I do not care. I care more now than ever, and feel I have a purpose to help change labeling and judgmental people that deal with students.You can never asses or judge anyone without being in their shoes. Teachers have a duty, and their duty is to never assume anything about students they do not know or what they have been through.

I will often tell this story to students who walk into my classroom and state that they hate to read and/or write. I had to work hard to come back to be able to do those things. When you lose an ability or something tragic happens, you have to learn something. For about a month in 2014, I lost that ability of agency and being able to read, write, and communicate effectively.

This semester (Fall 2016) in my English Composition Class at FRCC, I told the story again because students told me how they hated reading, writing, and English class. At the end of the story, a student approached me and asked:

“Did you have black shorts on and sandals by the movie theater?” He described the location and place.

He and his wife were the ones that found me, parked their car in front of where I was laying so I would not be run over, and they called 911. My student was the one who saved my life and found me. He said the blood was already coagulating and I was motionless.

As he told me this story, I could not move or breathe. I wanted to cry but realized this was a sign. Since I got out of Craig Hospital, I have been determined to go 180 mph in everything I do, and now it is my duty to advocate for people who face barriers. I need to start slowing down a bit, but I am here because of my student, and I accept that I have a disability. It takes me longer to do things than ever before, but my passion and desire of an educator is so much stronger and better than ever before. It is important to get to know students, people, and understand what it is like to walk in their shoes. Pedagogy in education needs to understand that not all students will identify themselves, but equal access and the way we teach needs to be UNIVERSAL. Universal in terms of scaffolding, explaining, modeling, and breaking down barriers for students who have had labels or told they are different.

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Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado, is a world-renowned rehabilitation hospital that exclusively specializes in the neuro-rehabilitation and research of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and traumatic brain injury (TBI)....

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ADA and
Universal Design in Post secondary
& “Best Practice”  in all settings, especially reading and writing:

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ADA and
Universal Design in Post secondary
& “Best Practice”  in all settings, especially reading and writing:

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•Universal design in architecture for all people is providing curb cuts, ramps, automatic doors, & accessible bathrooms.

•Look at everyone in your classroom as equal, but instruct in various ways for learning.

•Collaborate with all people, and in every department at your place of work and classroom.

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I designed this workshop for the CUNY Graduate Center's English program orientation for new teachers, held on August 25th, 2015. It was designed to give a 50-minute introduction to the principles of Universal Design for Learning and to help first-time teachers think about how they apply to their writing-intensive humanities courses. Please feel free to use it and adapt it as you see fit. And, of course, comments are welcome either in the box below or by email.
Part 1: Confronting our beliefs about ability, inclusion, and access

I want to start our conversation today with some guiding questions.

What do we expect our students to know when they arrive in our classrooms?

What do we expect them to be able to do? Do we imagine "baseline abilities"?

What aspects of our courses do we expect them to find challenging?

What aspects of our courses do we expect them to find impossible?

Prompt: Freewrite for five minutes in response to the following question. Andrew will keep track of time, just follow the ideas wherever they take you, even if it takes you off topic:
What do you believe about these things that students find challenging or impossible? When do we recognize a shift between challenging students and shutting them out?

Part 2: Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design (UD) describes an inclusive design movement originated in fields of architecture and consumer product design. The idea is that when most people sit down to design a building or an object, they start by imagining a typical user, often a user very similar to the person doing the designing.

Think about airplane seats. The designers of most airplane seats, throughout the history of that technology, have put strict constraints on the shape and size of their designs. We can look at the seat and imagine, with some surety, who the designers envisioned as their end user-what abilities and personal needs they would be expected to have.

The UD movement approaches design anticipating, at the onset, the widest possible range of users. This requires designers to anticipate what aspects of their design might impose barriers for full participation.

While so far I've been talking about UD as an architecture and design movement, UD has become a motivating imperative in the areas of web design, information design, and, of course, classroom design. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) describes an approach to classroom and pedagogical design that attempts to anticipate and invite the widest possible range of students into full and equal participation.

The UDL approach boils down to three main principles (all of which are covered in great detail, and for a range of educational settings, by the National Center for UDL):

Multiple means of representation, to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge,

Multiple means of expression, to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know,

Multiple means of engagement, to tap into learners' interests, offer appropriate challenges, and increase motivation. (Dolmage 2015)

The goals of these three principles are to create classrooms and pedagogies that work equitably for all students. In a moment, we'll think more closely about how these principles apply to our work as writing or humanities teachers.

Part 3: UDL in the Writing and Humanities Classroom

Think about these components of your class:

1. How do you communicate with your students?

What kinds of texts are they required to read?

What kind of multi-media texts are they required to read?

How, other than "reading," can students learn important ideas from the class?

2. How do you expect students to demonstrate what they know?

What kinds of assignments are students doing for a grade?

How are you evaluating their success on these assignments?

What alternatives are you offering in terms of using other media or literacies?

How are students expected to understand the criteria for evaluating the success of their products?

3. How do you allow for multiple kinds of engagement?

What avenues of "participation" are open to students who are shy, asocial, or uncomfortable in class?

What options do you give students to choose their work based on their interest and abilities?

What opportunities do you give students to tell you how they learn best?

In the time that remains, I want to get us brainstorming and problem solving together. Take the notecard I provided and write on it a question that you want answered about UDL and how it might apply to your work in the classroom this semester. Once you have written your question, you will work in small groups to crowdsource answers and compare your concerns with others. The most pressing questions will come back to the full group for a final wrap-up Q&A

Prompt: What do you want to know more about from this discussion of UDL and teaching? Do you want concrete examples of one kind or another? Do you want to pose a scenario or problem for us to talk through? What do you need before you walk out the door today?
- Write your question on your note card - On the other side of your card, write your name - When you are done, raise your hand or catch Andrew's eye so he knows
[Full notes from this workshop session are available on this google doc, or for download as a Microsoft Word document]

Part 4: Conclusion and Further Reading

Many disability studies scholars have pointed out that the phrase Universal Design sounds utopian. There is no way to truly anticipate all possible users and their unique abilities, vulnerabilities, and needs. Jay Dolmage has described UD as an approach, "[a] way to move" (2015). In that light, I encourage you to continue thinking about the ways your course design might invite the widest possible range of users. Try experiments in flexibility and multiplicity in your assignment design, course policies, and communication practices. Below are some useful resources to get you started.

Jay Dolmage, "Universal Design: Places to Start," Disability Studies Quarterly 35:2 (2015): http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/4632/3946

This short article defines UD approaches and imagines how they apply to our roles as college-level instructors. It also includes a 20+ page appendix of "places to start" for implementing universal design in a wide range of classes, including lecture, discussion, seminar, and lab-based classes.

Patricia Dunn, Talking, Stretching, Moving: Multiple Literacies in the Teaching of Writing, 2001

This book includes excellent assignment ideas for engaging students in diverse learning practices, including play-acting, analysis using picture drawing, hands-on rhetorical outlining, and other techniques that help students with a wide range of cognitive skills succeed at writing. Good to get from ILL, copy out a chapter or two, and try out experiments during the term.

Disability Rhetoric, www.disabilityrhetoric.com

This website serves as a network for composition/rhetoric scholars who work in disability studies. It contains bibliographies, sample syllabi, and a wealth of other resources.

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I designed this workshop for the CUNY Graduate Center's English program orientation for new teachers, held on August 25th, 2015. It was designed to give a 50-minute introduction to the principles of Universal Design for Learning and to help first-time teachers think about how they apply to their writing-intensive humanities courses.

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Brief
list of Accommodations and ideas for creating a good syllabus:

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Brief
list of Accommodations and ideas for creating a good syllabus:

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•Extended time for exams, testing center or rooms, a reader for the exam(s), or a Braille version (and some may have a disability that could require more time; collaboration)

•Note takers who are hired or asked by the instructor (will be their interpretation), copies or recorded lectures, audiotapes for reading, alternative formats of textbooks, and assistive listening devices (Instructor wears a device)

•Some students will need to schedule for classes before everyone else if they need a certain accommodation that could take some time or have a physical need

•Interpreter Services, qualified transcribers, and rentals of equipment from the DSS, and assistive technology programs and computers should be available.

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Though seemingly transparent, the syllabus does much to set the tone for a course and is typically the first textual contact students have with their instructors. As such, syllabi function rhetorically and have consequences in terms of how students understand the classroom atmosphere, what they expect from the teacher's relationship to students, and how they predict the semester will go for them.

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Meet The Normals - Adventures in Universal Design

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Meet The Normals - Adventures in Universal Design

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Meet The Normals - Adventures in Universal Design

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How does ADAAA apply in  Higher Education?

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How does ADAAA apply in  Higher Education?

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•Ensures students with disabilities have “Equal” access to and full participation in post-secondary education to achieve academic success with the appropriate accommodations.

•Instructors are not required or expected to lower teaching standards. You should receive a letter from the Disability Support Services (DSS) that states what the student needs, but does not alter what is expected.

•Students must self-advocate for themselves; they are responsible for selecting their courses, identifying appropriate supports, and monitoring the use of requested accommodations.

•Submit appropriate documentation of their disability each semester, and meet with the Disability Services Office to establish eligibility for services with appropriate forms.

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Composition teachers “need to pay attention to the teaching of composition through the lens of disability studies to remind ourselves of just how much our profession has to learn, and just how much we have been content to ignore.”

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Kairos 18.1: Yergeau et al., Multimodality in Motion - Over There

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This introductory section provides a framework for understanding the six richly textured sections that follow. It is meant as a brief conceptual introduction to the thoughts of six marvelous colleagues (Margaret Price, Stephanie Kerschbaum, Elizabeth Brewer, Melanie Yergeau, Sushil Oswal, Michael Salvo), all of whom explore the insights and perspectives that disability studies can lend to composition studies.

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How should we address students
and people?

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How should we address students
and people?

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The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act 2008 (ADAAA) officially changed the way people with disabilities are referred to legally and reinforced the model: the person first and then the disability (e.g., "student with a disability" rather than "disabled student").

Do not put a verb in front of their name.

Examples:

Traumatic Brain Injured Seth

Mentally Challenged Thomas

Post Traumatic Stress Julie

Blind Tim

Autistic Sally

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AUCD - Portrayal of People with Disabilities

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How do we design our instruction in
composition and computers to meet the needs for all students?

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How do we design our instruction in
composition and computers to meet the needs for all students?

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Composition instructors need to design curriculum's and lessons that do not forget there are students “who read through their fingertips” (Selfe and Howes)

Students will come to your class with multiple abilities, and creating lessons from their point-of-view is needed

Let try a real scenario….

My wife is an interior designer instructor and practitioner in the field. She has the responsibility to educate her students on facility related codes and guidelines at Front Range Community College (FRCC) and in her own business (Forte Design). The reasoning behind things like ramp max rise per linear foot, thresholds, signage, clearances, and all other guidelines which affect the building users.

Scenario:

She borrowed a bunch of wheelchairs from the nursing department, and she had the students pair up and navigate around the campus.

Question:   Is this a good or bad idea?

Context:
The students in this class, who come from various age groups and backgrounds, raced through the halls in their chairs.

Question: What could go wrong?

Nowell, my wife,  was informed a student in a wheelchair with a physical disability had seen the students racing, and informed the LOC.  Needless to say, awareness is half the battle.

Solution:  Now The Interior Design Program and the Learning Opportunity Center (LOC) work together on an ADAAA lesson plan, as well as the wheelchair tours are facilitated by students who have a physical, visual, and hearing disability, and the program and the LOC have a great opportunity to learn from each other.

Question:  As ADA guidelines change, how can we help support our faculty and educators who teach in every  discipline?

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How
accessible is your campus or school?   

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How
accessible is your campus or school?   

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Look at these and ask yourself this question about your classroom or school.

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Why is Universal Design in the
classroom important? 

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Why is Universal Design in the
classroom important? 

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It matters because it’s the law (The Center for Universal Design).

All Educators and parent/guardians need to understand how the law is different in a post-secondary setting (National Center for Learning Disabilities).

Especially in the classroom, all teachers need to “provide access to students with disabilities, who are often excluded from the physical spaces of the [schools] in which we teach and learn”(Dolmage 1).

Because it’s good pedagogy to differentiate your teaching methods.

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Universal design addresses barriers faced by people with disabilities, older people, children, and other populations that are typically overlooked in the design process (UniversalDesign.com).

“A process that enables and empowers a diverse population by improving human performance, health and wellness, and social participation” (Steinfeld and Maisel).

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As a discipline, the way we see ourselves is projected onto our classroom space. The steep steps metaphor sums up the ways the university constructs spaces that exclude. The ‘self’ or ‘selves’ that have been projected upon the space of the university are not just able-bodied and ‘normal,’ but exceptional, elite. The university is the place for the very able (Dolmage 5).