1. Addressing Disability in Higher Education Using a Social Justice Lens
Autumn Wilke
Assistant Dean for disability Resources, Grinnell College

2. Disability in Higher Education: A Social Justice Approach
Nancy Evans, Ellen Broido, Kirsten Brown, & Autumn Wilke
Book is basis for content
“We” refers to the authors of the text
All authors have a disability but their experiences of disability and preferences on language differ.

3. Irony of Language Disability is not monolithic
Disability can be an identity
Disability may be salient
To talk about disability it is helpful to have common language—but language is imperfect and is rooted in older models of disability and ableism.

4. Vocabulary
We use impairment to refer to the ways in which people’s bodies or minds differ from what society deems “normal” or “typical.”
We use functional limitation to describe the ways in which people’s activities are limited or restricted, whether by impairment or environment.
We use disabled to refer to the ways in which people’s activities are restricted by their environments.

5. Language We Avoid
Language that is centered in a deficit model of disability (e.g., handicapped).
Language that implies disability is tragic (e.g., suffers from, overcomes).
Language that limits a person’s agency (e.g., people “use wheelchairs” rather than being “confined to wheelchairs” or “wheelchair bound”).
Language that heroizes, idealizes, or ascribes positive traits to people merely because of their impairments (e.g., “you are so inspiring,” “you are so brave”).

6. Person First or Disability First?
Person first (APA format)
Autumn is a person with OCPD
“Supposed to promote the idea that personhood is not defined by disability or disease” (Collier, 2012, p. E939)
Disability first
Autumn is disabled by the interaction of OCPD and some environments
“Sticking a word in the shadow of a noun can create the impression that there is something inherently wrong with it, that it should be hidden” (Collier, 2012, p. E939).
Titchkosky (2011) also noted, “The desire to shore up a firm separation between people and disability, by privileging the former and diminishing the latter, points to an image of disability as a kind of danger” (p. 53).
No “right” answer; respect personal preference.

7. Medical Model
Disabilities are seen as medical conditions to be treated.
Medical personnel are in control of treatment.
Individuals are expected to accept and adjust to their condition.
Centers the “problem” in the person.
No acknowledgement of the environmental impact.

8. Rehabilitation Model
Disability is viewed as an individual matter requiring individual adaptation.
The focus is overcoming physical limitations.
Disabled persons are subject to extensive evaluation and assessment of their inabilities.
Attempts are made to find ways to accommodate the individual.
Weaknesses- problem still centered in the person; control still with an “authority,” assumes disability needs to be fixed
Emphasis is on finding ways to help the person adjust to the environment; person needs to ask for accommodations; need authority’s verification that persons have the disabilities they claim

9. Minority Group Model
People’s surroundings, rather than their bodies, are the sources of their limitations.
Environment must be adjusted to meet the person’s requirements.
Focuses on societal attitudes of oppression, alienation, and discrimination experienced by individuals with disabilities.
Proponents of this approach advocate for a politicized collective disability identity.
Weaknesses –flips the “problem” to the environment only, ignoring the effects of a person’s body and mind; assumes a collective identity exists despite numerous types of disabilities and impairments.
Environmental modifications that work for some are problematic for others; students may not have the self-efficacy to actively address issues on campus because of internalized ableism, learned helplessness

10. Why a Social Justice Approach?
Social justice has the goal of “full and equitable participation from all social identity groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs” (Bell, 2016, p. 3).
Recognizes and honors spectrum of experiences.
Acknowledges other aspects of diverse experiences (e.g., socio-economic status and access to diagnosis, gender identity and pronouns on accommodation letters).
Recognizes oppression and ableism as pervasive.

11. Oppression
“The interlocking forces that create and sustain injustice” (Bell, 2016, p. 5).
Oppression is
pervasive,
cumulative,
hierarchical, hegemonic and normalizing,
internalized,
restrictive,
intersectional,
both durable and mutable, and
operates on individual, institutional, & cultural levels (Bell, 2016).

12. Ableism Ableism = oppression of people with disabilities.
Ableism has “create[d] an environment that is often hostile to those whose physical, emotional, cognitive, or sensory abilities fall outside the scope of what is currently defined as socially acceptable” (Rauscher & McClintock, 1997, p. 198).
Ableism equates able-bodiedness with normalcy.
Disability viewed as abnormal, dependent, and deficient.
Ableism presumes disability is negative and should be eliminated or rehabilitated.
Rather than attempting to “fix” people with disabilities so that they will “fit” into an ableist society, advocates of the social justice model promote addressing the oppressive culture so that all individuals are accepted as they are, diversity of the human experience is accepted, and there is no such thing as “normal.”

13. Elements of a Social Justice Approach (1)
A focus on the influence of power and privilege in the lives of disabled and non- disabled people.
Encouragement of a diversity of approaches that support the success of all individuals.
Attention to and acceptance of the diversity of experience within disability communities.
Acceptance that all people are interdependent and rejection of independence as a desired outcome.

14. Elements of a Social Justice Approach (2)
Attention to the impact of people’s physical bodies and minds on the experience of disability.
Recognition that institutions must attend to staff and faculty as well as students.
Advocacy for inclusion and equity in access to and within all higher education settings.

15. Environmental Barriers to Inclusion and Social Justice
Physical Environment
Digital Environment
Organizational Environment
Attitudinal/Human Aggregate

16. Supporting Students with Multiple Identities (1)
Consider structural placement of Disability Resource Office
Enhance affordability for SwD from low-socio economic backgrounds
Develop close working relationships with affinity or identity based offices
Remove cultural bias from existing policies and practices
Align office with other identity based offices, consider disability cultural center
Explore partnerships with community testing agencies, vocational rehab, scholarships, financial aid office

17. Supporting Students with Multiple Identities (2)
Encourage research to better understand the needs of diverse learners
Implement Universal Design and incentivize its use by faculty
Ensure culturally relevant programming and spaces are accessible
Align office with other identity based offices, consider disability cultural center
Explore partnerships with community testing agencies, vocational rehab, scholarships, financial aid office

18. Strategies for Creating a More Socially Just Campus
Challenge assumptions about normality. ​
Foreground the experiences of people with disabilities.​
Recognize the multi-faceted nature of disability.​
Support disabled people who may not need or request accommodations.​
Center Universal Design.​
Treat disability as a campus-wide responsibility.​
Foster disability culture.

19. Questions