the movement many are missing

I couldn’t blog it while ill (and still question my ability to tackle it just yet), but the issue has not escaped my mind–especially considering the links and enduring individual and social outcomes in the two cases. (Hmmm… talking about propagation of power and the assessment of knowledge values, the invisible and ignored. Well, extrapolated implicitly in one, while much more immediately apparent in the other.) It’s not about playing anything against another, but rather drawing the logical parallels, and benefitting from empathic understanding. (I wasn’t aware we’d gotten out of the habit of questioning the taken-for-granted assumptions, or considering our looking-glass selves when interacting with our students. Experience, familiarity, impute general student traits?) Effective design at an institutional–even course–level negates the “extraordinary” effort required in individual cases. Then maybe, one day, “those people” will be deemed as worthy of participation as it has been proven several other classes have been–to the overall collective benefit. (Self-advocacy, students’s history and anticipation of resistance or awareness/consciousness, variations, internalization of skepticism, imposter syndrome, absence of mentors–cyclical effects, learning-by-doing what is effective as prep for rest of life)

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From DS-HUM:

NATIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING INSTITUTE

A post-conference event of the 2009 Pacific Rim Conference on Disability

Addressing Diversity and Disability in the Postsecondary Classroom: Universal Design and Beyond

http://www.pacrim.hawaii.edu/pacriminfo/pacrim2009/events/cbi/

Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Ala Moana Hotel – Honolulu, Hawai‘i
9:00am-4:00pm

Purpose: To increase the knowledge and skills of attendees who have an interest in improving postsecondary instruction to learners from diverse backgrounds, including learners with disabilities.

Focus: The integration of Universal Design for Instruction, Mentoring, and Multicultural Awareness.

Who Should Attend: People with an interest in postsecondary education such as faculty, disability support personnel, high-school personnel, administrators, people with disabilities and other diverse learners, and their advocates.

Featured Speakers: Paula Sotnik, University of Massachusetts, “Cultural Brokering and Multiculturalism” & Bryan Cook, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, “Universal Design for Learning”

Activities will also include a mentoring panel, hands-on multiculturalism and Universal Design applications, and group discussion.

All Participants Must Be Registered
$25.00 Registration Fee

To register please contact

Velina Sugiyama
Center on Disability Studies
1776 University Avenue, UA 4-6
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: 808-956-5688
Fax: 808-956-7878
Email: velina@hawaii.edu

 

Conga: just a start and some notes 4 NowAndLater*

**Insert**
A well-underway post that I am polishing before posting because I’d really like to stop saying I’ll fill things out, but then neglect to do it. It’s still gonna be rough and brainstormy, but I wasn’t aiming to write so much tonight, starting at 11 to beat midnight, and ending incomplete. Until I started writing, I had no idea the sheer volume of material that had been nudged by a few recent discussions, and their connections to ongoing debates, dilemmas, and developments. But the trailer: it’s the closest I’ve ever come to having a New Year’s Resolution. Only it’s not all that new, although it is certainly progressive.