Reflective Statement on Intervention  12 July 2024

“Diversity is only a box-ticking activity if there is no real inclusion” (Imperial College London, undated)

Introduction

On reflection regarding my intervention, what was the main thing I want to achieve in the survey? How would I engage with and share this information with my peers to remove my bias?

Being on the Pg-cert I have learnt, about how students need several learning outcomes, to fulfil the journey through university, so they could achieve their goals or grade.

Through pedagogic practice, how do technicians interact with each other, in teaching learning outcomes. Using this information to create a wider scaffolding system, to support students throughout the university.

Method

UAL staff surveys, show that technicians come up with the high score for diverse members of staff through heritage and race, something we should be proud of, but are we using this knowledge to reflect on our teaching practice? This is despite “shocking statistics about the design industries in the UK. Product Design and Digital Design are respectively the second and third largest sector in the UK Design Economies, (but they are also the two most unequal in terms of gender distribution” ) (UAL EDI in the Workplace 2024)

In my intervention which was in the form of a survey, I was focusing on three areas.

1 student learning outcomes,

2 EDI in workshops,

3 staff training,

Which are broken down to 12 questions and these three areas are important to me as they reflect on my role as a technician to understand, share knowledge, respond and to improve my teaching practice. (Appendix 1 – Questionnaire)

Detail

1 The first part of the questionnaire (students learning outcomes) was focusing on how technicians play a big part in students learning outcomes, but some technicians may not be aware of it. I have integrated my role on the course I support with academics to understand this.  “Technicians’ roles have transitioned to such an extent that traditional lines between academic and technical teaching responsibilities, expertise, and contributions are becoming increasingly blurred. This trend is particularly noticeable for disciplines within creative arts (F. P. H. Wragg et al, 2023, p.1196-1210 )

2 The second part or the questionnaire focuses on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in workshops. This is an integral pedagogy practice in the university, as we have a large diversity of students, including many who are neurodiverse, at UAL.

I find Sara Ahmed’s article On Being Included to be less relevant to UAL in 2024 because it is 12 years old and I believe that any discrimination (positive or negative is still discriminatory). “the experience felt like being appointed by whiteness (even if the appointment was intended as a countering of whiteness).” But she acknowledges that ,” I should stress that we do want there to be posts on race and ethnicity.” (Ahmed, 2012, p.4)

Earlier on in the academic teaching calendar, two academics approached me, to see if I would do a workshop based upon the sari, which allowed me to teach students about, my heritage and help with decolonising the workshop. The sari workshop was successful with the students of all genders, as they got to dress up in a variety of saris, which I had donated to me through my neighbours. I had put together a PowerPoint presentation, explaining the history, craftmanship and the diverse pleating methods for the wearer through the history of the sari. In the workshop I used myself to demonstrate the diverse pleating methods to wearing a sari  standing on a table to be clearly visible. As traditionally it will be warm by a woman but I did not what the male students not to be included and took the decision as a male to dress up with them in the demonstration. This also embraced students who are gender-neutral or chose not to reveal their gender.

 3 The third part is on staff training. This area is to focus on how technicians have evolved their roles themselves throughout their time at the university, but this may not have been recognised by the university. In this part of the survey, I would like to focus how important training is. As I’ve been on my Pg-cert it has made me focus on the lens I’d look through, as a teaching practitioner it reflects on my teaching methods, and sometimes, I need to pause and look through the lens of a student, to understand my positionality (Appendix 2 – My blog positionality post) at the university.

On the survey I felt it important not to ask people’s name, age or gender as I wanted to remain as neutral and unbiased as possible and the idea was just to see how technicians understood their roles and to give me a foundation for my intervention.

Gathering

To achieve the best possible response to my intervention from technicians, I requested a slot, at the end of term technicians’ meeting held on 12th June 2024 where there were managers, line managers and 25 technicians. The meeting was face to face at LCF Stratford it had 31 members of staff attending.

At the meeting. I started by showing my peers the PowerPoint presentationthat I had done, of the sari project, going through the slides and explaining the different stages in which I had created the workshops for the students. Showing them the things I would like the students to achieve in this workshop, starting with draping the sari on themselves, then draping the sari over a mannequin which had several balloons attached to it that I had chosen, the end part of the workshop was how to cross pollinate a western garment using the sari drapes over the balloons before popping them. In the slides I had added extra images of all the students participating in the workshop, to show my peers the outcomes, so they could engage, reflect and give me peer-to-peer feedback regarding the workshop. “Focus on Contribution” (The Ohio State University, undated)

My peers in the room had found this method inspiring and thought provoking, many of them at the end said that they would love to do this workshop themselves. Earlier this year we had a technician’s conference talking about how we would decolonise the curriculum and workshops, focusing on EDI methods throughout our teaching practice. My peers in the room really felt the workshop related to the conference and it could be a foundation that we work from. “Be certain this is a conversation that is worth having” (The Ohio State University, undated)

Then I handed out the survey, which  I had preprinted in advance to the meeting, so that my peers did not have to do it themselves, I understand that I could have created a QR code for them to log into and fill out the form. One of the reasons I chose not to do this was time, and like most people we forget to go back to filling out surveys and I wanted to get the maximum response I could within the time frame, this method meant all 25 members of staff had filled out the survey in the meeting.

Afterwards, I met my senior manager in the corridor and she said to me, that she found the sari workshop inspiring plus the work I was doing in decolonising the workshops was something that she wanted to promote with others. I acknowledged her appreciation for the work I had done and said it is something I will be taking forward in my final Pg-cert project and as all good managers do, she wished me well and offered any extra help.

The sari workshop is to become a regular part of the MA Women’s Wear and can be (Appendix 3 – “The Sari”) and when going through the PowerPoint presentation at the meeting, I skipped through the fine details in order to give an overall feel for its purpose

Results

To record the data from the questionnaire, I created an Excel sheet with the results. This would allow me to analyse the answers. (Appendix 4 – Questionnaire Results and Analysis)

There are three tabs in this analysis sheet

1^st Raw data

2^nd Raw data as a percentage

3^rd Overall Outcomes

In the first part of the questionnaire, (student learning outcomes), technicians were confident in what they were doing with the majority of respondents giving a positive (ie a ‘yes’) response ranging between 32% – 94%, with the exception of LO1 (communication) where it was evenly split.

It was reassuring that technicians understood how to support students with their learning outcomes, which is a reflection on how many technicians spend a lot of time with the students in supporting their work through make and conversations.

The second part or the questionnaire was EDI in workshops where the percentage splits between positive (yes) and negative (no) were varied.

When it came to race, religion and gender the scores where higher.

However it was quite alarming when the practice in disability, neurodiversity, heritage and decolonisation were low in the results. This is something that I was surprised with, going back to the fact how technicians come from a diverse culture at UAL and their position in the UAL survey for of diversity staff. This helps my understanding of how important, the sari workshop is to the university and our students, allowing different conversations to happen throughout the university.

The third section focused on staff training and in this area the results were lower, so I was surprised with this result as the university does provide training programmes for the staff. However it shows that these programmes are mainly aimed at academic staff rather than technicians. It really shows how universities become academia led rather than making-through-craftmanship, which is something that I believe an arts university may need to refocus on due to the diversity of students, also allowing for neurodiversity. We have a lot of highly creative students coming to the university using arts as a way of expressing themselves in a way that allows them to become activists through their craftsmanship.

The last two questions on my survey were peer-to-peer feedback and creating a focus group on decolonising the workshops. These are the areas I will focus on moving forward with in my Pg-cert. Peer-to-peer feedback is something that we can all learn from, it is a way of removing hierarchy and our personal biases, looking through a lens of another. “Professional bodies and learned societies should ensure that EDI initiatives are inclusive of the technical community.” (University of Nottingham, 2019)

 Through the peer-to-peer intervention meeting, I had the comments that it was engaging, energising and thought provoking and how I would I take this project forward.

This comes to the last question on the survey, focus groups. This is something I’d like to address, creating a new environment for technicians, to have a discussion about decolonising our practices “ And remember: your audiences are not defined by one characteristic and there may be multiple needs to address!” (Imperial College London, undated)and how we could include our heritage, cultures and tribes we may belong to creating a new scaffolding system at the university. How could we create new workshops on this? How could we organise sign up days for the students to attend these new forms of workshops?

Conclusion

Innovative and inclusive teaching practices appear to be key to helping our students enjoying a rich and fulfilling experience. This leads me to think about an open box approach, where we never close the lid, allowing us to involve, develop and motivate ourselves in the method of craftsmanship.

References

1 – Imperial College London (undated)How do I champion equality, diversity and inclusion in public engagement? Available at: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/be-inspired/societal-engagement/public/How-do-I-champion-EDI-in-public-engagement.pdf (Accessed: 4 July 2024)

2 – University of Nottingham (undated) Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: A Technician Lens Available at:  https://www.stemm-change.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Equality-Diversity-and-Inclusion-A-Technician-Lens-web.pdf (Accessed: 4 July 2024)

3 – Wragg, F. P. H. et al (2022) Technicians as teachers: the emerging role of technical staff within higher education teaching and learning environments. Journal of Further and Higher Education, Vol 47, issue 9, pp.1196-1210  Available at:  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0309877X.2023.2231380 (Accessed: 4 July 2024)

4 – UAL (undated)EDI in the Workplace, Actions and Implementations.Available at: https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/21931/11/Grimaldi%20et%20al%202024%20EDI%20in%20the%20Workplace%20Framework%20.pdf (Accessed: 4 July 2024)

5 – Ahmed, S (2012) On Being Included, p4. Available at: https://www.dukeupress.edu/on-being-included On being included Sara Ahmed (Accessed: 30 June 2024)

6 – The Ohio State University (undated)Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most. Available at: https://eye.hms.harvard.edu/files/eye/files/difficult-conversations-summary.pdf (Accessed: 30 June 2024)

Appendices1 – Questionnaire link

2 – Blog on Positionality link  https://nrpatel51.myblog.arts.ac.uk

3 – ‘The Sari’ Please use link below

4 – Questionnaire Results and Analysis link

Positionality statement

My role

At LCF I’m a garment technician supporting the course MA fashion design technology.

The course is based on teaching students how to create a fashion collection which has values like sustainability, collaboration, gender awareness and make-through-craftsmanship.

My personal background is 27 years in industry working for design houses, having my own bridal brand and now five years teaching, my industry background allowed me to create beautiful garments through my hands and methods of pattern cutting and garment construction. This knowledge helps me support the students with converting their 2D work into 3D garments using a variety of make methods.

Self-reflecting on my positionality

Being on the Pg-Cert course now for six months has made me realise and allowed me to actively think more about my role as a technician. From the comments above, it has made me realise the stars I have rewarded myself to my role, but not always considered my own personal biases, which may reflect on students or peers.

Kendall A. King in the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics says: “Positionality statements have increasingly become the norm….. promises and perils of such statements, including their performativity and lack of reflexivity” need to be considered.

“The promises:

Optimally, positionality statements are part of an ongoing process of reflexivity wherein scholars critically reflect

The perils:

Mann’s survey of published articles that utilized interviews for data collection revealed that most of the articles presented the interview data as objective, neutral participant reports rather than the result of co-constructed interactions by the interviewed and the interviewer.

Performativity:

Positionality statements can function as performative gestures” and their use as such could be considered questionable if that was their sole purpose.

Insider/Outsider:

This statement made me consider very carefully the extent to which my own experiences have come into my head when thinking about it. Is it a good thing to relate to a student because I share values with them or would I be more objective if I wasn’t? “so-called “outsider researchers,” typically those who are not members of the group targeted by the study, are sometimes deemed more objective and neutral. “Insiders,” in turn, are often assumed to have more direct access to the research site or population and possibly deeper insights into the sociocultural mechanisms at work (Aiello & Nero, Reference Aiello and Nero2019).” (Reference Mann2011)

In my intervention, something I’ll be aware of is the tick box system on my survey when considering the impact of positionality.

I realise now that positionality is time and space, interaction and movement, when giving your opinion. Through creating a collection, conversation, and research methods increases our awareness of my positionality.

I am dyslexic

Being open about this with the students and my peers means that I need to find alternative ways of problem solving, so in this instance it has involved the help of both university student-support and my partner in polishing my grammar, which is something I haven’t previously benefited from in my earlier education.  I find this openness helps students and students with neurodiverse learning needs, though using studio demonstrations where I can adapt to the specific needs of diverse students whilst accommodating the groups’ needs which cannot be done online. Increasingly students rely on technology, which has its place, but which requires literacy and for dyslexic and overseas students can be limiting. I encourage students to attend these sessions by asking them “How can a garment be successfully created unless you touch, see, feel and move the fabric”.

Kate Green, PGCE Secondary Programme Director at the University of Southampton provides an insightful paper on the subject, which I found to be very accessible because it is presented in dyslexia-friendly colours and blocked into clear sections, which is something I would like to consider doing in the future. The extract below shows this and the content is also really good for all teaching staff to know.

As a gay man

I have tried to make my workshops more gender inclusive so that the students are able have discussions around this aspect if they want to.

In March 2024, Elliot Colburn spoke in parliament about the value of inclusivity from his position as a gay man “Key messages taught throughout relationships education include that people do not have to conform to narrow stereotypes and that discrimination, bullying and prejudice are harmful and wrong. Indeed, that principle is woven throughout the British values element of school teaching, the aim of which is to encourage and foster respect, kindness, equality and inclusion. Those are British values: they are intrinsic to the ethos of most schools, and families are supportive of them.”

Linking back to dyslexia, names are something I struggle with but images help me to remember, so here’s a photo of him outside parliament:

Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)

Being of Indian heritage

Born in the UK and always living in London, has made me realise there will be biases with my teaching practises, as I cannot always relate, understand or feel what my students may feel as a lot of them do come from different parts of the world where heritage, culture and tradition will vary.

This now has an impact on my teaching practise as I am even more aware about the impact disability, faith, race, and hierarchical systems has at the universities through education, something we all need to work on to remove biases.

References

King, K. A. K. (2024). Mr. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics.

Available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/annual-review-of-applied-linguistics/article/promises-and-perils-of-positionality-statements/D9C00E5B1EC049674BC50C4DDA0930F6# (Accessed 22 June 2024)

Green, K. Ms. (undated) Supporting dyslexic trainees teachers

Available at: https://www.patoss-dyslexia.org/write/MediaUploads/Resources/Supportingdyslexictraineesteachers.pdf (Accessed 22 June 2024)

Colborn MP, E. Mr. (2024) ‘Relationships Education LGBT Content’ Hansard: Parliament. House of Commons. debated on Monday 18 March 2024, Volume 747, column number 202WH. Available at: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-03-18/debates/4135DD73-1BD4-4F3A-9D5C-8C2C08832790/RelationshipsEducationLGBTContent (Accessed 22 June 2024)

Blog 3 Racism

I found starting this blog very tricky, as this is something very personal to me and always difficult to get my head around, as this is a conversation which has always changed and evolved through times in my life. In my previous blog I have mentioned about my heritage and my sexuality. These two issues have caused much conflict around the world and continue to do so. I’m hoping to further understand the difference that racism in EDI can make to my teaching practise.

Teaching and talking about racism in studio spaces is something which comes up in students’ projects, giving us a great opportunity to make these conversations relevant to their project. At UAL we are lucky that we have such a diverse student base and teachers’ practitioners, so there is a great basis for exchange, allowing us to learn from and acknowledge peer to peer feedback. In the world today there has been so much conflict and power struggles, that EDI training is more important than ever in the education system, allowing voices to be spoken and heard. The Inclusive Practise Programme set on the Pg-cert has given me a great insight and knowledge base, including more confidence about this subject by seeing how the course members of staff in the workshops facilitate discussions in the room and has helped me to understand how we, as educators, can bring this to our practise.

How do I become something that I do not see` says (Asif Sadiq 2023). This quote is something that I particularly related to – how the education system plays a big part in our lives, the things we see, the things we read and the things we observe.  These aspects are the most crucial things that education has to offer us in the way we can tackle racism in the education system is what I believe.

What is it about the things we don’t see, is where my thoughts are going. It’s making me realise my own biases. When I’m teaching, have I paused to observe of all the students in the room, do I understand their needs and how can I help them the best. (Asif Sadiqi 2023) talks about the history and coloniser or the colonised and this is really important to today’s education because when we talk about whitespace, it must include more than the United Kingdom as colonising countries.

In history there were many countries in Europe a part of this as I reflect on India you will find parts of it influence by the British empire then when you move down to south India you will see influences from the Dutch, Portuguese, and French missionaries, changing the religious beliefs, heritage and identities which are still practise in India today. This makes me think about the caste system in India, how we have separately ourselves, before the colonisation. So how do we break biases in racism around the world, maybe we need to look at ourselves first and create a new scaffolding system which allows us to use literature and conversations that we are comfortable with.

The Telegraph interview (Orr, J. (2022). really shows, how important it is that we talk about how the UK government creates documents and award systems for universities as a tick box language and really sitting on the fence about racism. One of the things the interviewer talks about is the schemes: Athena Swan Charter and the Race Equality Charter which universities must meet.

By creating a tick-box system with limit responses, it really shows how we lose the freedom to express ourselves fully, thereby limiting free speech, which is more important than awards as students need to know how to identify the activist within themselves and the consequent choices they make and that it’s still OK to make change in the world as we are working in an arts university. Through history, artists, designers and makers have always taken up the roll of activism through their work, creating change in places like the Royal Academy and education systems, thereby creating new communities and tribes which we are proud of today. A great example of this would be the French Impressionists.

In the Channel 4 video (2020). in which the school tried to end racism, really highlighted the angles of white privilege, how in society it still exists today, even though the video was three years old, but those children will be our future. To me, this showed how important education is in tackling racism and societies’ view. We live in a diverse culture that we should be proud of. It makes me feel even more determined to reflect upon how I can change things in the education system, so that our students receive the knowledge of what is around them. Helping removing these biases from them and encouraging them not to create their own biases through education is something that we all have a responsibility for.

REFERENCE LIST

Sadiq, A. (2023) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right. TEDx [Online}. Youtube. 2 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw  Accessed 21^st June 2024

Orr, J. (2022) Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke. The Telegraph [Online]. Youtube. 5 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU Accessed 21^st June 2024

Channel 4. (2020) The School That Tried to End Racism. [Online}. Youtube. 30 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg Accessed 21^st June 2024

Formative Submission

Intervention 2024-05-26

As someone who has worked in industry, I did not think about having a career in education, but now it is something I really enjoy, passing on my knowledge to students. As my position as a technician, I’ve come across a diverse learning experience.

I started seven years ago as garment technician and at this time, I did not fully understand the role. Which has an impact on the student learning outcome. Through the Pg-cert it has highlighted to me the responsibility, awareness and the goals students face in their learning. In my intervention I would like to go back in time to the roots, for a technician’s role at UAL. I feel without a good scaffolding system it is unfair that technicians may not understand their responsibilities creating a hierarchy system between academics and technicians, to remove this level at the university, and creating a better pedagogic practice. Putting it simply, there has been a gap between academics and technicians. One which I bridged through my own diligence and team building.

Technicians at UAL play a strong role in supporting students’ experience and educational achievement through workshops, demonstrations, videos, and personal experiences. I feel that technicians may not always have the right tools or knowledge in students learning outcome, separating them from academics. During the period of COVID we all had to work from home. Technicians played a big part in the university’s education system as they had to get creative, I developed new methods and demonstrations of teaching, having to use technology that I wasn’t too familiar with and which the students may not be familiar with themselves, so we all became students again. This is why I would like to take my intervention to my peers, as I feel that they will benefit through this more. Then if I was to focus on the students I support. I am proposing to do a survey, in the format of a form. To help my peers to be acknowledged and accumulate data in which we could use to improve our workshops and benefit students in the learning outcomes (as well as my own learning). I do understand that all technicians may not one to participate in this research allowing for personal choice. So, the survey results might be a small representation of the technician’s knowledge who work at Stafford site.

Blog 2 Faith

Faith Intersectionality

As someone who is British born Indian and always lived in London, who has many identities in life, I call it wearing many hats, 1^st a man of colour, 2^nd a gay man, 3^rd a man of Indian heritage, 4^th a man who was born in the western world and 5^th a Hindu. This subject has been somewhat hard but really opens my eyes and mind to the environment that we work and teach in.

As a practising Hindu, faith is important to me. It’s something that have I been brought up with, as my parents are first-generation immigrants from Fiji & India and still wanted to keep their faith and heritage for their children’s lifestyle. In the same way not denying them the new world that they were going to bring them up in.

Intersectionality of faith has so many layers, which need to be unravelled and reassembled. Kimberle Crenshaw`s theory on intersectionality shows how faith intersects with other identity factors. From the workshops and readings, we were given, there were a few things what stood out to me like:

“[As a Muslim female body and has real consequences for how she is perceived and the opportunities to progress that are therefore open to her]’ because she is wearing a veil. `[Muslim female body has become a symbolic battlefield in the war against Islam and the perceived Muslim enemy ‘within` (Razack2008: Razack et al.2010).]”. Mirza, H. S. (2018) Black Bodies ‘Out of Place’

In my 27 years of working in the fashion industry with various jobs as a gay man of colour, I have not encountered discrimination in the same way as she has for being a Muslim and female and wearing a veil. But reading more into this has made me aware of the context and implications people are challenged by.

In the studio space, we ask students to look closely at what they are designing and what message it may be giving out to avoid any discrimination through gender and religion or which could be marginalised.

I’m open to the students about my sexuality, as it allows students from the LGBTQ plus community to feel comfortable. If they choose to, I’m happy for them to have discussions with me about their experiences in their country or if they feel they’ve been discriminated against at the university. I have found in the time I have been working for the university that a lot of students cannot or have not come out about their sexuality due to the fact the laws or family pressure have not allowed them to. This is something that I acknowledge how I have been privileged, that my family and community have been supportive to me. The website Inclusive Mosque and the introduction called Raise Your Gaze, had a great impact on me by the fact that they are supporting large, diverse communities and people, by welcoming them and showing that there is a space for everyone in this world.

“The story of Sojourner Truth shows that there is a tendency to treat race and religion as two different axis of difference that are to be discussed separately (Smiet 2021,19). Authors like Smiet are now showing that they need not be.” (Rekis J (2023)). As Truth really shows us, people can judge through race, but pardon them through religion and this can make them more comfortable because it’s something they belong to. In the world today, some countries are trying to claim a higher place in their hierarchical world position through this method, but which is causing more battles.

Challenging Race, Religion and Stereotypes in the Classroom, (Trinity University (2016) ). I really enjoyed watching this video as it made me think how I can have these conversations with students in my studio spaces, ensuring they can challenge diverse views, and knowing the environment is a safe space for them to discuss anything. As a university we have a large, diverse community of international students as well neurodiverse students helping us to learn from each other.

REFERENCE LIST

Mirza, H. S. (2018) Black Bodies ‘Out of Place’ in Academic Spaces: Gender, Race, Faith and Culture in Post-race Times. In Dismantling Race in Higher Education, Eds. Arday, J & Mirza, H. S. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. pp 175-195. ‘Threatening Bodies’, pp184-187

Inclusive Mosque Initiative (2016) Our Mission [Online] Available at: https://inclusivemosque.org/our-mission/ (Accessed 10 May 2024)

Rekis J (2023). Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account. Hypatia 38, 779–800. https://doi.org/10.1017/hyp.2023.86 (Accessed 10 May 2024)

Trinity University (2016) Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in the Classroom. [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk (Accessed 12 May 2024)

IP Blog Disability

As someone who is dyslexic, it has not always been easy for me. In my early days, I had hidden this from others, and as a child most people thought I was disruptive, who could not always pay attention in class.

As neurodiversity is not always visible to us in society, how can we improve our practises to be more inclusive. Through the three videos that I had watched, it really made me stop and think that actually, disabilities are not disabilities, but society’s view of them. The environment of the university is better, but still falls short of its own goals in this respect. So improving the way we approach this in our daily lives is important.

Ade Adepitan says “If we give people opportunities to shine, the sky is the limit”. I can really relate to this during my early days as a pattern cutter. A tailor showed me how to drape and use my hands to create with so within this context I didn’t have to worry about my dyslexia, because words did not matter. I was free to just make garments.

Christine Sun Kim, who is deaf, talks about “repetition repetition repetition through the movements used in sign language”, and repetition is something, as humans we do. Sometimes we forget to look at our teaching practise and see how inclusive we are within it and how we could improve further. She uses a collaborator in her daily life as an interpreter. This is something that I should consider, a collaborator looking at my workshops and seeing if I have been inclusive or just forgotten something. Christine Sun Kim has a great network of people around her, this allows her to express herself through her artwork. This is a great demonstration of how an inclusive society can help people with disabilities to shine in the world we live in, removing our hidden biases.

Chay Brown, highlights accessibility in terms of noise and wheelchair access. Wheelchair use is something I experience as my mum needs a wheelchair when I take her out. Often many spaces are not equipped to allow mobility – I often have to figure out where toilets are in restaurants, as most of them are accessed by stairs. It’s something I must map out in my head when I’m planning on taking my mum out. The new site in Stratford has noise a issue, it’s something that students struggle with, as there are many open plan teaching spaces, the noise around us can be very distracting and effects student learning.

Looking at these three examples, it has really highlighted the many hats that teachers need to wear and consider in their daily practise. It is important that we have the right training, knowledge and environment if we are to be inclusive of neurodivergent students and colleagues.

ISA has been important to me in this process, as it allows me time to assess my work without the pressure of missing deadlines. Being dyslexic has advantages, but means that it takes longer for me to put words on paper and reading the journals listed than a reader would. For example, this blog has taken me about ten hours, including reading. I am more open about my dyslexia with my peers and students as this normalises learning difficulties and helps everyone to be more open with each other.

Reference List

Nick Webborn, ParalympicsGB President, is interviewing Ade as part of our ParalympicsGB Legends series

Paralympian, TV presenter and author Ade Adepitan breaks down how systemic racism works using the example of the experiences of disabled people in society. 16 Oct 2020

Art21 proudly presents an artist segment, featuring Christine Sun Kim, from the “Friends & Strangers” episode in the eleventh season of the “Art in the Twenty-First Century” series. “Friends & Strangers” premiered in October 2023 on PBS.

Christine Sun Kim in “Friends & Strangers” – Season 11 | Art21 (youtube.com)

UK Disability History Month 2023 with a special conversation featuring Chay Brown from @TransActual. In this insightful discussion, we delve into the complex interplay of identities, exploring the challenges, triumphs, and the path to empowerment at the intersection of disability and LGBTQ+ experiences. 13 Dec 2023

Intersectionality in Focus: Empowering Voices during UK Disability History Month 2023 – YouTube