Christine Sun Kim film (10mins)
A wonderful portrait of a very able and intelligent young woman. Her uniqueness in expressing what sound means to hear is a true gift. Although she describes the impact of the privilege fully abled people have and how the privilege is imposed on disabled people she claims sound and can live her experience. I would like to hope that more disabled people recognise their difference as an opportunity to innovate and challenge prevailing thoughts and stereotypes.
Personally I have a conflicted realtionship with the sweeping disability term and how we use it. The word itself is problematic for me and the origin of the word has bothered me for some time. When I look the word disability it would be constructed from two sources ‘Dis’ and ‘Ability’
Britannica Dictionary definition of DIS-: opposite or absence of or not
Britannica Dictionary definition of ABILITY : the power or skill to do something
I live with neurdiverse people and both neurodiverse conditions are classified as a disability.
The above translation is not the only experience I have of disabilities or neurodiversity and I wish there was a better system to define difficulties or restrictions people face. Severe disability needs protection, inclusion and care but less severe disability might need inclusion and accessibility alongside working on strengths. It would be great to understand the severity of the requirements of disabled people in an academic setting to cater for access to education. I have observed that some disabled students are differently abled and have better access to some learning while finding other elements more challenging. In my teaching practice I like to think that it is important to find systems with the student cohort that work for the individuals’ strengths and compensates for difficulties. The order of the world needs a broad range of talent and skills and it is my conviction that it is possible to cater for individuals’ needs in education and work too. Christine Sun Kim is a perfect example of ability vs disability and her abilities and intelligence dominate. This is not to take away from her disability but to recognise the positives.
#disabilitytoowhite, by Vilissa Thompson
This article points towards the fact that there is not enough racial representation around disability. My experience of this is that I live with two children with invisible disabilities and I have through them taken part in parenting groups that included people from a range of different backgrounds and races. Our children’s disabilities gave us a shared experience and we realised quickly that we were all combatting similar challenges on various levels. This has been a leveller and made the group dynamic supportive and inclusive. I think however class has been the biggest devider incare for disabled people and that parents and carers with less access to resources had the biggest disadvantage in managing their children’s needs. Disability does not discriminate and it effects us all and we need to ask the questionnin why we are not recruiting more disabled students into our courses to give them opportunities to contribute to a richer university life and later in work.
Deaf-accessibility for spoonies: lessons from touring Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee while chronically ill
The most striking aspect of this article is the length the author went through to put together her performance to illustrate the difficulties and physical restrictions she lived with. I support this approach as someone who likes to be told directly so I can work with the persons. A good friend of mine has cerebal palsy and his right arm is very weak so he asks for help when he needs it and he hardly ever has objections to his request. I appreciate this approach so much and find this liberating for him and his environment. I am hoping that we can come to disability from a stance of humility and compassion. Disabled people are rightly worried about judgement and I fear that this comes from a place of insecurity for the people judging and not being able to see beyond the limitations. This perception needs to be changed and practical solutions offered.
Hearing about Khairani’s difficulties inspires me to investigate deeper into the difficulties my students may face so I can set them up for success and provide individual access arrangements. I think it is important to get the students to feel safe to come forward confidentially with any challenges they may experience. It strikes me that we do not see a lot of disabled students on our courses and I wonder where in the recruitment process we go wrong as not to attract the applications of those candidates in the first place.
References
Blahovec, S. Confronting the Whitewashing Of Disability: Interview with #DisabilityTooWhite Creator Vilissa Thompson https://www.huffpost.com/entry/confronting-the-whitewash_b_10574994?guccounter=1 (Accessed June 2023)
Khairani Barokka (Okka) (2017) Deaf-accessibility for spoonies:
lessons from touring Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee while chronically ill, Research in
Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 22:3, 387-392, DOI:
10.1080/13569783.2017.1324778
Shades of Noir, 2020 Disabled people: the voice of many https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/disabled_people (Accessed June 2023)
Sun Kim, C (2011) A Selby Film, https://vimeo.com/31083172 (Accessed April 2023)
It is really interesting to hear your views coming from your personal perspective with neurodiverse children and a physically disabled friend. I agree with you that there are a wide variety of disabilities that are all grouped together. In one of the cross programme talks, the speaker referred to design for disabled people as “one size fits none” I think this is really true when it comes to ISAs as well. While I think it is appropriate to protect student’s privacy, I think the level of opaqueness does them a disservice; all of the adjustments seem to be the same regardless of what disability they have, and I think it makes it harder for us as staff to understand their capabilities. I also agree that we have very few physically disabled students at UAL. I don’t think I have ever taught a student with a physical disability. It’s possible that there are wider access and financial issues that prevent students from attending university especially in London but I’m sure the university could do more to attract them and accommodate their needs.
Thank you so much for your comment Louise, I agree that there must be a barrier in attracting physically disabled students and I am sure that there is a lack of role models in our disciplines. In my personal time I watch a lot of stand-up comedy and have noticed a real rise in comedians with disabilities in recent years which convinced me that role models make a huge difference to groups taking up certain disciplines. We could make it easier for the students, especially in an intimidating industry such as fashion.
Hello Mikha, Thank you for sharing your blog with us, I read with interest and felt a lot of compassion and agreement with what you wrote. I believe that there are a lot of people out there living with invisible disabilities, and that they are very often closer to home that we realize. It sounds like your children are getting the help that they need, unlike others that go undiagnosed. You mention class as being the biggest drawback to the help that is available. It is, I believe, the class system still, that holds many of us back, and that is responsible for many of the injustices in the world, and that too is often overlooked as a disability. I also agree that, even with disability, or those less able in some way, often have gifts and things that they can teach us ‘more able’ people. Christine’s ‘disability’ is also a gift, because without that difference, she would never have gone on to achieve what she has, the way she has, and that is true of many people of difference. The body and the mind’s ability to adapt and the ingenuity and creativity born through the need to work in different ways is amazing as is some of the work created. I found Christine’s work truly inspiring.
Thank you so much for you comment, Lorriane. I agree, I found Christine fascinating and we need to make space for talents like her. I definitely look out in class that I see people that struggle and hope I can lift them to appreciate their talent. Perhaps because I hope someone does the same for my kids too. If I cannot help then I always send them for the support they need from other services and this has made a difference to quite a few of my students over time.
Sum Kim, really provided me with a retrospective positon and made me consider sound in my environment (machinery can really damage my hearing over prolonged periods).
It was really beautiful to see this, as invisible disabilities are here and I have ADHD and dyslexia, which doesn’t help my hyper fixations around subjects and how my mind can be up for 48 hours locked on finding answers to the worlds deepest problems.
One thing, that really bugs me with UAL, especially as a technician is that we are not told until we question, but I think I could’ve been providing more channelled educational opportunities to those like me who suffer and interpret things differently, as I don’t teach first years, I did know until a 3rd year joined me who was deaf and Korean which is a language barrier already, but nothing was really implemented, except me on google translate trying to decipher a coded sense of expression that is different to British sign language.
Although enjoyable experience in the end run, I do have to reflect and question whether could we do more as a team?
Your insight with a disability is touching and reflects massively in your character and how you teach, it was beautiful to read your insights once again!
I am inspired by Christine Sun Kim’s film and if you are interested there is an interview by Emily McDermott “How I became an artist: Christine Sun Kim” https://www.artbasel.com/stories/how-i-became-an-artist–christine-sun-kim?lang=en
Thank you for sharing regarding to neurodiversity as this year is the first time, I had a student come forward and explain how neurodiversity process information differently to others. I had an opportunity to work with her and learn more about neurodiversity.