Connecting the Whole Self Approach to Accessibility

• In Event: Conceptualizing the New Accessibility in Higher Education: Leveraging Disruption for Transformative Opportunity

Abstract

Disability resource offices are often set up to follow standard protocols that may not prioritize a one-on-one process with students, especially when time and budgets are limited (Herbert et al., 2020; Kim & Crowley, 2021). Many institutions of higher education were built generations ago by able-bodied individuals who did not anticipate the participation of future disabled students. As such, inaccessible environments, structures, classes, and academic policies were not only the norm but widely accepted (Dolmage, 2017). When the ADA expanded access to postsecondary education for disabled students, these learners began to attend in greater numbers. However, campuses did not undergo an accessibility overhaul. Instead, disability resource offices and ADA coordinators were tasked with retrofitting accommodations, often in response to individual requests, to fulfill the legal mandate of “equal access” (Dolmage, 2017). Considering this context, it is no surprise that disability resource offices may be overwhelmed with student requests to remediate large inaccessible systems, hindering deeper connections with students and preventing positive accessibility experiences and service innovations.

This panel discussion will be structured as follows. First, we discuss some institutional barriers hindering effective, individualized disability services practices. We then move on to introduce the notion of whole self, what it means for disabled students, and how an equity-centered collaborative learning culture put forth by a critical learning organization may contribute to increasing the likelihood of disabled students receiving appropriate accommodations through the realization of their whole selves and the resultant innovations in disability services practices. Finally, we conclude this discussion with the implications our proposed whole self approach has for disability resource professionals and higher education administrators.

Disability resource offices are often set up to follow standard protocols that may not prioritize a one-on-one process with students, especially when time and budgets are limited. However, such mechanistic, compliance-based disability services practices are inappropriate in addressing complex, nuanced, and constantly evolving student needs. Therefore, the purpose of this panel discussion is to examine how the cultural shift in institutions of higher education toward collaborative learning may shed new light on disability services practices on college campuses. A central argument we will develop in this panel discussion is that the cultivation of an equity-centered collaborative learning culture within institutions of higher education would allow disabled students to more fully embrace and enact their whole selves, thus enhancing their overall accessibility experiences. The implications our proposed whole self approach has for disability resource professionals and higher education administrators are discussed.

Author

• Emily Tarconish, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign