Can dialog make a difference in improving accessibility and inclusion for disabled students on college campuses?
According to a newly released impact report from the 2021-2022 pilot year of the Collaborative for Access and Equity at the University of Texas at Austin, the answer is a resounding “yes” — if the dialog is a true collaboration.
The numbers alone are impressive: More than 45 people across 25 departments at UT Austin collaborated for over 1,000 hours, resulting in eight key insights and making 14 recommendations for campus leadership.
But the bigger impression was on the participants — the disabled student coaches and their faculty partners who had plenty of “aha!” moments as they teamed up to engage in structured dialog, share perspectives about access and inclusion in classrooms, and identify accessibility strategies and technology tools.
“These were some of the most valuable conversations I’ve ever had about my teaching,” said a faculty team member.
“An ‘aha moment!’ I had was realizing how much power professors had over the accommodating nature of their courses. From flexible attendance to due dates, professors’ personal policies vary greatly over the university and they are given great power over student experiences,” said a student team member.
Access Is More Than Accommodations
“This pilot was an intersectional professional community who showed that, by working together, they can shift the mindsets and pedagogical approaches of the faculty members, with a significant impact on the future learning experiences of all students,” explains pilot director Stephanie W. Cawthon, PhD, in the report’s introduction.
A professor at the College of Education at UT Austin, Dr. Cawthon designed and directed the pilot based on her evidence-based research on using collaboration to improve accessibility in higher education.
“Access is more than accommodations. Research shows many college students and faculty do not disclose their disabilities due to ableism and fears of discrimination, but most estimates put it at about 25% of people on campus. With those high numbers, we must focus on a culture of accessibility and inclusion, not just course retrofits and onerous accommodations requests,” said Dr. Cawthon.
About the Impact Report
Released in September 2022, Transforming Higher Education From the Inside Out: The Collaborative for Access and Equity (Pilot) Impact Report is a 39-page document of how the pilot was designed and implemented, the teams and supporters who made it happen, and its impact and outcomes.
The Collaborative is an innovative and replicable model to transform colleges from the inside out by using evidence-based approaches and technological advances to:
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make access easy for students, faculty, and staff
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create a culture of accessibility
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leverage technology
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lead as ambassadors for change
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center disabled experiences
The report includes the Collaborative’s top takeaways, its grounding principles, pilot development and implementation, its “secret sauce” of structured dialog, key themes and outcomes, and 14 recommendations for campus leadership.
The Collaborative also placed a high priority on dissemination and communications, publishing an infographic with accessibility tips for disabled college students and another infographic with advice for college faculty. Team members also did presentations, created videos, wrote articles, and created a website hub.
About the Collaborative
The Collaborative was established with a $100,000 grant awarded by Microsoft in 2021 to Dr. Cawthon. It is housed at the Texas Center for Equity Promotion. UT Austin is one of just seven universities that Microsoft is collaborating with on disability access and inclusion on campus.
The Collaborative centered on disabled students, who are an untapped resource and much neglected in terms of empowerment, agency, and co-creators of systems change. It built upon previous research spotlighting the importance of collaborative faculty learning communities, the importance of student perspectives and agency, and the value of a mindset shift away from accommodations-based to accessibility-based course design.
Unique aspects include a focus on the partnership between disabled students and project faculty, a full campus effort across multiple units, and expanding inclusivity beyond the legal requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Read the full impact report and learn more: StephanieCawthon.com/Collaborative.