Reflection #6: Accessibility and Inclusion in Education

I’m going to talk today about our weekly reflection topic, which is technology and inclusion in education. Currently, I’m using live translate on Android. I was, first of all, very surprised by the high percentages in surveys, for Canadian citizens who are living with disabilities. I think that has changed my perspective on how important it is for us to be addressing the specific needs of people who do have disabilities in our classrooms. One of the most helpful slides was the slide that had the iceberg that showed the symptoms that we see as teachers. Of disabilities and the invisible part of the iceberg that are the root causes of those symptoms. I think that’s a good picture to illustrate what teacher often overlook in their students. I also thought that the video on accessibility, where people with different disabilities talked about what it means (to) have accessibility in their lives. I think that teachers face huge challenges when it comes to trying to accommodate all types of learners in their classrooms, even before considering the disabilities that some of their students may have. As we already know, teachers are already overtaxed and never have enough time to include even a socionormative or neurotypical classroom. And so there must be some sharing of the responsibilitiy with administrative bodies, parents, medical personnel, and government bodies to find better and more efficient ways to create inclusive environments in our classroom for people with disabilities. I also think that the slide that showed five circles that demonstrated in pictures the difference between ‘exclusion,’ ‘assimilation,’ segregation,’ ‘integration,’ and ‘inclusion’ was a great way of illustrating those concepts. The Universal Design for Learning is an excellent framework that teachers can begin exploring and utilizing in their classrooms to, at least, begin the journey of making their classrooms more inclusive. The technology that was highlighted in the class slides, including the technology that I’m using right now, are exciting and have huge potential to help learners with disadvantages.