IP Inclusive Practices Blog Post 1: Disability

I guess the first thing to acknowledge in my study of disability and intersectionality is that as a white woman from a relatively comfortable background, grammar school & university educated, and having been able to live out my career ambitions without too much hinderance, I cannot possibly begin to fully understand how it truly feels to be marginalised, excluded or discriminated against, purely on the basis of disability, race, gender or socioeconomic status etc, or indeed, a combination of these identities.

My experiences, assumptions and beliefs have shaped the educator that I am, and in aiming to develop a deeper understanding of the way that various identity components combine & contribute to discrimination, my objective is to enable all of my students to be their best selves, and actively build inclusivity into my academic practice, regardless of systemic or institutional inequality.

For reference, LCF’s BAME vs White attainment gap is 15% to the detriment, vs the UAL average of 12%. The attainment gap for one of my own units is higher at 21.8%, indicating that there is significant work to do to redress the balance. Attainment for students with a declared disability is level with those with no declared disability, at 77%, but lower than the UAL average. The UAL average indicates that students with a declared disability actually perform better, than those without, at 84% vs 80% (UAL, 2025). However, there is no available data for students with multiple, intersectional identities.

Having studied Kimberle Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, which was a new concept to me, I can now see how ‘dominant social patterns and systemic inequalities affect the lived experiences of groups and individuals who embody multiple targeted identities and that such patterns and inequalities often produce intersectional disempowerment’ (Crenshaw, 1991, p.1245). The example of a HESA statistic cited in the Bera Journal, that fewer than 1% of British professors are women of colour, demonstrating that being both black and female leads to greater marginalisation, in comparison with the experiences of being a black man or a white woman.

Looking at this through the lived experience of Ade Adepitan, a disabled black paralympian & tv presenter, I was able to gain a vivid picture of what happens when we give people opportunity, regardless of their race, gender, disability etc. Ade clearly makes the point that people are not held back by their disability itself, but by the systemic discrimination and oppression that surrounds them, a fact which is exacerbated when the individual exhibits such multiple targeted identities. There is no level playing field; society has not enabled disabled people to be their best selves. He raises the question that, as a society, are we really committed to tackling inequality? This is borne out by the BERA Journal article, which identifies that the study of intersectionality has rarely moved beyond conceptualisation and investigation to implication and implementation in academic environments.

Christine Sun Kim introduces us to the concept that, we, as a society, do not ‘see’ the deaf community. We need to find a way to make deafness normal. She very correctly points out that it would be far easier for all of us to learn BSL (as part of the school curriculum, I wonder), than it would ever be for a deaf person to ‘learn’ to hear!

Having these multiple intersectional identities, I can now reflect on and understand, subjects an individual to an increased level of marginalisation, and the likelihood that, as a result they may never fully embrace or achieve at the level that their intellect and capability would allow. Unless we, as a society, and as academic institutions, can develop truly inspirational leadership, and create policies and environments that cater for all disabilities and intersectional identities, the current lack of awareness and commitment to inclusivity is unlikely to change as dramatically as it should.

On a more personal level, I am learning very quickly that in order to help the one deaf student I have in class, my teaching and communication methods have needed to change, and that with some very simple adjustments, I can make the in class experience so much more suited to her needs. Simply by adding audio captions to the settings in my presentations, the entire class can have subtitles. In doing this for one student, it soon became apparent that so many of my students, and in particular those for whom English is a second language, found the subtitles beneficial. My question then, is why are we as lecturers, not taught to do this for all of our in person teaching?

References

UAL Undergraduate Attainment Report, 23-24. Available at: https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/documents/sppreview/1cdc0ff4-8830-4787-b187-f7db576ab259 (Accessed 27.04.2025)

Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241-1299. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039 (Accessed 17.04.2025)

Coaston, Jane (2019). The Intersectionality Wars, Vox. Available at: https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination (Accessed 17.04.2025)

Lukkien, Tessa, Chauhan, Trishna and Otaye-Ebedi, Lilian (2024). Addressing the diversity principle-practice gap in Western higher education institutions: A systemic review on intersectionality. British Educational Research Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Educational Research Association. Available at: https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/berj.4096 (Accessed 21.04.2025)