Enabling University: Impairment, (Dis)ability and Social Justice in Higher Education

134 Pages·2015·4.9 MB·English

by  Tara Brabazon (auth.)

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN EDUCATION
Tara Brabazon
Enabling
University
Impairment,
(Dis)ability and
Social Justice in
Higher Education
SpringerBriefs in Education
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8914
Tara Brabazon
Enabling University
Impairment, (Dis)ability and Social
Justice in Higher Education
123
TaraBrabazon
School ofTeacher Education
Charles Sturt University
Bathurst,NSW
Australia
ISSN 2211-1921 ISSN 2211-193X (electronic)
SpringerBriefs inEducation
ISBN 978-3-319-12801-6 ISBN 978-3-319-12802-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-12802-3
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2014956364
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Contents
Part I Politics
1 The Politics of Stairs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2 The Politics of Mobility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3 The Politics of Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4 The Politics of Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Part II Difference
5 Making Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
6 Why Universities Matter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Beyond Normal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
7 Beyond Stigma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
8 Difference and Judgment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
v
vi Contents
Part III Design
9 Intervention Through Teacher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Controlling Narratives of Difference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Teacher Education and Understanding the Senses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Who Is Special? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Moving Language—Moving Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
10 Universal Design: Designing for Life (and Learning) . . . . . . . . . . 97
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
11 Conclusion: Futures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Prologue
Disabled are Able?
1981. A gaggle of girls followed me. Chanting. Mimicking my walk. Making me
shrink with shame, confusionand self-loathing. Each lunchtimefollowed asimilar
pattern, with the same girls spiking me with words and actions.
Thereweretriggersfortheirattacks.Iwalkedoddly.Ilookedstrange.Presenting
neat handwriting was a challenge. Physical education classes were difficult. When
Ifellover,Ididnotputhandsinfrontofmybodytoblockafall.Duringthesecond
grade, agroupofchildren pushedmyface into aconcrete playground.Ilanded on
my cheek and slid across the roughened bitumen, which took half my face with it.
Through the diligent attentions of a doctor, all the dirt was removed and abrasions
cleaned. My face healed. The memories were not so easily salved. I remember
sitting in the classroom waiting for myfather to pick me up from school, bleeding
andbruised.Teachersdidnotescortmetoamedicalarea.Theydidnotletmewait
for myfather inthe administrative block. Instead, they returned meto a classroom
filled with the students who had caused it.
This was a public school. My concerned parents thought if they sacrificed and
saved, perhaps an affluent girl’s school would be safer. They were wrong. If any-
thing,thetormentwasgreater.Thesearrogant,self-confidentandself-entitledgirls
hadneverseenanawkwardandoddpersonlikemeandtheypersistentlyharassed,
bullied and attacked, day after day, week after week and month after month.
Whatwaswrongwithme? Iwasbornwith alackofmotorcoordination.Inthe
1970s, this was described as ‘Clumsy Children Syndrome.’ More scientifically, it
was referred to as Developmental Apraxia or Developmental Coordination Disor-
der.Asachild,Ididnotknowthesewordsorphrases.AllIknewwasthatIseemed
to fall over. A lot. I could not catch a ball. Stairs intimidated me. Escalators were
worse. Through these challenges, I had two great gifts: family and geography.
In Perth Western Australia where I was born and raised, the neurologist
Prof.SassonGubbaypracticedandresearchedmedicine.Hewasaspecialistinthis
emergingfieldofApraxia.Hehadwrittensomeoftheearlieststudiesofmovement
vii
viii Prologue
disorders. My (much older) brother was in medical school at the time at the Uni-
versity ofWestern Australia, and recognized some characteristics inhis littlesister
that he had been reading in textbooks. This disorder was visual and kinaesthetic,
andrevealedaninabilitytoactivate“crossmodaljudgements.”1Thismeantthatthe
children and adults with apraxia had a limited capacity to recognize visual shapes.
The ability to view and evaluate distances and relationships was hampered. The
capacitytoassessriskandmovethroughthesespaceswasalsolimited.Learnedand
purposeful movements—that most children and adults take for granted—were
lackinginthosewithApraxia.Forexample:whatmomentisthebesttostepontoa
moving escalator? For those without the impairment, such a decision is easy,
intuitive and natural. For the child and adult managing Apraxia, the escalator
creates a barrier—an obstacle—in daily life. Many of us also possessed an odd
characteristic: a high tolerance to pain. We were ‘clumsy children’ because we
lacked the spatial acuity to understand how our body should move in its environ-
ment and the sensory information to recognize threat, danger or hazards.
Medical appointments were made. I met Prof. Gubbay2 at the very point he
wasdevelopinghistheoriesandresearch.In1975,hepublishedTheClumsyChild:
a Study of Developmental Apraxic and Agnostic Ataxia3 and in the same year
released an article for The Medical Journal of Australia, “Clumsy children in
normalschools.”4Thelanguageisofitstime:‘clumsy’and‘normal.’Thiswasthe
periodwhereGubbaywasassemblingtheevidence,conductingthecasestudiesand
building diagnostic tools. I was one of the patients in his research, present for this
momentofthinkingaboutdevelopmentalapraxia.Iwasalsosufferingbullyingona
daily basis. At the point that the phrase ‘clumsy child’ was being used in the
medical literature, it was also deployed in the streets and schools. A diagnosis
became a label of abuse and attack.
Gubbay’s studies at that time offered a finding that changed our lives: he rec-
ommended early intervention occupational therapy.5 Twice a week, my mother
would take me to Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth and a therapist
would develop my movement—my sensory literacies—through swings, balls,
jumping and an obstacle course featuring a range of oddly shaped plastic objects.
She was building the relationships between what I could see and what my body
could do. She was teaching an awareness of distances, barriers and shapes.
It is an odd experience, as someone who is a university researcher, to see their
earlychildhoodintheresearchofothers.Throughexpansiveethicscommitteesand
anonymized sampling, there is a delight in seeing our earlier selves living in a
1 Hulmeetal.(1982).
2 ToviewsomeofthetextsinSassonGubbay’scareer,includinghislatermovementintostudies
ofautism,pleaserefertohttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Gubbay%20SS%5BAuthor
%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=1128410.
3 http://www.getcited.org/pub/101581592.
4 Gubbay(1975).
5 Gubbay(1978).
Prologue ix
project that developed new knowledge. Gubbay was looking for patterns in these
clumsy children, and found them. He was looking for solutions to make the situ-
ation better for these children and parents. He accomplished that task. Yes, the
language describing ‘clumsy children’ in ‘normal classrooms’ was… well…
clumsy and the expressions are now not used. But I am grateful that a remarkable
combination of events—a brother in medical school, a world-leading neurologist
developinghistheoriesinmy(isolated,Antipodal)city,andcommittedparentswho
weredeterminedtohelpmecatchaball,playaguitarandnotfallover—workedin
myfavour.Ifoneofthosevariableshadbeenmissing,thenIwouldnothavelived
the life I have relished.
This medical and familial support meant little at school. I was the kid who
walkedlikeaduck,couldnotkickorcatchaballandwouldlandonmyfacewhen
pushed. No matter what therapy, professional assistance or diagnosis I was
receiving, it was irrelevant in school. Physical education teachers thought if they
keptaimingaballatmyface,Iwouldeventuallycatchitwithmyhands.Theywere
wrong. They still are.
Modificationshavebeenminimal.Idriveanautomaticcar,ratherthanamanual.
Twopedalsloweredandreleasedthroughthepressureappliedbyonefootareeasy
to manage, and I passed my driving test on the first attempt. I must plan all
navigationinthecarandonfoot,becauseIlackspatialacuity.Iusedtodrawmaps.
Google Maps and satellite navigators have been an invention from Developmental
Apraxia Heaven. But through my adult years, I have learnt to slow down, often
stop, and assess a physical landscape in front of me. When I was younger—right
through to my early 30s—I would move too quickly, miss small steps, walk into
rather than over speed humps, and fall over most days. It has been years since
IhavefallenoverbecauseIlearntthekeyprinciple.Lookingcomesbeforewalking.
Activate visual literacy before movement.
Thisgratitudeformyabilitiescamemuchlater.Wereturnto1981.Thiswasthe
‘Year of Disabled Persons.’ Australian television commemorated this event with a
public service commercial with the catchy—and appropriate—jingle of ‘Disabled
areable.’Thissloganwascleverandimportant,butthetimingofthisadvertisement
was not great for me. This jingle became the soundtrack for bullying throughout
the year.
Disabled are able. Disabled are able. Disabled are able. Disabled are able.
Disabled are able. Disabled are able. Disabled are able. Disabled are able. Dis-
abled areable. Disabledareable. Disabled areable. Disabledareable. Disabled
are able. Disabled are able. Disabled are able. Disabled are able.
Thetormenters—theseaffluent,protectedandprivilegedgirls—hadnoideaofthe
damagetheyhaddone.Irememberwalkingalongtheriveratthebaseofourhousein
the Swan Valley in Western Australia, looking into the water with tears streaming
downmyface,wonderingifitwasworthlivinganotherhouroranotherday.
I was 12.
When the scale of the attacks escalated at the affluent private school, I moved
again. My father reported the bulling to the headmaster and the teachers, to try to
protect other students who were also suffering from bullying for other reasons,