Musings on Assistive Technology, Universal Design, Equity, and Access

This week, we were provided a wide variety of readings and resources covering the full spectrum of topics and issues about assistive technology, universal design, equity, and access.

This module has been one of my favorites of this course so far this semester.  I have always been interested in accessibility from a general sense, not just related to education. The readings and exercises from the assignments are specific to education and bode well with a few areas of interest and experience of mine:

Cheryl Heller and Social Design

I cannot quite recall how I first came across Cheryl Heller’s work, but I do remember that I preordered her book, The Intergalactic Design Guide: Harnessing the Creative Potential of Social Design, read it back in 2018, and have been interested in her work and social design concepts ever since.  Heller’s work in DSI (design for social innovation) is very big picture, forward thinking, collaborative, and inclusive, all qualities that I think of when I read this module’s readings and experiment with the different websites in the assignments. 

Heller is interesting in that her design ideas are related to social design, which is a fairly broad umbrella.  The curriculum for this MFA program gives an idea of some of the many topics that social design can cover.  Examples of this can include designing work spaces (architecture) conducive to collaboration, developing studies that fully capture all data (i.e., environmental), starting a movement for a cause (political), etc.  Under social design, inclusivity is at the forefront of the development all of these efforts.  The spaces, studies, programs, movements, etc all discuss access and inclusion at the brainstorm and design level, not as an afterthought tacked on as an accessory after implementation has already happened.

For more on Heller, I also recommend watching this talk, which details some interesting ideas at the convergence of social design and education.

Intersectionality of Inequities from EDFO 650

I see many similarities to some readings from this past summer semester’s Education Sociology (EDFO 651) course regarding general education inequities and inequalities. Such inequalities can be due to race, socioeconomic status, gender, etc.  Two readings from the EDFO 651 course, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life by Annette Lareau and Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? By Beverly Daniel Tatum, come to mind when thinking of these inequities.  This course’s readings drill down even further into the repercussions of these inequities and their intersectionality with regards to technology and accessibility.

Podcast Parallels

These readings also help support some of the topics I discussed in my podcast episodes, such as changes made due to and since COVID, digital inequities in our community, differences seen in metro vs. rural, etc.

Marketing in My Past Life

For some time before I was in my current role, I worked in marketing. There are many similar considerations for digital marketing components.  Accessibility for a website, for example, is important in that it can have an effect on Google’s ranking of the site (where it shows up in a search). Similar considerations are made for other tech mediums, in general and in education, specifically.

In Conclusion

This module, while education specific, still fits into that wide view of access for all.  I’m interested in equity, equality, and justice for all in a general sense  simply because I think that’s how we should be living life, thinking about and caring for other people.  In metro Cleveland where I live, our community is very diverse, and I believe that all people, regardless of age, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, etc should have the same access to all resources.  This includes education.

I do enjoy the prospect of incorporating these considerations into my current role and helping providers (schools) begin using their perspectives in their curriculum development processes as well.