MBECTEDefining Disability

6 people standing against a concrete wall holding a sign that says "Disabled and Here"

Living With A Disability

Zach Anner is a comedian, actor, and writer with Cerebral Palsy (CP). In this video, he details his quest to visit a bagel shop in New York City– and the hurdles he has to overcome to get there.

Zach mentions that New York claims to be a fairly accessible city, but it is still very challenging for him to navigate to his destination. He makes it clear that there is a big gap between what appears accessible and what is actually accessible– and that gap isn't limited to the streets of New York.

People with disabilities run into issues like these every day, both in the physical world and in the context of education. It can be extremely tiring to figure out workarounds for every challenge that comes up throughout the day.

What Is Disability?

Who in our community is most impacted by inaccessible course content? The first group of students you might think of are those with disabilities. But what exactly does "disabled" mean?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits major life activities. Disabled people often face challenges like:

Mobility issues,
Vision issues,
Hearing issues,
Cognitive disorders,
& many others.

There are a few important things we need to remember when we talk about disability, especially in the context of the college classroom:

Disability is always contextual. Everyone is different– disabilities don't look the same for everyone. People experiencing the same challenges may need different types of support.
Disability is not always permanent, either. Sometimes disability is a permanent condition, but it can also be temporary (e.g. when a person is sick) or situational (e.g. when a person is trying to listen to something in a loud area).

Table describing Permanent, Temporary, and Situational Disabilities.

Disability impacts all of us. Everyone moves in and out of a state of disability throughout our lives, and on average, 1 in 4 adults in the US have a disability.

As educators, it's very important that we shift our perspective to seek out the strengths our students bring to the classroom over the challenges they may face. Ensuring our courses are flexible enough to accommodate the wide array of methods and tools our students use to learn is one key way to get started.

Want to learn more?

Learn more about "Spoon Theory", a common way of talking about disability limitations within the community.
Learn some other interesting facts about disabled Americans from the Pew Research Center.

Consider This...

When faculty here at the U were asked about the concerns they have about updating their course materials for accessibility, here's what one instructor had to say:

"We don't have many differently abled* students (i.e. no vision impairment besides colorblindness)."

A lot of disabled members of our community do not appear to the naked eye.

More importantly: Disability isn't always reported. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), around 21% of undergraduate students and 11% of graduate students reported having a disability. However, only one-third of students who had a qualifying disability chose to inform their college... So while we might not think there's a lot of disabled students in our classes, there may be up to 3 times as many students in need of accommodations than we see, hiding in plain sight.

Learn about the experiences of some students at Michigan State University navigating college with hidden disabilities in this video.

Think About It!

Have you or a loved one personally dealt with a permanent, temporary, or situational Disability? Was it visible?
How have teachers worked with you through challenges that impacted your participation in class as a student? What did you learn from that experience?

* – "Disabled", "differently-abled", "handicapped"... Language to describe disabled (and neurodiverse!) folks has changed a lot over time. Use the term Disabled. The most important thing to remember: disability is a normal part of everyone's lives, not something shameful or disrespectful to talk about. If you are with someone who is disabled and you are unsure, simply ask which terms they prefer. Learn more about respectful language from the United Nations or the Respectful Disability Language guide available from the Association of University Centers on Disability.