Inclusivity and Accessibility in Education

This week we considered accessibility in education. This is a huge topic to consider, as inclusive education teaching has made drastic changes within the last five years.

Accessibility is an important topic to consider for me, because as an able-bodied individual, I will undoubtedly have blindspots in my practice that must be addressed. Personally, I know I sometimes forget to think about captioning a photo with a description that would be useful to someone who is visually impaired. I’ve also caught myself using colour alone to emphasize information, without considering that someone who is colour-blind might miss that cue. These habits aren’t intentional, but it is important to be aware of how these practices will impact students who could be impaired in your class.

I think many digital accessibility practices aren’t widely used because they aren’t consistently taught in schools or professional training. People often prioritize aesthetics or convenience over inclusivity, especially when accessibility isn’t a mandatory thing that gets checked on regularly. Educators must balance a lot, and oftentimes teachers will use other resources that are already made, and they don’t always consider how the resource might not be inherently accessible, and don’t make the tweaks to make it more accessible. There’s also a misconception that accessibility only benefits a small group of people. I learned in one of the videos from this week’s topic that 1 in 5 Canadians have a disability of some kind. So, it really is a sizeable amount of people who benefit. We also know that proper accessibility and inclusivity practices benefit all learners. Greater awareness, education, and accountability would likely make accessibility a more standard part of digital creation, but I think we have come a long way 🙂

I am curious about if there is anything in your practice that you have identified is not accessible, and how you plan to change it.

Cheers,

Rylie