Monica M Corney

Monica Corney Eng 397 Dr Ervin 4/26/18 From “Other” to Writer Disability is like a plague to some communities. When someone sees a person in a wheel chair or on crutches they tend to “feel sorry” for them or treat them differently than everyone else. Those with mental or in many cases “invisible” disabilities are some times thought to be attention seekers or fakers. In the academic setting those diagnosed, misdiagnosed, or not yet diagnosed with these issues struggle the most when it comes to assignments or getting things in on time. Some are too embarrassed or proud to receive help while others cannot get the help they need because they do not know what resources are available to them or they feel unworthy of help. For some, going to a writing center does not help when diagnosed or undiagnosed with learning disabilities such as dyslexia. Whether it is because of the idea that ableism exists or because they feel the way they are tutored is not what they need, writing centers need to become more available for those struggling with a disability. In order to fully understand the issues surrounding people with disabilities and the writing center, the definitions and daily struggles of those with disabilities must be discussed. Only then can change be made to use inclusivity of students with disabilities into the daily life of a writing center. This paper will focus mainly on mental and neurological disabilities since they are usually the most under mentioned in an academic setting. Feeling welcome in a writing center is also key to helping individuals struggling in their daily lives. In order to make those with disabilities feel more welcomed, centers should hire students and directors who also suffer from disabilities so that they relate to the writer’s struggles. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) defines a person with a disability as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having an impairment.” (Unknown) The term should not be used to describe someone as weak or lesser than anyone else. Some people with disabilities can still work full or part time jobs but struggle to get through the day and have little or no energy for other things. Others are unable to maintain gainful or substantial employment because of their disability and have trouble with daily living activities. The very definition of “invisible” disability is a physical, mental or neurological condition that limits movements, senses, or activities making their issues “invisible” to the onlooker. This fact is exactly why so many do not believe someone is disabled leading to misunderstandings, false perceptions, and judgements. Some examples of this would be mental illness such as depression and severe anxiety, chronic pain illnesses such as fibromyalgia, and learning disabilities such as ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, etc. Learning disabilities (also shortened to LD), in particular, is a change in the way the human brain processes, stores and communicates information because of neurological differences. An estimated ten percent of the world’s population has some kind of LD, the most common being dyslexia, dyspraxia, and/or attention deficit disorder (ADHD). Adults with an undiagnosed LD can take a serious toll on their career choice, limit job advancement, and lead to a number of psychological and emotional issues. However, if they were to be properly diagnosed than they would be able to figure out ways to reach their full potential. There is a social stigma around LDs that says individuals with these disorders have equal to low intelligence. This is what makes it harder for adults to accept diagnosis and seek treatment. If this is the case with adults in the workforce, then imagine how hard it could be for students struggling in college. They have all this fear that people will look down upon them and shun them for not being “smart” enough, feel as though current accommodations are a hassle, or they simply have too much pride to seek help. For these individuals, they are embarrassed about their disabilities or feel they are inadequate to their needs. There are many people in society that do not have a disability or are not close to someone who has them. Ableism is used to define these people as “normal” and society works to work with these people instead of those with a disability excluding them from interactions. Ableism is unfortunately part of our culture as Americans. So many “able-bodied” people do not know or understand what a person with disabilities are able to or unable to do and end up not including them in big decisions that need to be made in their life, family, or careers. In a blog post, written by a communications professional and disability advocate named Leah Smith on the website for the Center of Disability Rights (cdmy.org), defines ableism as “a set of beliefs or practices that devalue and discriminate against people with physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities and often rests on the assumption that disabled people need to be ‘fixed’ in on form or another.” (Smith) Discrimination and ableism are very similar in that a lot of the time, non-disabled people mean well but in the end the ignorance is what causes ableism to come into effect. Many believe in the medical description of a disability and associate medicine with an illness that needs to be “cured.” Smith explains that people see a disability through the medical lens of doctors which makes the assumption that these individuals have something “wrong” with them. This way of thinking is how everyone is taught. Ableism can also be shown through how we learn to treat people. Children are told to be “extra nice” to people with disabilities such as opening the door for them and press the elevator button. This kind of treatment can also be called disableism which means the assumptions that society use to treat a person with disabilities differently or unequal to everyone else. While it sounds as if the intensions are good, those who decided to treat disabled people like this are more-so pitying them rather than helping them by believing they cannot do anything on their own. Even the language surrounding disabled people can cause harm such as “wheelchair bound.” That in itself makes a person seem as though they are unable to do much at all. The lack of accessibility in many places is also another way ableism can be seen. When there is accessibility, the disabled individual is not only included but also has the ability to voice their opinions in a public setting. If a blind individual does not have braille to decipher something to be read or an interpreter for the deaf to speak on their behalf with sign language, then they will not be heard in situations that need their opinion. Writing centers are slowly progressing into a stage where they are beginning to finally take steps to make sure their tutors are not using ableism and other things such as “super-crip.” The International Writing Centers Association (IWCA) has a position statement on disability and writing centers. It states that they are trying to make sure that writing centers are more inclusive to students with disabilities along with different styles to help them with their writing in the future. The subject of a disability as a more social front than a medical front is an important part of this article. There are many who need medicine and other needs for disability but also “healthy” and “unhealthy” disabled people. They can physically get themselves to writing centers or need medication to help with things such as MS or ADHD (which is also associated with critical illness) There are many challenges with inclusion for students with disabilities so this article talks about them and reflects on how to overcome them in the writing center. Tutors are trained to be supportive of the person’s work rather than critique and are trained to help individuals one on one. The writer can learn what to do and what not to do in order to develop skills. Writing centers should begin offering ways to help individuals as they look at a “normal” person and work with them as if their culture was different instead of them having a disability. Many tutors end up treating those with different races, genders, or disabilities differently and overcompensating them for their needs making them “others” and making them stand out. Inclusion is a human right. Rebecca Day Babcock, Doria Daniels, and Sharifa Daniels who wrote an article for Praxis: A Writing Center Journal. “We too, argue that writing centers should be welcoming environments for all writers, and they should engage with their writers as unique beings, making accessible to them the individuation of instruction and support,” (Babcock). Many universities are trying, include all students despite their background or ability, to include them and make them feel welcome in places like the writing center. They ask for participation and help removing barriers holding them back. There are many practices in training for tutoring and education, but there are still a lot of application issues involved that cause the tutors and educators to fall into a trap of making the student feel differently. Students become distrustful because they feel outcast rather than included with everyone else. Since many students do not tell the tutor about their disability, many tutors do not realize that they need to learn the subject in a certain way. There are many laws about confidentiality so the idea of integrating different ways to teach is difficult when the student does not let the tutor know. They suggest having the tutor ask the student before the session if they have anything they believe they should tell the tutor before the session, (Babcock). In looking to the point of view of a peer tutor, there is a blog post on ucwbling.chicagoandwritingcenters.org, Giovanna L. is a peer writing tutor who discusses their public education programs in their area and how they could use the same kind of accessibility in the writing centers. She believes that “expressing genuine interest in a writer’s work through active listening and engagement” allows the student to realize they are capable of writing what they want to write. This gives the student, even without disabilities, confidence and makes them feel safe in the writing center so that they will continue to grow and learn how to hone their writing skills. This is the perfect example of the use of “inclusion” which is defined as the idea of including the disabled (or culturally different) person into the curriculum along with everyone else by finding ways to accommodate for everyone’s learning style,(L.). In her article “Psychological Disability and The Director’s Chair: Interrogating the relationship between Personality and Pedagogy,” M. Melissa Elston brings up the idea of a “super-crip.” She uses the term while describing why she was writing this article as a director of a writing center who suffers from anxiety. “I do not include this story in order to contribute to ‘super-crip’ mythology,” she writes. “Which builds upon anecdotal tales of disabled individuals rising ‘above’ their disability and overcoming it in order to pass as normative, thus contributing to and reinforcing ableism in the dominant culture’s imaginary.” (Eston) In large contrast to the idea of ableism and disableism, “super- crip” is a term used for the stereotype that says that someone who is disabled is seen as an overachiever and are able to overcome in order to be successful. Mary Johnson, editor of Disability Rag, Louisville, KY and Reporting on Disability: Feature and Issues, uses her experience as an editor to explain this phenomenon from a journalist’s point of view. She says that reporters want to find a story that will tug at the heartstrings, going so far as to use the idea of a disabled person living a normal life, to stir up emotions about the “afflicted” being “courageous” enough to live a “normal” life as if it were something unheard of, (Johnson). Many writing centers consider those with disabilities as “others” and obstacles that tutors have to “cope” with rather than be able to tutor properly. Students all assume that the tutors are “able” bodied and minded with absolutely no issues. Though, when telling someone about the disability they have, the tutor should pay attention to the situation and see if it is a proper reason to disclose it or not. For example, they shouldn’t give stories of their experiences instead of working on the paper that needs to be done. Elston does not owe anyone an explanation for her diagnosis but integrates her disability in training and such so that those who suffer from them can open up and feel familiar in the center. This also helps students find different ways to approach writing a paper even if they previously thought it was impossible to do so before. Disclosing a disability can also help improve writing because it brings another approach to the reading of another person’s work. Tutors wear “many hats” like being an ally, commentator, collaborator, fellow learner, and councilor. They should not be authoritarian and not be expected to know everything. This is also another reason why she believes that her coming out with a disability is good. She hopes that in the future, more tutors and directors will come to work in writing centers. This fact would encourage students with disabilities to come in because they will not feel alone. Daniels, Babcock, and Daniels also add to this conversation by using examples from Jean Kiedaisch and Sue Dinitz, from the 2007 article “Changing Notions of Difference in the Writing Center: The Possibilities of Universal Design,” believes that students with disabilities should be treated with the same kind of tutoring as a normal student. Everyone is unique and a good tutor should be able to listen and accommodate as the session progresses and help them learn in a certain way. Amy Vidali, Margaret Price, and Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson explain that despite trying to integrate students with disabilities, traditional routes have been taken which does not allow them to get proper help. However, the Universal Design to Learning (UDL) can physically help the tutors find ways to assist in the process for each individual. The UDL is the ability to teach various methods of tutoring to see what worlds best for each student. UD can be used in all centers in order to make everyone feel included and not left out. Another strategy is to take all of the stress away from the student temporarily for a few days and come back to it with a fresh mind. A third strategy is to use explicit dialogue to make sure the tutor knows exactly what the tutee needs from the conversation. Such as pointing out errors, so they hear it from someone else rather than themselves. Adding technology to aid in tutoring is also another idea that comes up. Hiring staff who have disabilities as well can help students come out of their shell more and learn different ways instead of expecting the tutor to know everything and get overwhelmed. Unfortunately, a lot of directors and tutors are afraid to disclose that they have a disability because of the prejudice surrounding the issue of disability. Though, disabled students would more than likely prefer to hear “I learned how to do this this way” rather than “I’ve taught someone how to do this.” Very few training texts include ways to help with physical or sensory disabilities. This article suggests that they should add this in the curriculum but not as an “add on” and instead integrate it into the process. Through training, tutors can learn skills they need to help deal with anyone’s mental or physical state, (Babcock). Writing centers can easily be redesigned to better suit those with learning and mental disorders. Once directors can rethink the way policies are for training than it can be a better “crip” space for those in need of the proper help. Mission statements in writing centers focus on the writer as a single kind of student as if there was only one writing style. If a center was to find various ways to tutor someone, then it might look more inviting to a struggling student. Session guidelines usually have strict rules when it comes to times and dates for sessions such as “no call no show.” Some people have certain disorders that make them unable to attend sessions at times for various reasons so Elston suggests to help them by changing the guidelines to walk-in only after missing a certain amount of sessions. Redesigning a writing center can be a lot of work, but the idea of a UDL allows flexibility of presenting information so that all students can respond or show their own knowledge and skills. It also reduces the instruction, but provides appropriate accommodation, support, and challenges while maintaining high expectations for all students, including those with disabilities or those who are English language learners. Since the usual classroom instruction is inflexible and “one-size-fits-all,” “UDL” is designed to accommodate by offering flexible ways to learn something rather than the straight-laced barrier that an instructor could give an entire class. For students with disabilities in particular, it is often the case where the accommodation that a teacher can give is after the fact rather than being able to help with their particular need immediately. “UDL” from the very beginning can help the struggling students rather than wait until after they have a low grade in something to come up. There are three principles that guide “UDL.” Each one provides guidelines to help assist in the use of each principle. The first is to provide multiple means of representation. Everyone learns differently. With this principle, the individual learning style can be assessed so that the student can properly move on to the next step in the learning process. The second principle is to provide means of action and expression which means the “how” of learning. Using the individual ways to accommodate for someone’s learning style is what the “UDL” does best by providing the options for each person. An example of this principle would be to provide and use an audiovisual approach for a person with a learning disability such as dyslexia to allow them to hear and read the material at the same time. (I know it works for me! Listening to Audible and Librivox while physically reading the material saved my life. Some works are available on youtube as well.) The third and final principle is to provide multiple means of engagement, which is the “why” of learning. This aspect is finding the reason for the difference in learning whether it be neurological, cultural, personal relevance, subjectivity, or background knowledge, these facts can help to figure out just what kind of tools they need to be successful. In their article, “Technology and Learning: Meeting Special Students’ Needs,” David Rose and Jenna Gravel touch on what the future directions and research for UDL will be like on the large scale. Although UDL cannot be applied to every lesson in the Education field, it is still important to give evidence that applications of it have been used effectively in classrooms. In the literacy field, there has been research going on about how students comprehend reading material in a digital format compared to a text consistent with UDL technologies. They used students who were struggling with reading materials and in the end, those using the UDL formatting outperformed those who used printed texts. However, there is a serious lack of full district-wide research on UDL. It is difficult to implement and test because it would require a lot of reform throughout the whole school system. In all, the future of this research will depend on whether or not the school system would allow for such research. “Coping” with others who have disabilities is not enough to help students struggling at times. To properly be able to teach and help students in the writing center, the ideas of “ableism” and “super-crip” should disappear and be replaced with “inclusion.” Staff who come out and say they have a learning or mental disability should be allowed employment and encouraged to used their personal experiences to help those struggling deal with their work in a different way. UDL is a continuous, but important thing to use in the writing centers so that everyone has a shot of being the best writer they can be. Works Cited Baycock, Rebecca; Daniels, Doria; Daniels, Sharifa. "Writing Centers and Disability: Enabling Writers Through an Inclusive Philosophy." Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, Praxis. www.praxisuwc.com/Daniels-131. Cicerchia, Meredith. “When Learning Disabilities in Adults Go Undiagnosed.” Touch-type Read and Spell (TTRS), www.readandspell.com/us/learning-disabilities-in-adults. Disabilities Association. “How Do You Define Invisible Disability? | Invisible Disability Definition.” Invisible Disabilities Association - IDA, invisibledisabilities.org/what-is-an-invisible-disability/. Elston, M. Melissa. “Psychological Disability and the Director's Chair: Interrogating the Relationship Between Positionality and Pedagogy.” Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, Praxis, www.praxisuwc.com/elston-131. “Home.” National Center On Universal Design for Learning, www.udlcenter.org/. Johnson, Mary. “The ‘Super-crip’ Stereotype.” Indiana University, www.mediaschool.indiana.edu/research-2/ethics-case-studies/the-super-crip-stereotype/. L, Giovanna. “The Writing Center as a Place of Accessibility and Inclusion.” Ucwbling: Writing About Writing & Peer Writing Tutoring, www.ucwbling.chicagolandwritingcenters.org/the-writing-center-as-a-place-of-accessibility-and-inclusion/ Smith, Leah. “#Ableism.” Center for Disability Rights, blog. http://cdmys.org/blog/uncategorized/ableism/ Stop Ableism. “What Is Ableism?” Stop Ableism, Stopableism.org, www.stopableism.org/p/what-is-ableism.html.