OCA & D&A: Session 5: Inclusivity Through Accessibility

About the Open College of the Arts & Diversity & Ability workshop series.

Aim 

To equip the Open College of the Arts community with the knowledge and skills to embrace a diverse, accessible and enduring inclusive learning and teaching environment. 

Objectives 

By the end of the workshop series, attendees will:

• Be able to identify exclusionary barriers that exist physically, digitally and systemically.

• Feel confident talking about and addressing societal privileges and biases.

• Understand how and why an intersectional approach to diversity should be listened to and celebrated.

• Have an increased awareness, understanding, and confidence around disability, specifically how we talk about disability, and communicating with disabled people.

• Understand the models of disability, and how they interact with student identities and disclosure rates.

• Be able to implement small everyday practices that foster inclusion and improve experiences through changing attitudinal and cultural understandings of what is meant by diversity and inclusion.

Approach 

We think it is important that diversity, inclusion and disability awareness support is delivered by those with lived experience. Where facilitators, often through firsthand experiences of marginalisation, can bring an authentic voice to discussion. Our workshops will be led by our Accessibility and Inclusion Specialists, namely former NUS Disabled Students Officer, Piers Wilkinson and supported by former chair of NADP (National Association of Disability Practitioners), Brian Lutchmiah. Both providing attendees with a valuable insight into what inclusion good practice

in education looks likes.

Attendees will come away from the workshops, not with a long sheet of simple do’s and don’t, but with a practical and emotional understanding of the topics discussed. Information will be delivered progressively, allowing attendees a safe space to consider and reassess their own understanding. This experience will underpin future interactions, as well as wider decision making, to allow for inclusion and accessibility to be rightfully celebrated!

Format 

Workshops will be delivered as a series, with members of the Open College of the Arts community able to register to the sessions they feel most relevant to them. Sessions will be run by D&A using the Zoom Meetings feature to allow for interactive engagement. The Open College of the Arts will be sent the session registration links ahead of time to be distributed among their community. The links will include full session descriptions as well as accessibility information.

Copies of the session's slides, links to mentioned resources, and full recordings will be provided to attendees after each session.

The five workshops below will not only increase awareness of diversity and inclusion but will also  provide a range of practical information, advice, and guidance that attendees can take forward in  their course and career.

We take a conceptual approach with the sessions, ‘Dismantling Bias and Celebrating Diversity’,  ‘Intersectionality, what is it and why is it important?’ and ‘Changing The Way We Understand  Disability’ putting this understanding into practice with the sessions, ‘Managing Stress and  Anxiety in Education’ and ‘Inclusivity Through Accessibility’.

This session will introduce accessible content and design.

Ensuring that documents and digital content is accessible for all is not only the right thing to do, but also improves functionality universally. The session will cover:

• A legislative context for making content accessible

• An understanding of Assistive Technology software that may  be used to access content

• An exploration of how to ensure your documents are  accessible using MS Word

• Exploring the accessibility of PDF documents

• Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and accessibility

By embedding anticipatory inclusive practice and placing value in accessibility, students and staff alike can experience the advantages that diversity of thought can bring to higher education.

Find out more about Diversity & Ability here.