‘Let’s listen with our eyes and not just with our ears.’ Christine Sun Kim
All of these resources are thought-provoking. Khairani Barokka’s piece is fascinating as Khairani is so eloquent about intersectionality and how being a brown, disabled, woman impacts on the way others perceive and treat her and what she has to go through in order to perform. This puts in sharp focus the necessity of equity in our work at UAL. It also links to one of the examples from the SoN Disability Journal where a member of staff talks about the difficulty of getting the necessary equipment to do her job. It’s something about the lack of acknowledgement of the journey travelled just to have an equitable opportunity.
In the SoN Journal I also read the conversation with Elora Kadir, a student at CSM. I find this resonates with the work we’re trying to do about inclusion in digital spaces. The sense of anger, exhaustion and constantly being the one having to fight, whilst at the same time being judged for being too angry or not angry enough – it feels like something that is prevalent. In our team, we are in a position to take on some of that fight and not shy away from it because we’re too afraid to be the awkward person.
Two things that Christine Sun Kim said really struck me. The first was about the ownership of sound, and that it didn’t really belong to her, as a child. I hadn’t really thought about how that would be for a deaf person and how it could be addressed. The second thing was the physicality of sound. She says the vibrations are ‘visceral and internal’. ‘Let’s listen with our eyes and not just with our ears.’ I think this will be helpful in my work but I’m not sure yet how. It’s easy in digital learning and accessibility to develop a narrow focus i.e. to enable access to the information, but I think it will help to return to this quote to remind me to question my assumptions and ask the students what they need/want.
In reading #disabilitytoowhite, I realised that in our Accessibility Action Group at CSM although we represent different support services, we need to consider our own positionality as a group. Also, although we often work with the Disability team, we don’t often talk to the students they support. Are we enabling different voices or speaking on their behalf?
References:
Christine Sun Kim (2011) Available at: https://vimeo.com/31083172 (Accessed: April 2023) A Selby Film
Khairani Barokka (Okka) (2017) Deaf-accessibility for spoonies: lessons from touring Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee while chronically ill, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 22:3, 387-392, DOI: 10.1080/13569783.2017.1324778
Blahovec, S. Confronting the Whitewashing Of Disability: Interview with #DisabilityTooWhite Creator Vilissa Thompson. Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/confronting-the-whitewash_b_10574994?guccounter=1 (Accessed: April 2023)
Shades of Noir, 2020 Disabled people: the voice of many Available at: https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/disabled_people (Accessed: April 2023)
nicely written blog-post commenting on the various recourses and stating how you can incorporate some of the themes into your own practice. i also love the quotes, i too thought about using our eyes as well as our ears in relation to sound.
A thought provoking post. In particular when you mention “lack of acknowledgement of the journey travelled just to have an equitable opportunity.” Speak to me about how there is a tendency for this to be the case in large institutions where policy and practice do not always link for those ‘actively doing the job’. I also found Christine Sun Kim’s video moving and felt that as able bodied people it is too easy for us as able bodied to make assumptions about those who are not. This unit has so far raised an awareness in me of how I teach and approach the challenges we face. It has also highlighted the many facets to our roles and in doing the best we can within this is enough, given the time challenges , yet there is still much to learn.
I agree Joanne, about doing the best we can. I think it can be very demotivating to constantly feel it’s not enough. I think sometimes this is confused for complacency or the idea that ‘I’m done now, I can stop’. I know in a broad sense, ‘nothing is enough’ and social justice is about action. However, we also have to live and if we are truly trying to be self-aware, educate ourselves, listen to others and reflective in an ongoing way, I think that’s ok. It’s also good to acknowledge some of the things we already do, otherwise I think you can tie yourself up in knots always looking for something else.
Yes! It is good to hear you say this. In particular when acknowledging what we already do. This is so important for us as educators. As a Language Development tutor it can be an ongoing challenge to maintain motivation when faced with the complex teaching and learning spaces I have navigated during my time at UAL. There is hope!
You demonstrate a thoughtful and reflective approach to understanding and addressing issues of equity, inclusion, and representation, Amy! It’s great to see your willingness to engage with different perspectives and consider the complexities of these topics. Keep up the work you’re doing with your team!
Thanks Joanne, we do try but it’s challenging even within our small team and also frustrating when there seems to be a gap between policy (or lack of) and students’ experiences. It’s quite hard to stay motivated.
I found Christine Sun Kim art practising powerful too, that she felt sound belonged to others and that sound wasn’t her property to own. In her art practice, she is powerfully owning it and being creative with it. I think this demonstrates that there as a disabled person there are no limits to creativity and expressing one’s identity. It also highlights how able body people perceive and label disabled person’s abilities, the disabled person has to fight two fights, one of the prejudices of others and then their own journey of discovery.
Yes, it also links to that TED talk we watched doesn’t it, about burn out being seen as a necessary part of ‘working hard’ or being good at your job. This is unhelpful for everyone, but especially so if you have are facing additional obstacles. I heard someone being introduced on the radio the other day with a long list of their activities and it was quite refreshing as they were keen to say that those things had happened over a long period of time and that they didn’t want to be seen as ‘busy’ all the time.
I realise this is digressing a bit, but I wonder if this is all part of the normalising of an unhealthy amount of work, which is particularly challenging if you have anything else to deal with.