2 years ago I connected with a colleague at LCF who shared the difficulties of having an invisible disability within the workplace. She shared how her need for physical rest, was seen by others as a sign of weakness or disinterest. As a tutor we are expected to hold the space within a classroom, however, for my colleague, this was challenging. As a black woman working in academia, she shared how she was already at a disadvantage, and feared being labelled as lazy or incompetent, when not being able to offer the same level of physical mobility and resilience as the other staff when teaching. Prior to this, I had never considered how my students may also have invisible disabilities, and how this might impact their wellbeing, engagement and self-confidence within a classroom context.
Unfortunately, the price of having a disability is usually paid by the disabled person. The comfort of others, comes first and holds priority, as the disabled person is seen as the one causing the inconvenience. This is highlighted in Christine Sun Kim’s film for NOWNESS where she shares her experiences as a person who cannot speak or communicate verbally. Through performance and installation, she creates sound through objects, motion and noise, rather than spoken word and language. She invites the audience to “listen with our eyes and not just our ears” and embrace how “sound vibrations are visceral and internal”.
This film inspired me into considering how we need to create safe inclusive spaces for our students, and support them in unpacking the world around them, by translating it through their own lens. As a tutor on the BA Fashion Styling & Production course, we push students to extend beyond traditional ideas of styling, and use these tools as a medium for storytelling. All our students are unique in terms of their experiences and upbringing, and they should all be able to express their personal narratives through a creative lens. This can be encouraged by extending the case studies and references shows in class and by inviting a wider range of industry guests who also have a disability, and have embraced and channeled that part of their identity into their creative practice.
Film for NOWNESS by Christine Sun Kim: https://vimeo.com/31083172
DisabilityTooWhite article/interview with Vilissa Thompson: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/confronting-the-whitewash_b_10574994?guccounter=1
Not all disabilities are visible. | The Horizontals | TEDxBrum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhXcP65h0sI
One response to “Blog 1) Disability”
Hi Kyinat, thank you for your post about disability. It is great to see that despite your colleagues challenges, she felt able to opened up to you and the experience allowed you to think about your students and the possibility of their experience with invisible disabilities. As Crenshaw stated “Intersectionality is a metaphor for understanding the ways that multiple forms of inequality or disadvantage sometimes compound themselves and create obstacles that often are not understood among conventional ways of thinking.” I really liked the metaphor that was used during one of our online classes, where our colleague talked about the journey to get to college. That for some students every door was open and they could walk straight through. For others, they had to push against very heavy doors, so that by the time they arrived they were already tired and for some, those doors were a double weight, making it harder to get to university and they might be exhausted on arrival. Compassionate pedagogy. I know you have a brilliant way of taking what you have learnt along with all your teaching experience and using this to create original workshop concepts, to inspire your students and get them to think about and make work in different ways. I have no doubt you will apply all this learning to your teaching at LCF. I can’t wait to see what you create.