#DisabilityTooWhite

“Sound vibrations are visceral and internal in contrast to Sign Language”

For me the film by Christine Sun Kim was very powerful in that it demonstrated a new perspective on ‘ownership’ because through the video we experience ‘sounds’ from an individual perspective. I suppose the disability of not hearing sound becomes an ability to experience sound in a creative individual manner, as it is presented to us as. As Christine says “Sound vibrations are visceral and internal in contrast to Sign Language”. It does help me to have a deeper respect for everything that we hear and experience, for as much as we experience sounds collectively, each persons experience will and can be very different. So we should appreciate that no one has ownership of the sound around us, but recognise that the sounds we hear resonate individually to shape our life experiences in only ways that we can understand by firstly asking those to share how it makes them feel, then with empathy try our best to understand their lived experience.

UAL Disability Service Webpages

The landing page is informative highlighting the three areas as a disability in the dyslexia; what to expect, disabled students allowance is (DSA’a) and dyslexia screening and assessment. The animation video which explains the social model of disability act UAL is again helpful to explain through different voices and accents diversity. It is based on the equality act 2010. As a lecturer I have always been aware of the support for dyslexic students and sharing this with them at the beginning of the undergraduate studies. However it’s the first time I’ve personally visited this webpage and will use this as part of my inductions starting in the new academic year, in particular to share the video to create awareness to all our new students of the support available to them. I hope in the future when I shared this with students it would demonstrate a greater sense of inclusivity on my part through the services available with respect to our students.

#DisabilityTooWhite

What a great conversation. Relevant and poignant questions with insightful answers from Vilissa Thompson. The conversation highlights how far away we are from seeing people of colour who are disabled in the media, on TV programmes and films. For me growing up in the UK as a British south Asian boy, there was no representation on TV at all. It was not until my late teens I began to realise that my own family values and principles, or community were not mirrored in TV. Having allies and advocates for Vilissa has been on the whole positive, because it engages more in the conversation at large. The reality for her seems that some representation is better than none, whether completely correct or not. It’s about the bigger picture getting the message across, having a visible presence of some coloured disabled person is better than none. With this I couldn’t agree more, as we work towards the ideal.

‘Deaf Accessibility for Spoonies: Lessons from Touring ‘Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee’ by Khairani Barokka

“I wanted people to know: academia and the arts, for some of us, are contact sports.” This excerpt spoke to me in volumes because it explains that non-visible pain to people who experience it is so real to them that begs me to have greater compassion for those who are suffering with chronic illness. I searched on YouTube after reading the article if I could find anything on having coffee with mum even Mary having coffee and of course there was nothing. Khairani Barokka is brave, groundbreaking and brilliant. She is a scholar-practitioner of the highest order in my view, for she suffers from an ‘invisible disability’, which is like a super-power in reverse, for only she feels it’s super-pain. “It behooves us to understand that accessibility should extend to all – those behind the scenes, performers, as well as audience members – with multiple D/deaf and disabled identities, and more than one impairment.”

I am embarrassed to admit that I myself complain far too much for the privilege I have, for God has blessed with me with so much and I wish to learn how to better regulate how I see the world and importantly how I view the love of my craft of fashion. For I have always wanted accessibility to all, understanding that at the core of my faith and my craft is that it is a blessing from God so, in the process of creating fashion from the cotton field to the catwalk there should be no harm to any human being or person in nature. I want to in my lifetime be able to represent the purity of the craft to share with others in humanity with love what it means to be a creative that shares vision, which is future facing, enjoyed and understood as a form of artistic expression that can educate with sustainability for future generations. For far too long has my craft been viewed and is viewed as vanity, yet it’s multilayered complexities which weave themselves through our very fibre of life in faith, cultures and politics, play such a central role in how we see one another as human beings. I want to stand for fashion in a new light which embraces our intersectionalities as human beings, whether visible or invisible.

Disability article “Evolution of Disability Models. Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. The Voice of Many”.

The models demonstrate the spectrum and lens from which people groups view disabilities. Looking back over my own lived experiences, I can see perspectives from particular models that were shared with me to describe a person with disability.

How could you apply the resources to your own teaching practice? First and foremost, it would be to create awareness in the fashion studio space, ideally at the beginning of the undergraduate programme of study, at level 4. This will then hopefully open a conversation and spark dialogue with students, transforming perspectives.

How could you integrate the research/work your students do on this subject into your teaching/professional practice? Bring the different “Evolution of Disability Models” into the design process, when considering topics that are relevant in society and how fashion can better serve those around us.