As an experiment, I tried to use the reader porvided on the website to see how it would feel to be visually impaired while participating in an online class. Interestingly, the reader kept stopping before reaching the end of each page. This helped me to understand how frustrating it would be to have a disability and to need to rely on techonologies to assist me in succeeding. If I had not had the use of my eyes, I would not have known that the reader was cutting off some of the content and woudl not have known how to navigate to the next page of the course content. I now have a new udnerstanding of the difficulties that a student with a disability would face.
This was a great review of the various disabilities and each disability can vary between individuals. Knowledge regarding the different disabilities and what we can do for each as an individual must be taken into consideration.
Comment on Mike Busjahn's post:
Thats how exactly I felt. The most prevalent learning disability, ADHD, was highlighted in this section. It is essential that educators are aware of each impairment and offer the pupils adequate accommodations.
This module helped outline some of the disabilities that are becoming more prevalent. Many students have learning disabilities that were previously thought of as the student's fault.
PTSD should not only be limited to military students who have participated in active war duties but also to students who have experienced gun violence in their schools.
have learned the all categories of disabilites and how to act with them properly
all students should be treated equally and have the right for a education even if they have a diability.
I truly like the quotation by Helen Keller who was once asked whether she considered blindness or deafness to be the more significant handicap. She responded, "Blindness is a barrier between people and things. Deafness is a barrier between people and people." I believe that the section on how to accommodate veterans in academia should be expanded.
It was interesting to cover all different kinds of disabilities, especially the ones that are not 'seen', as they are the ones that students may not be comfortable sharing with us right away, but still need support with managing.
Some disabilities are not visible or apparent yet we need to be aware and responsive.
Comment on Tom Hayes's post: I agree Tom. I have a stepson that served in the military and only recently has he admitted he suffers from PTSD.
I have to say I really learned a lot in this module. Disabilities are not always visible to the eye. It wasn't until recent years that two different psychs diagnosed me as having a form of ADHD and it totally made sense... the forgetfulness and the not paying attention to detail. Easily distracted, blurting before filtering... In elementary school teaching we had a saying, "Where do you find the ADHD kid?" In the emergency room. Not a pretty picture but many of our kiddos would leap first, then look.
The PTSD diagnosis I always thought referred to only war veterans, but now I see how it can affect people that have experienced severe trauma. Lot of good information here.
There is a great deal of knowledge in this module. Presently i don't have a student body that would allow me to implement any of the topics discussed in the lesson.
A student with a disability must be given the same opportunities as one without. Certain margins must be administered and focused.
Comment on Janice Lwin's post: Comment on Cassandra Zuverink's post:
I agree with your post.
This section is very important because it dispels the "myths" about disabilities. Disability is not always visible or evident.
This module is very insightful. As an instructor, it gave me a lot of things to think about or consider specially students with learning disability. Do not always assume that the student is a slow learner. Try to address other factors such as stress level and many others that inhibits the students' learning ability.
This section is very important. The world must be open to teaching EVERYONE. There is a large mix of people in this world who need support and our traditional systems need to be able to handle that. There needs to be more education for the educators on how to handle these situations for the betterment of everyone.
I really liked how each section gave specific examples of how a student with certain disabilities may be impacted by several different things most of us just take for granted. Also like how it highighted how students may have the same disability but be impacted very differently.
I find it interesting that the most prevalent disabilities affecting college students nowadays are attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD), learning disabilities (LD), or some combination of the two. This module was insightful and helped to rectify some beliefs about disability.
