Positionality in relation to disability: Able-bodied white male 50 years old living in london.
The context of the article is Akinsete is an associate dean of students (wellbeing and inclusion) at UAL, he is writing in a Shades of Noir publication. Shades of Noir is an anti-racism platform that contributes to UAL work around race equality.
‘Who said the social model of disability couldn’t co-exist with the social theory of intersectionality?’
Social model of disability: The social model of disability was developed by disabled people and describes people as being disabled by barriers in society, not by our impairments or difference. If modern life was set up in a way that was accessible for disabled people, then we would not be excluded or restricted.
Social theory of intersectionality: the interconnected nature of social categorisations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
Culturally inclusive classroom: is onewhere students and staff alike recognise, appreciate and capitalize on diversity so as to enrich the overall learning experience.
‘we are all within ourselves a multicultural, made up of things that we are very aware of, and things that we are not’. Rebekah Ubuntu.
I think this is a fantastic article and clearly communicates my job as a technician is to include as many individuals as possible in classes in my workshops. It should be my privilege to make my workshop accessible rather than an inconvenience I grudgingly undertake because UAL wants me to.
‘isn’t it the ultimate humiliation that it is us, able-bodied individuals who are the uncomfortable ones, projecting this discomfort beyond ourselves (as similarly contemplated by Ava DuVernay)? If so, perhaps we should spend more time considering how we might adapt our surroundings and our environment and not the individual who happens to have a disability’ Rotimi Akinsete.
As far as I am aware there are no visibly disabled students or staff on the Textiles programme at Chelsea, this is very sad and means we are failing in our aims to be inclusive.