Equity for Students with disabilities and

impairments

Goals of Equity

To treat students with a disability or impairment fairly WITHOUT giving them an unfair advantage.

To remove barriers to particpation.

To give students with disabilities and impairments an equal chance of success or failure.

What is Equity?

Alternative Assessments: reader/writers, supervisors, additional time, separate rooms, ergonomic furniture, adaptive technologies, accessible formats

Adaptive Technology: dictation software, text-voice software, screen magnification and reading software, dictaphones, ergonomic furniture, ergonomic computer accessories, FM hearing systems, magnifiers

Support people (1:1 and small groups): notetakers, study support, interpreters, behavioural support people, reader/writers, supervisors, workshop assistants

Flexible teaching

Accessible formats: braille, electronic files, enlarged print, audio tapes, adaptive technologies and software

Accessible campus

Advocacy

What is NOT Equity?Too much help Too little help

The student can’t possibly do that The student makes me uncomfortable

That poor student . . . What disability? Hidden disabilities such as mental health, cancer, chronic pain and fatigue, head injury

Give the student a break—they are disabled

Do it for them—it is easier

Why do we sometimes overcompensate? Sometimes out of a sense of guilt orto make us feel that “I helped a student in need”. Giving an unfair advantage to a student with a disability is nearly as bad as refusing a legitimate request for an accommodation.

What can the end result be of overcompensation? If you do not use the same standards to evaluate a student’s performance, they can develop unrealistic impressions of their talents and abilities. Students with disabilities are entitled to the same feedback, criticism, and good or bad grades as anyone else. By overcompensating, you are making life easier in the short term and much more difficult in the long run.