Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies to Present Student Research May 2
Contact: Liz Deploy, 581-1469; Alan Parks, 581-1236
ORONO – The UMaine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies will hold its annual Interdisciplinary Disability Studies Celebration of Achievement from 4-6 p.m. Tuesday, May 2, in the Bangor Room of the Memorial Union, to recognize the students who have completed the concentration in interdisciplinary disability studies.
The event is a showcase for projects completed by concentration students in DIS 450, DIS 470 DIS 480 and DIS 580. Students will present their projects, which focus on various aspects of disability studies theory and universal access.
A highlight this year will be a project by two graduating senior students, Marguerite (Peg) Woitko, a social work major, and Kelly Snider, a sociology major. Their work, part of a larger funded project at the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability studies, details their research and recommendations for improving access to the University of Maine’s education for students who have previously experienced barriers to higher education, according to Liz Depoy, coordinator of interdisciplinary disability studies and the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies in Corbett Hall.
The women’s project examines issues of universal access and equity for learning in higher education, and applies related theories to the development of a higher education model that includes all qualified students, she says. “This project could have significant impact on how university faculty members teach,” Depoy says.
Depoy and Alan Parks, coordinator for dissemination and technology at the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability studies, say achieving universal accessibility need not be complicated or expensive, even though there are many new technological aids available that can assist people who experience barriers to full participation in educational activity.
Ideally, Depoy adds, the goal of inclusion is to avoid situations that exclude qualified people from the student population, and thus require special adaptations to overcome barriers. Further, universal access is not just for disabled students but expands inclusion to all students. For example, universal access would guide faculty to expand their teaching strategies to meet barriers such as those that might be experienced by a single mother with three children who lives three hours from campus and who is ineligible for population-specific or disability services.
Anticipating planning and exchanging knowledge through multiple approaches addresses a full range of student learning styles and creates a more universally accessible class environment, according to Depoy.
Parks says the pedagogical model “is based on the theory of universal access and pedagogical theorems. It’s based on a set of principles that speak to diversity and inclusion and a set of skills as well as a set of (technological) gizmos that are useful.”
Following the project presentations, the center will hold a short recognition ceremony to honor students who have completed the interdisciplinary disability studies concentration.
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