It’s 2017. We have voice assistants who can reorder groceries, and self-driving cars are just around the corner. But in the classroom, the pen still seems to be mightier than the MacBook.

Many professors make students pack away their laptops, referring to studies about the benefits of taking notes with pen and paper rather than with fast-moving laptop keys. This very notion often discounts learning needs of a large subset of students: those with disabilities.

A professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was placed on paid leave in September for withholding electronic lecture slides from a student who needed them prior to the class starting. The professor told the university’s Disability Resources and Educational Services office he would not advantage a single student “over the 100-plus non-DRES students,” according to Inside Higher Ed.

Thanks to technological advancements and the destigmatization of learning differences, computers in the classroom are now the norm. Still, some professors have their grievances with technology — or maybe they haven’t understood the link between technological programs and accessibility.

Ali Hartford | Senior Design Editor

When teachers block laptops in their classes, they are prioritizing their need to control the classroom over students’ need for assistive technology. It perpetuates a long-existing hierarchy in classrooms. But it’s hard to say that an app or computer software designed to help students learn is any different than glasses and hearing aids.

Sara Hendren, founder of disability-focused blog Abler, dismantled in a 2013 interview with The Atlantic the idea that certain disabilities deserve preferential treatment.

“By returning ‘assistive technology’ to its rightful place as just ‘technology’ — no more, no less — we start to understand that all bodies are getting assistance, all the time. And then design for everyone becomes much more interesting,” Hendren told the magazine.

Yet in a time when people of all marginalized identities are challenging the idea of being a poster-child student, issues of ability still tend to be less recognized.

On the Syracuse University campus, the Office of Disability Services works with more than 2,000 students. While SU’s program is routinely praised for its services and for being a prominent presence on campus, there are still ways SU can improve on accessibility.

It starts with asking professors if they are even aware of how their policies and course materials might not work for all their students, said Danielle Smith, assistant coordinator at ODS.

“Professors want to use these new technologies, but they’re not aware of how inaccessible it might be to certain students,” Smith said. “For instance, if they’re showing a video and it’s not captioned, it’s not accessible to certain students.”

SU faculty do not undertake mandatory disability training. Departments might have ODS staffers present to their faculty members. Otherwise, professors have to reach out on their own to learn more about accommodating students with disabilities.

Ali Hartford | Senior Design Editor

Even the technology that all SU students are expected to use as a lifeline isn’t fully accessible, said Judy Kopp, lead counselor at ODS. Kopp said using PeopleSoft, the software behind MySlice, can be nearly impossible for a student with disabilities.

“Imagine being a student with a visual impairment and not being able to utilize the course registration process that all students are expected to do independently,” Kopp said. “That’s the gate when students enter this college — they want to see ‘What does this college have to offer?’ ‘What courses are being taught at what times in this particular semester?’”

Of course, accessibility can’t be generalized. Students with different disabilities have different needs, and it’s not enough to lump solutions into categories like mobility or learning.

ODS Director Paula Possenti-Perez said faculty training could be a difference maker for students with disabilities because faculty are the “frontlines.” Training could relieve professors’ anxieties about their role in supporting students with disabilities, she said.

Professors hold the key to creating a truly inclusive classroom and campus. They have the authority to allow laptops in the classroom and the platform to educate students on accessible learning software. The chain of disability recognition and accommodation starts with awareness, and it can — and should — start in a lecture tomorrow morning.

Joanna Orland is a junior newspaper and online journalism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at jorland@syr.edu.

Published on October 1, 2017 at 10:23 pm