I recently returned from Denver, Colorado to begin the first of a three year grant project. I spent the week with 25 of my colleagues discussing the profession of Disability Services and the changes we need to create in ourselves, in how we do business, and within our own field.
Project ShIFT stands for Shaping Inclusion through Foundational Transformation. My colleagues and I discussed how we might “shift” our thinking about disability and how we create equal access to our programs and services. We examined disability history, culture, and disability studies. We looked at the medical and social models of disability and discussed how our profession could make a shift to the social model.
As a result of the grant project, our Disability Services office at MSU will be exploring the following concepts:
- Appreciate disability as a positive difference and an integral part of our diverse community.
- Review our office procedures and infuse the social model of disability into our daily work.
- Be mindful of the language we use and how powerful it is. So much of the language our profession uses is very clinical and from the medical model we are trying to move away from.
- Reframe disability. The “problem” does not lie within the individual and does not need to be fixed/cured. The problem is how our society perceives disability negatively and how we design our programs, policies, and procedures.
- Encourage others to learn about disability studies and how this academic work is the philosophy behind universal design.
During the last two years of the grant we will be including faculty members in the discussion. We should include faculty in learning about these concepts and consider how we can transform our learning environments. In the meantime, we will document our journey on this blog and encourage others to learn with us.
Submitted by Katheryne Staeger-Wilson – Disability Services
