Deaf Accessibility in a Three-Day Instructional Skills Workshop: an Explorative Study Monte Hardy Applied Disability Studies ©
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Deaf Accessibility in a Three-Day Instructional Skills Workshop: An Explorative Study BY Monte Hardy Applied Disability Studies Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts Faculty of Applied Disability Studies, Brock University St. Catharines, Ontario © 2018 ii Acknowledgement My thesis, “Creating Deaf Space in the Instructional Skills Workshop: An Explorative Study”, is one person’s examination of a brief professional development training from a culturally Deaf perspective. The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the support of a number of people. I am thankful to Dr. Maureen Connolly, as my supervisor, who provided me with guidance and feedback towards the completion of this thesis. Along with Dr. Connolly, Dr. Tom Craig were professors who opened my eyes to a different way of perceiving the world and challenging my preconceived notions, for that I am grateful. I am also thankful to Dr. Kimberly Maich and Dr. Nicola Simmons for their feedback and for being part of the committee. I am also grateful for the support and encouragement I received from Cathy Hardy, my life partner and my solid rock. You allow me the freedom to soar and walk with me when I am earth-bound. “One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.” – Helen Keller Monte Hardy Monte Hardy ©2018 iii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................... v Definition of Terms .............................................................................................. vi Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................ 1 Context ................................................................................................................. 1 Disability and Postsecondary Education in Ontario ......................................... 2 Self-reflexivity .................................................................................................. 4 Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................... 6 Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................... 7 Background ............................................................................................................ 8 What does it mean to be culturally Deaf? ........................................................ 9 What is the Instructional Skills Workshop? .................................................. 18 Understanding Lens and Orientation .............................................................. 26 Research Question ............................................................................................... 31 Brief description of research process ................................................................... 32 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................. 34 Experiences of Deaf in Postsecondary Education and Professional Development ........ 36 Postsecondary and workplace readiness for accommodations ............................ 43 ASL instructors training, Deaf pedagogy, and Deaf Space ................................. 46 Chapter 3: Design ................................................................................................ 53 Criteria for Critical Disability Studies research .................................................. 53 Role ...................................................................................................................... 56 Data Collection .................................................................................................... 56 Data Analysis ....................................................................................................... 58 Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis ...................................................................... 63 Findings ............................................................................................................... 63 Situation #1 - Negotiating Accessibility ....................................................... 63 Situation #2 – ISW Manual .......................................................................... 65 Monte Hardy ©2018 iv Situation #3 – Closed-eye exercise ............................................................... 66 Situation #4 – Line exercise ......................................................................... 67 Situation #5 – Feedback ............................................................................... 68 Situation #6 - Kolb ....................................................................................... 69 Analysis ............................................................................................................... 71 Galloway, Nudd, and Sandhal’s Ethics of Accommodation ........................ 71 Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats Analysis ................................. 78 Chapter 5: Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendations ............................. 85 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 85 Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 92 Recommendations ............................................................................................... 95 Appendices Appendix A – ISW Three-day Cycle ................................................................ 105 Appendix B – Sample Structure of a Four-Day ISW for Deaf ASL Instructors ........................................................................................................................... 108 Appendix C – Guiding Principles of Accommodation ...................................... 114 References ........................................................................................................... 117 Tables Table 1 – Abbreviated sample of ISW content for a three-day schedule .............. 23 Table 2 – US Deaf versus hearing postsecondary graduation rate ........................ 43 Table 3 – Priestly’s core elements of Disability Research..................................... 54 Table 4 – Couser’s four criteria for disability life writing ..................................... 57 Table 5 – Galloway, Nudd and Sandhal’s Ethics of Accommodation .................. 59 Monte Hardy ©2018 v Abstract This study focused on the learning experience of a culturally Deaf person in a workshop milieu where training is short and intensive. The researcher is a culturally Deaf person who signs fluently and was raised in a Deaf family. The research examined and evaluated the Instructional Skills Workshop through a CDS orientation to identify possible barriers and sites of potential accommodation for Deaf learners, specifically American Sign Language instructors. The researcher participated in a three-day Instructional Skills Workshop and maintained a journal of his experiences. The research journal and the workshop manuals constituted the data sets. Data analysis involved a) selecting salient episodes from the researcher’ journal and applying Galloway et al’s Ethic of Accommodation to the episodes and b) applying a SWOT analysis to the overall experience including the manuals. Findings indicate that well-meaning people who assisted in accommodations soon became focused on the ISW process, and that the ISW 3-day structure format, the intensity of the schedule and quick exposure to the foundational premises may not fit a Deaf approach to this short, intensive professional development. Further study should be conducted in a pilot of a Deaf-friendly ISW using the recommendation of a 4-day format. Monte Hardy ©2018 vi Definition of Terms Term Definition Bicultural-Bilingual An approach that is called Bi-Bi, meaning bi-cultural/bi- approach to Deaf lingual approach to Deaf education that encompasses Deaf education culture, hearing culture, ASL and English. Computer Assisted A trained individual who uses a court-like stenographic Real-Time captioning machine to type captions of spoken words in small or large (CART) group settings which are projected onto a large screen (or computer) for deaf, hard-of-hearing, or other people with hearing loss. Constructed Describes the idea that disability is a creation of a society that builds barriers and perpetuates marginalization and oppression of individuals with impairments, i.e., disability is constructed. Critical Disability An orientation that focuses on “social, political and intellectual Studies (CDS) re-evaluation of explanatory paradigms used to understand the orientation lived experience of disabled people and potential ways forward for social, political and economic change.” (Meekosha & Shuttleworth, 2009, p. 49). Culturally Deaf A person who has a positive identity as a Deaf person, is a signer (sign language user), and participates in Deaf community activities. Culturally Deaf Considered from a culturally Deaf perspective, ensuring that (visual) perspective activities have visual elements. ‘D’eaf vs. ‘d’eaf While this usage may not be universal it is endemic to the North American Deaf community. The capitalized ‘D’ refers to signing Deaf people who are part of the Deaf community and identify as culturally Deaf. The small case ‘d’ is a term used to denote those who have hearing loss but do not identify as culturally Deaf or participate in