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 Designing for Accessibility 

    This week I explored Elise Roy TED Talk When we design for disability, we all benefit. In her video, she states, "I believe that these unique experiences that people with disabilities have are what's going to help us make and design a better world for everyone--both for people with and without disabilities." 

Having a disability does not make you any less than someone who does not have a disability. In fact, it opens up the world to many different resources for anyone and everyone. Some of the accommodations that are given to people who have a disability are now used by everyone. For example, as explained in her video. She stated that text messaging was design for deft people and it is now used all over the world! Did you know that? 


What I love about Elise's TED Talk was the fact that she brought this new idea of switching our mindsets of creating and inventing new things for disability first and not the norm. Which brought to my attention the way we are switching our teaching methods. Teachers are transforming their classrooms from a "normal, traditional" teaching style to a more active learning environment. We are changing the way we teach because of our new generations. Even if we do not teach special educational classes, we still need to design accessibility for any student. Creating digital accessibility is one of the ways that students are being accommodated in today's world without being classified as disabled. 

In my classroom, I use many tools that accommodate students who do not have a disability. For example, one of the many tools I use is my YouTube channel. I use this when students are absent or they do not understand the notes in class. In the video, they are able to turn on the subtitles, which helps my students understand better.

In the following video, I explain an application that my students have that I use as a tool. 



Comments

  1. Jill.ian.KayOctober 7, 2021 at 4:03 PM

    Hi Diana,

    I really really liked your blog post, the video you posted about Microsoft Teams was super informative! I did not know that teams was able to do all of this! The features that you have set up for your students such as language options, color background, font, etc. is really amazing, I definitely learned a lot from you today and your screencast. Thanks so much for sharing and teaching me about this tool I was really unfamiliar with!- Jillian

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  2. Emma LewisOctober 7, 2021 at 6:13 PM

    Hi Diana! I love your idea of creating a YouTube channel for your students to use. What a great idea and way to keep everyone up to date about your lessons! That is something that all your students can use if they need extra support, if they missed the lesson for that day, or even if they have questions about the homework. Videos are great in the sense that they can be replayed and show students visual as well as auditory information.

    I also liked how you talked about the TED talk video and the idea of switching our mindsets for creating and inventing new things for disability first and not the norm. I love the way you incorporated that into the classroom with a student-focused lens. Even for our students without disabilities, the teacher still should help design accessibility for any student in their classroom. What a great way to think about accessibility and help all our students. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Andy DunningOctober 8, 2021 at 1:02 PM

    Hey Diana: I think your point about accessibility being good for all (with the text message example) is so spot on. Think about all the things that were designed to be used by the "disabled" that are now part of everyday life. UDL was inspired by the philosophy of universal design propagated by the architectural industry, and we can see this philosophy every time we walk into a public building without having to climb stairs or squeeze through a doorway with our luggage. Now we have UDL, and it is time to really "step" it up for our students. Technology that is developed with this in mind gives us tools to provide access to students with or without disabilities.

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  4. NMZumpanoOctober 8, 2021 at 3:41 PM

    Thanks for the reminder that we continually change the way we teach based on the students we have in front of us- a great example of UDL. I appreciated a peek into Teams, too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. KelpOctober 10, 2021 at 7:47 PM

    Hi Diana! Awesome Ted Talk recommendation! That's super cool to hear that so many adaptations for people with specific needs are being adapted for everyone to use. Would love for the world to become even more accessible to all. I really like your idea of using a YouTube channel to supplement classroom notes and help out students who were absent or might need to hear a lesson more than once before it sticks. Thanks for sharing!!

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About Me

 Hi! My name is Diana Madrigal       I am currently a Math teacher at Morton West High School located in Berwyn, Illinois. This is currently my 3rd year teaching. Teaching last year was a challenge, specially trying to create all the lessons and activities online. It was hard to keep the class in engage when they wouldn't want to turn on their cameras on. Most of the time I felt I was talking to myself. For this reason, I got really interesting in learning how to become better by using technology at my advantage. I wished I knew how to create and use different websites to make class more engaging. So I am definitely excited to learn from this class, which I am already learning. I have never used this website before! (excited) As a math teacher, I never really write much. Therefore, I do not know how the blogging works but I know I have couple of friends who use it and they make it look very interesting. I am hoping I can learn new thing to use in my classroom, s...
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