4 Additional Things to Keep in Mind
In the course of preparing this resource, I had the privilege to interview undergraduate and graduate students with a range of disabilities about their experiences navigating teaching and research labs. Based upon these interviews, I offer the following advice for educators to keep in mind when interacting with our students.
Disclosing a disability is a choice. Students have a right to privacy, and educators do not have a right to ask questions about personal health.
Do not assume a student’s abilities based upon your understanding of their disability. The most important resource to consult in determining how best to support student learning is the student his/her/their/self.
The two points above give testimony to the undeniable reality that it may be difficult to simultaneously acquire the information necessary to support student learning in lab whilst respecting an individual’s right to privacy. This is where academic supports such as Student Accessibility Services have a responsibility to guide educators. However, the unusual nature of ‘in lab’ learning may nonetheless require a student and educator to collaborate together to best ensure accommodations are suitable and practical.
In many countries such as Canada, you have a legal obligation to accommodate.
Be aware that some students may be awaiting diagnoses. This is particularly true of cognitive and/or learning disabilities that may have been unmasked in students who are living outside of the supportive family home for the first time.
Having a disability can mean different things on different days. Depending upon the nature of a given disability, a student may be ‘fine’ one day, and too ill to attend class the next day. Certain conditions (examples include multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, rheumatoid arthritis) may result in intermittent disability. The dynamic nature of these disabilities presents it’s own challenges, namely:
Having a disability may make it difficult impossible to plan ahead. If a student with disability requests an extension to an assignment, a reasonable question you may have is ‘How long do you need?’. Sometimes, a reasonable answer actually is ‘I don’t know’.
Having a disability can be exhausting. Any number of factors can contribute towards fatigue, including the additional time required to complete study tasks, physical and emotional stresses specific to the disability in question, part-time employment to subsidize costs, even paperwork and documentation of a disability may drain our students of valuable energy needed for study.
Avoid ‘surprise’ assessments. This particularly applies to that old favourite of Science: the pre-lab quiz. Students with disabilities such as ADHD often fare poorly in quick, short, quizzes administered in a distracting lab environment, yielding grades that are not at all reflective of their preparedness or understanding of material. In lieu of an on-the-spot pre-lab, consider offering an online quiz that students may complete in advance at home, or in an environment of their choice.
Scientific laboratories can be scary. And potentially dangerous. For those of us who have made a career in a lab setting, it may be easy to forget how unusual and even scary these environments can be to any new student. Potentially harmful chemicals stored in breakable glassware, Bunsen burners as a source of open flame, scalpels and razor blades, glass equipment, and a crowd of excited and distracted peers. The opportunities for injury are many in a typical teaching lab, and normal levels of apprehension can be magnified in individuals with disabilities that reduce movement or perception.
