Target Group: Academic Staff members

Duration: Notional Hours: 150, Contact Hours: 50 (16 weeks)

Course Description:  This course introduces academic staff members to the basic frameworks, models and socio-cultural discourses of disability. It provides opportunities for faculty to re-think their understandings and assumptions of disability through interactive activities and encounters. It acquaints faculty with the basic tenets of disability etiquette, university procedures and protocols in order to create an in inclusive, respectful and enabling teaching and learning environment. The course will be supplemented with a University Disability Handbook. Faculty members will be well acquainted with the content and provisions of the handbook upon course completion. The course equips faculty with the skills and knowledge to meet the needs of diverse individuals including students with varying impairments through practices like Reasonable Accommodation and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). It enables faculty to introduce the core principles of equality, equity, dignity, rights and responsibilities to their teaching ethos in order to maximize the participation and engagement of students with disabilities. The course provides faculty with an overview of the disability related services, personnel and programmes available at the university. It will provide a solid understanding of the wider structural and procedural supports available to students with disabilities. Such knowledge would better equip faculty to support students with disabilities and refer them to suitable services if the need arises. Faculty who follow this course may potentially become disability champions at the university by advocating for access, inclusivity and de-stigmatization in the wider university community.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Identify and analyze different models and socio-cultural frameworks of disability
  2. Apply disability etiquette and best practices when interacting with students and staff with disabilities
  3. Understand key legal and normative frameworks of disability
  4. Actively foster inclusive and diverse environments and practices in all stages of teaching and learning
  5. Identify key university procedure, personnel, regulations and frameworks concerning disability
  6. Gain knowledge and skills to support students with disabilities in a proactive and equitable manner

Course Content

Disability: Fact or Myth
Understanding Disability: Models, Concepts and Frameworks
Diversity and Inclusion
Disability Etiquette
‘Unfair Advantage’? : Disability Simulation and Q&A
Mental Health and Wellbeing
Equality, Equity and Diversity
Disability Rights: Policy and Legal Frameworks
Reasonable Accommodation
No Pity: Cultivating Enabling Classroom Practices and Environments
The role of Personal Assistants and Assistive Technology
Universal Design of Learning (UDL) 1: Course design, instruction and assessment
Universal Design of Learning (UDL) 2: Standardization of university systems and procedures
Rights and Responsibilities of Faculty, Staff and Students
Disability Officers: Roles and Functions
Ask Me, Don’t Assume: Human Library Session, Experiential Activities

 

Methods of Teaching and Learning

  • Workshops
  • Lectures
  • Academic Staff Presentations
  • Student Mentoring
  • Human Library
  • Video Presentations
  • Mock Access Audit/ Disability Simulation
  • Discussions/ Q&A

 

Resource Persons

 

 

Ms. Niluka Gunewardena

MA, University of Leeds, UK

Course Coordinator

 

 

 

 

Ms. Dinusha Wickremesekere

MSc, Heriot-Watt University, UK

Lecturer, Royal Institute of Colombo

 

 

 

Ms. Rekha Aththidiye

Clinical Psychologist

MPhil, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka

 

 

 

Dr. Shyamini Hettiarachchi

PhD, City University, UK

Senior Lecturer, Department of Disability Studies, University of Kelaniya

 

 

 

Ms. Lasanthi Daskon

Attorney-at-Law; MA, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka

Deputy Country Director, The International Foundation for Electoral Systems

 

 

 

 

Ms. Manique Gunarathne

Manager, Specialised Training & Disability Resource Centre, The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon

 

 

 

Mr. Madushan Lankathilake

BSc, University of Sri Jayawardenapura, Sri Lanka

Library representative of the Faculty of Technology & Faculty of Nursing

 

 

 

Mr. Kasun Nayanajith

BA, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka

Temporary Computer Instructor (Special Needs), University of Sri Jayawardenapura

 

 

 

If you are interested to take part in this course, please register using the link below and we will contact you when we commence the course next.

Click here to register