Description:

• Comfy Cozy Community (CCC) teaching and learning is connected to disability justice tenet #7 of COMMITMENT TO CROSS-DISABILITY SOLIDARITY: We honor the insights and participation of all of our community members, knowing that isolation undermines collective liberation.

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Prior knowledge reflection:

• Which disabilities are you aware of and educated about? Which disabilities would you like to learn more about?

• How do traditional schooling systems only support and educate about certain disabilities and forget about the rest?

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Essential questions:

• How can educators support diverse disabilities and ensure people of diverse disabilities are represented and supported within their CCC teaching and learning?

• How can educators continue to educate themselves and others on ways to be in solidarity with people of diverse disabilities?

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Objectives:

• To identify concrete ways to be in solidarity with people of diverse disabilities within CCC teaching and learning

• To name specific actions to continue learning about people of diverse disabilities

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Content:

• Educators are welcome to learn more about neurodivergent and disabled Afro-Latinx artist activist, Jen White Johnson, who shares ways educators can proactively support intersectional disabled communities such as supporting Black, Latinx, and Afro-Latinx sick, neurodivergent, and disabled communities through affirming art and disability pride education. Jen White Johnson discusses the ways in which educators can become accomplices in transforming education to become more affirming of multiply marginalized communities and our multi-issue movements for a liberated and collective access world. A starting point is showcasing how disability is not a bad word. To learn more, read the Anti-Ableist Art Educator’s Manifesto by Jen White Johnson.

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Effective classroom strategies:

• Educators can support students of diverse disabilities by creating a built-in collective access CCC teaching and learning space with image descriptions, captions, ASL, ramps, scent free environments, low to medium to high lighting and font sizes, ground floor meetings, masked meetings, options to participate out loud or with writing or typing, flexible assignments and due dates, alternative activities and assignments, less busy work, less testing, calming and quiet spaces and moments, breaks, fresh air and sunshine opportunities, listing of food or activity ingredients, interactive activities, assessing learning in a way that is not only reading or writing based, removing expectations for perfection, allowing mistakes, allowing interruptions, handling disagreements and clashes in ideas and expectations with grace, and more.

• Educators can commit to continuous learning about people of diverse disabilities by following and learning from intersectional disabled educator-creators such as Jen White Johnson, Catarina Rivera of Blindish Latina, Alice Wong of Disability Visibility, and more.

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References:

• Johnson, Jen White. The anti-ableist art educator’s manifesto. https://jenwhitejohnson.com/The-Anti-Ableist-Art-Educators-Manifesto