Mette Sommer Lindsay, Rachel England & Chijioke Obasi
Previous research has revealed institutional issues for both disabled and deaf students in higher education (Hendry et al. 2020, Kermit et al. 2018, Lang 2002, Dolmage 2017). In pre-pandemic times, deaf students experienced several challenges and barriers concerning communication and accessibility. For example, universities changing teaching schedules with minimal notice led to difficulties in guaranteed interpreter availability and ensuring interpreters were appropriately matched to students’ needs. As well as this, the use of incredibly poor automatic captions for videos or films shown in lectures affected deaf students. Additionally, studies have shown that the level of lecturers’ ‘deaf awareness’ impacts deaf students’ experiences during higher education (Lang 2002; Kermit et al. 2018; Hendry et al. 2020).
The recent pandemic has highlighted new and complex experiences and issues regarding accessibility for disabled students, including deaf students in higher education (DSUK 2020). The presentation will be based on our research project: “Unmasking inequalities: the impact of COVID on deaf students”. The research empirically investigates the impact of COVID on deaf students through data interviews with 60 deaf/HoH students, 40 academics/managers, 15 access and inclusion staff members based at universities, disability advisors and self-employed interpreters, notetakers and speech to text reporters.
Initial findings from our study have shown that the pandemic exposed complexities regarding accessibility and competing accessibility needs. An example of this was that many interview persons reported the issue of students having their camera off. Some deaf students had asked the other students in their class to turn their cameras on, but often their peers were not comfortable with this. However, refusing to turn the camera on might be about other accessibility issues, for example poverty.
Our study also identifies the difficulties faced when challenging this. One example shown was when some interpreters asked the lecturer to ask hearing peers to be in a less noisy environment while participating in online learning. However, this request would limit the hearing students’ mobility in an already exhausting situation such as that of the pandemic.
Another finding was that the transition from online teaching during lockdown to face to face teaching presented novel issues for signing deaf students. As reported by both students and disability advisors, it is challenging to find interpreters for entirely face-to-face lectures at short notice. Nevertheless, online interpreting was available. One disability advisor resorted to asking the lecturer to teach online, to ensure accessibility for deaf students (due to the interpreter only being available online).
However, there were some positive examples of accessibility identified, such as captions being provided during online or pre-recorded lectures. Students, academics, and disability advisors have reported that some universities are recommending captions for pre-recorded lectures, not only for deaf students, but also for those who use English as a second language. This highlights some positive examples of how the pandemic has changed opportunities for accessibility.
We will discuss the meaning of accessibility and how making access requests can be a sensitive issue. In addition, we will highlight discussions of differing perspectives on linguistic injustices and accessibility, as well as issues of race and diversity that occurred within our mixed research team of deaf, hearing, black and white individuals.
References:
Lang (2002): Higher Education for Deaf Students: Research Priorities in the New Millenium. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 7(4), 267–280.
Kermit, P & Holiman, S (2018): Inclusion in Norwegian Higher Education: Deaf Students’ Experiences with Lecturers. Social Inclusion 6(4), 158-167
Hendry, G; Hendry, A; Ige, H; McGrath, N (2020): “I was isolated and this was difficult”: Investigating the communication barriers to inclusive further/higher education for deaf Scottish students, Deafness & Education International, 1-28
Dolmage 2017: Academic ableism: disability and higher education. University of Michigan Press
DSUK 2020: Impact of the pandemic on disabled students and recommended measures. Disabled Students Union UK.