This article has fascinated me . Before starting the Unit and focusing on disability it never crossed my mind the Disability issue is linked with white supremacy and the privileges the white people enjoy in western part of the world. once I finished the article I also checked few videos recorded by Annie Elainy who raises the important issues on the topic. The fact that most disabled people are mainly represented by white people for sure would make any person of color or ethnic minority to feel left out alienated.

This made me more curios and I tried to search for further sources on the topic. One of the most personal and inspiring stories I came across was on the athlantic ” You have to Scream up” by Shalene Gupta. Her personal story and stuggle to grow up in the US as a person of Color with disability and against all odds to acquired a law degree to fight her rights in a society who has been ignorant to her needs..

It is shocking to read in the article that , according to American Community Survey Data, 14 percent of black Americans have disability compared to 12.6 of the total population. 36% of black Americans live in poverty in comparison to 26% of disabled Americans. Disabled black people are less likely to get the right diagnosis on the right time. And this further along stretches the possible higher number disabled people in the community. This could be specially true for “invisible disability” such as autism which educators are more likely to dismiss as behavioral issues in black than in white ones.

This has led to the importance to consider the intersection between the Racisms and Ableism

. How Could you apply the resources to your own practice?

Yet again a very critical question. By looking into further stats @ officeforstudents.org the note of significant rise of disabled student in education in higher education. To be precise 13.5 of students body attending an English University / college reported at least one type of disability. Disabled students belong to more diverse student body and bring different view points to classrooms.

However according to the website challenges and barriers remain. Students who reported disability have lower degree result and overall lower employment after graduation than non disabled students.

Source: OFS: How do Student Outcomes vary by disability status

The stats above yet becomes even more critical when thinking Black women or other racial minority and the extra challenges they face.

How could I personally incorporate this into practice?

in several ways :

1- Each year I am involved in screening and accepting new prospects for out MA in Strategic fashion Marketing. Apart from personally being involved in initial screening I do final stage interview and this teaches me to be more reflective and sensitive over accommodating and positively open towards candidates with disabilities who come from minority background be it home or international.

2- By incorporating lecture recording facility (these days easily accessible through BBcolab) and make sure the reciting words are captioned to be consumed at students own time.

3-By incorporating different and wider learning materials in my lectures including video with subtitles, PowerPoint presentation with larger fonts.

4- Encouraging research topics for postgraduate students to pick and study on topics that has challenged them and matters to them. i.e. disability challenges in shopping and experiential retail…

How could you incorporate these learning into your work? Cite an example:

I practice all the above points on teaching specially after Covid, the literacy and interaction with technology on teaching materials have taught us to be conscious of students who need further support.

I also will be more conscious of student recruitment and more than ever mindful of the situation we are facing.