Countering the Primacy of the Visual in Pedagogy
Today's post in the continuing series on embodiment, the sensory, and accessible pedagogy asks you: How much visual is assumed in your pedagogical design? Are there assumptions made about the level of visuality and are there other ways into the content, the activities, and assessments for blind and low-vision learners? There are many ways that a primacy of the visual happens in educational spaces just like it happens in other public or private spaces that we navigate each day. I want to start by noting that statistics from 2017 show that 1.5 million Canadians have reported sight loss. I am also linking to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind Foundation (CNIB) website that has many advocacy resources that you may want to know about to advocate in the spaces you are in. I mention this to start because there are so many conversations that happen around accessibility where folk think that supporting disabled folk or those with different sensory disabilities is about s...