How Supported Are You?

I have been thinking a lot this week about how supported folk are feeling in HigherEd and how often they are not feeling supported at all and that lack of support is expressed in various ways. I had a busy week, and one of the things I did was facilitate a workshop on accessible pedagogy at the Elon University Teaching and Learning Conference.  In her keynote at the conference, Mays Imad, emphasized the relationality of a lot of the interactions that happen in higher education spaces. The relationality that is needed as part of teaching and learning, between the instructor and the students, but also between instructors as they build a pedagogical community. But I also started thinking about the relationality of communities outside of institutions or between institutions. 

One of the things I kept coming back to is that it is hard to uphold the importance of relationality if the systems do not value that need for internal and external support. I started reflecting on how supported I felt in the role I have right now, where I feel supported the most, where there is a complete lack of support, and how I also provide support to different people that I have different relationships with internally and a lot externally. I think one of the common themes that has been part of discussions since the pandemic is how there is a lack of support and resources where support and resources are really needed. The more we think about relationality as a concept, the more the reason for interdependence, which is one of the 10 principles of disability justice, becomes clear. 

As the principle of interdependence notes, the systems will rarely, if ever, provide solutions for accessibility and inclusion. Those solutions, those ways forward, need to come from community in a way that highlights how we have the opportunity to support each other if we care about fostering relationships, and demonstrating that relationality, through listening to others' needs, through understanding that oppressions are interconnected. I appreciate what Dr. Imad noted about relationality because it is something that is built, something that is sustained- it is not a one a done situation. To maintain relationality is to maintain an awareness that individual and group needs will change and be open to those changes. It is about trust, which is something that I talk about every chance I get because trust has been broken in so many places. 

When folk do not feel supported, whether that be learners, instructors, graduate students, or staff, it is because the relationality of supports is failing. People are not keeping up to other groups' needs, or can't because they are feeling let down in many other areas of their lives. This perpetuates harms on larger scale. You can feel supported by one individual, but if that one individual does not have the power or social capital to put things in place to make you feel continually supported, then that feeling of lack of support still remains. And this can look differently depending on the context. Support for students could look like instructions for assessments and discussions about rubrics for each aspect of the course and an open dialogue and co-creation where possible. Support for instructors can look like having a strong internal or external teaching and learning community to share ideas and brainstorm concepts. Support for staff members can look like expressing how the work and communities staff support are a valuable part of the institution. Support for graduate students could look like deep critical conversations about the many barriers that exist for continuing in academe, applying for fellowships, or applying for positions. 

It is more important than ever that we are vocal about how we are not supported if we don't feel supported, and to express what we need to feel that support. Sometimes it is just knowing you are not alone, and finding people to discuss with on a regular basis (shout out to the trauma-informed UDL group) that can help you exist through spaces where you are not supported at all. It is not a solution, it is a support. Solutions are often systemic in nature and rarely do institutions feel compelled or committed to putting supports in place that are iterative and can be sustainable in different contextual scenarios. 

So this week I would like you to reflect on how supported you feel and what you would need or like to have in place to feel more supported? Maybe we can use a Twitter thread to find some common needs and put those in place as community? Solidarity to those of you not feeling supported- let's find a way to thrive and not just survive.