I was invited by the Language Collaboratory (a shared professional development endeavor developed by several language centers and institutes in the Big Ten) to informally discuss a concern centered around accessibility. I chose to initiate a dialogue focusing on how to identify elements of ableism in language course design. I asked participants several reflective questions instructors should be asking ourselves. For example, are there common language learning outcomes that inherently erect barriers for disabled learners? What can we do about that? Do your favorite go-to tasks and activities ensure equitable participation for all learners? How can we evaluate the accessibility of participatory activities? Additionally, there are important accessibility concerns that are complicated to navigate specific to language learning. Which language should we use for captions on video content: the home language, or the target language? Which language should we use when adding descriptive alternative text (“alt text”) to images? Session recording available here.
Caitlin Cornell 