BLOG POST 1: ON DISABILITY (Warning contains some expletives)
To examine discrimination and disadvantage through an intersectional lens, is to see, ‘The fact that minority women suffer from the effects of multiple subordination, coupled with institutional expectations based on inappropriate nonintersectional context’ (Crenshaw, 1991 p1251). It is important to acknowledge my position as an educator, white woman, and as having knowledge of invisible long term conditions. Formatively, Prof. Louise Wilson OBE was hugely influential and taught many of my teachers, peers, and colleagues, renowned for mentoring many prominent designers at CSM from 1992 until her passing in 2014, Fig1 shows her distinctive approach.
Fig 1. Louise Wilson’s office door sign (Exact years unknown)
There was, perhaps still is, is a pervasive attitude that excellent fashion designers would be forged in flames the idea was to ‘breaking people down to build them back up’.
In the making of my graduate collection, I followed Louise Wilson’s instruction to ‘stay up all fucking night’, did not sleep for a week or two and for around three months lived in, what I later realised, was an extreme state of anxiety, I know I am not alone in this experience. ‘There is this belief that when you work in such a desirable industry, there’s a queue of people lining up to snatch your job if you’re not willing to do it. So you’ve got to work harder, push further, achieve more each season’ (Hinson 2015)
In my pedagogy I oppose this. These attitudes are particularly excluding and damaging for students with disabilities and intersectionality’s as they places the onus on the individual to overcome and compete. And as Paralympian Ade Adipan puts it, ‘I am disabled because society has not allowed people to shine, not because of my disability’ (2020) Now, “Instead, we are increasingly demanding acceptance from society as we are, not as society thinks we should be. It is society that has to change not individuals” (Oliver, 1990. P5)
Artist Christine Sun Kim speaks from experience of being deaf and a mother. Her work beautifully describes these experiences through different mediums. She chose to live in Berlin over New York because “there is less pressure,” and “being a parent there doesn’t impact my bank account.” This is in stark contrast to the UK where both being disabled and parenting is costly and Rishi Sunak’s recent speech and policy review was described as “a full-on assault on disabled people”. (Guardian, 2024)
Chay Brown (2023) discusses the intersection of Disability and LGBTQ+ experiences and offers practical solutions that can apply to my pedagogy, The loudest of which for me is simply, ‘being willing to listen to disabled people’ and ‘be told when I can do things better’. He mentions that ‘part of the reason I felt comfortable talking, was that I heard others talking about it’. And my responsibility is to learn from the shared experiences of disabled people, understand the compounding discriminations suffered at the intersections of different identities and to act pre-emptively and create an environment where students can feel comfortable expressing their needs and experiences.
Student’s best work is done when they are financially stable, well-rested and encouraged with kindness and there is a place for everyone in the world of work. Therefore my teaching practice I must create the place where students can shine. In opposition to my formative, ‘furnace method’ of education and instead create a culture of softness and listening instead of flames and dictating.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adepitan, A. (2020). Ade Adepitan gives amazing explanation of systemic racism [YouTube video]. Available at: https://youtu.be/KAsxndpgagU. [Accessed 03 May 2024].
Brown. C (2023) in, Intersectionality in Focus: Empowering Voices during UK Disability History Month 2023. [YouTube video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yID8_s5tjc. Accessed 03.05.2024
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241-1299. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1229039. Accessed 03.05.2024.
Hinson, L. (2015) Why Is Working In The Fashion Industry So Stressful? Refinery29. Available at: https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/managing-stress-fashion-industry [Accessed 09 May 2024].
Oliver, M. (1990). The individual and social models of disability. Paper presented at Joint Workshop of the Living Options Group and the Research Unit of the Royal College of Physicians on People with Established Locomotor Disabilities in Hospitals, Thames Polytechnic, 23 July.
Sun Kim, C. in “Friends & Strangers” – Season 11 | Art21 (2023). [YouTube video]. Available at: https://youtu.be/2NpRaEDlLsI?si=DYssWJ5NBe4v98AA. Accessed [Accessed 10 May 2024].
R Mason and P Butler, (2024). Sunak to unveil disability benefit curbs in bid to tackle ‘sick-note culture’. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/19/sunak-disability-benefit-curbs-sicknote-culture-pip [Accessed 09 May 2024].
FIGURE 1:
@SarahMower_ (2017). Professor Louise Wilson’s famous advice-sign to students. [Instagram post]. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/BUIbhTvF8ar/. [Accessed 11 May 2024].
6 responses to “IP BLOG 1: ON DISABILITY”
I enjoyed reading your reflection as it provides valuable insights into intersectionality and the high-pressure environment in the fashion industry and its education system. Your personal acknowledgment as a white educator with invisible long-term conditions added authenticity to your critique.
Your commitment to creating a culture of kindness and stability over harsh, high-pressure methods is commendable and very similar to mine. This approach promotes student well-being and inclusivity, ensuring everyone can thrive. Transforming embedded educational norms requires both individual and institutional efforts, but your vision for a humane, inclusive teaching practice is a significant step forward.
However, it is important to recognize the potential complexities in shifting from deeply established educational norms to more inclusive practices, especially since we are preparing students for a real-world industry where they might not be shielded by the same approach. This transformation also requires deeper systemic change. Thinking of intersections with the industry can nurture more aligned ways of working between academia and the industry, ensuring ongoing adjustments to pedagogical strategies that are essential for achieving the inclusive environment you envision whilst maintaining rigor and quality. This shift is crucial for supporting students with disabilities and other intersecting identities, as you mentioned.
Thank you Joao for your kind feedback and insightful comments. I’m glad we share the same vision for kinder ways of working. You definitely raise a good point about preparing students for an industry that may not look after them in the same way that we do at University. Fashion in particular does not have a great reputation for this. And part of that is the bad attitute of treating people as a disposable resource.
I think that employers are beginning to see that wellbeing is essential for productivity rather than in oppositoin to it. And it is my optimistic utopian hope that more and more people will begin to take on practices that work for their health rather than against it. I also hope that although students may initially struggle while not in positions of power at work, as they gain power and influence on the careers of others, they can have a growing positive impact on their colleagues, employees and the world around them in general to contribute to creating inclusive environments.
It is definitely true that we require deep systemic change not just in education, and it would be great to work with Industry on this. Our students industry project is currently with Abraham moon, (https://www.moons.co.uk/) and although the students have been stressed as usual in their designing, making and recording of their projects. Having listened to the company presentation at the start of Block 2, I wonder if they might be interested in testing a mindful apporoach. The many processes that are to be considered in the making of the cloth and the connection to nature of working with sheep themselves could be a potential gateway as there are peaceful moments and beauty to be found in the interconnectivity of natural and industrial processes themeselves. This approach could work towards aligning businesses towards environmental justice too. I figure, change is slow, but it’s worth a go and teaching is a good place to start, partly because students are shielded somewhat from the world of profit-making, so that in starting outside it as mindful observers they might be able to make the changes needed when they join.
All the best
Emma
Hello Emma. I really enjoyed reading this blog post, which balances the personal and professional brilliantly. I couldn’t agree with the last paragraph more.
Have you seen the Belonging through Compassion work by UAL colleague Liz Bunting and others? It seems relevant to your interests: https://belongingthroughcompassion.myblog.arts.ac.uk/
From a more disability specific lens, there are lots of academics writing about how the demands of Higher Education are disabling to students and academics alike (e.g. expectation to work ‘above and beyond’ and fire on all cylinders). I’m really interested in how those often implicit demands result in things like our retention/continuation gaps for disabled students. You can look at dashboards.arts.ac.uk to see if there are such gaps on your course.
Thank you Carys!
Yes I know the belonging through compassion work and think it is wonderful! Definitely shaping my teaching and my colleagues too. & Interestingly the exact words, ‘above and beyond’ were recently used in my recent moderation meetings when we were discussing grade boundaries. Where do the deamnds on people end I wonder, and what else in their lives does a person need to sacrifice (health. sleep, time with friends and family) to achieve high grades. And the relationship between marginalised identities and the need to over-achieve is definitely something I can look further into. I know we have had some good training on retention and I definitely need to have a look at the dashboards to see how we are doing in realtion to making a space that works for disabled students to stay.
Hi Emma,
This was one of my favourite posts. I think it is great to question and reject notions that we do not agree with, even if it is a little unfashionable to do so. This is how we make progress and strive for better things. It is a great that you had this moment of vulnerability that provoke growth in your personal experience and how you acknowledge the privilege of this, and almost naivety. Then you relate it back to others with even less privilege and their exclusion.
‘Student’s best work is done when they are financially stable’, I agree, but it also feels like a rare luxury for some of the students given the final pressures modern education puts on them, specifically on those from lower socioeconomic classes.
I really do like this post, well done.
Thank you Jordan!
Yes I think financial stability is crucial and often overlooked in teaching discourse as our fees are very high which in turn adds more pressure on students to achieve on their courses and afterwards. I do think this contribites to poorer mental health. And even though it is mostly outside our control, I think we can keep it in the forefront of our minds, continue to point it out, and look for and signpost awards, scholarships and burseries to students. Very interesting (and alarming) to think of University itself in this context as a luxury !