Understanding and Mapping Digital Literacy for Students with Disability

Digital literacy capability is important for all students, particularly for those with disability, as it can enable access to learning. The challenges in understanding what this capability means for students with disability, and how their learning in this area progresses, has created difficulties for teachers in supporting these students to become digitally literate. To address this challenge, this study sought to define the construct of digital literacy for students with primarily intellectual disability, with the aim of developing an assessment of digital literacy capability. By incorporating the knowledge of those with subject matter expertise, such as experienced specialist teachers, and the assessment data from 1,413 students with disability, the study applied partial credit item response modelling (Masters, 1982) to develop a progression of digital literacy for these students. The strong evidence drawn from reliability indices, item and person fit statistics, and differential item functioning support multiple arguments for validity. The results may assist teachers to understand the digital literacy capability of students with disability and what they are likely to be ready to learn next, for the purpose of targeting teaching for learning

Thinking disability orientation : practicing affirmation

Introduction: Occupational therapy’s theoretical base is informed by beliefs in empowerment, partnership, choice and hope — all key components in client-centred practice (Sumsion and Law 2006). In order to be client-centred, it is important to appreciate an individual’s perception of their own disability, known as their disability orientation. Disability orientation, as described by Darling and Heckert (2010), includes three aspects: disability identity; adherence to a particular model of disability, and involvement in disability rights activism. Each type of disability orientation will affect the disabled person’s beliefs and feelings about themselves, their impaired bodies and their disabled lives. This, in turn, is likely to influence their expectations of and satisfaction with occupational therapy services. Therefore, occupational therapists aiming to work within a client-centred approach should be cognisant of this concept and consider its possible impact on their therapeutic approach. This seminar will: – Explore the concept of disability orientation and discuss examples of different orientations; – Examine the affirmative disability orientation as it relates to occupational therapy; – Enable participants to analyse and understand their clients’ disability orientation; – Discuss strategies to provide intervention informed by a client’s disability orientation. Case studies will be used to promote discussion and explore practical ways to ascertain an individual’s disability orientation. The affirmative disability orientation will be discussed in particular. Impact on service users: Understanding disability orientation could lead to enhanced client-centred and culturally sensitive practice. Implications for occupational therapy: Contribution to the improvement of practice through the development of culturally sensitive therapeutic strategies