Technology and Disability Identity: Now You See Me, Now You Don\u27t

This qualitative study examines how students’ identities are constructed when technology and disability intersect. Understanding how technology constructs the identities of students with invisible special needs such as learning disabilities is critical to determining why students are resistant to, or accepting of, assistive technology pedagogy. The primary source of data for the study was in-depth, phenomenologically based interviewing using structured, open-ended dialogue. Three Ontario secondary schools provided the setting for the study. Participants included five students with learning disabilities who are users of assistive technology, two parents, two teachers, and two assistive technology coaches. A grounded theory methodology was used to permit theoretical categories to emerge from the data. The purpose of the research was to investigate: (a) Is the promise of technology compromised by the visibility of technology support, and how do students who access technology through the Special Equipment Amount (SEA) negotiate any related social dynamic? (b) What does the diagnosis of a learning disability mean to students and their parents? (c) What are the particular experiences and contexts within which students that access technology through SEA are trained? and (d) How do teachers, parents, and trainers see their role in the technology assistance program? The research findings indicated a strong positive association between the variables of awareness, understanding, and acceptance. Participants’ responses revealed: (a) a direct relationship between students’ lack of awareness of having a disability and lack of knowledge regarding why they have a SEA laptop with access to Assistive Technology (AT), (b) a strong connection between students’ awareness and understanding of the diagnosis of LD and their willingness to “own” or accept a disabled identity in order to access necessary supports such as AT, and (c) overall, that awareness, understanding, and acceptance of a LD appeared to significantly impact students’ willingness to happily engage with AT. Beliefs expressed by participants about responses to AT revealed tensions between the promised empowerment of AT and the negative self-perception related to AT use. Students appeared to be unwittingly trapped in a cost-versus-benefit dynamic, such as independence and improved abilities versus inferior status and social labelling. Consistent with the literature on stigma related to invisible disabilities, students in some instances appeared to shoulder the burden associated with the social cost of being perceived as academically inferior. Participants perceived several reasons for lack of engagement and abandonment of SEA equipment, including stigmatized identities, compromised self-esteem, and indifference. Although these reasons prove to be barriers to successful integration and engagement with SEA equipment, in this study, stigma appeared to be the most powerful recurring explanation for AT abandonment

Technology and Disability Identity: "Now You See Me, Now You Don't"

This qualitative study examines how students’ identities are constructed when technology and disability intersect. Understanding how technology constructs the identities of students with invisible special needs such as learning disabilities is critical to determining why students are resistant to, or accepting of, assistive technology pedagogy. The primary source of data for the study was in-depth, phenomenologically based interviewing using structured, open-ended dialogue. Three Ontario secondary schools provided the setting for the study. Participants included five students with learning disabilities who are users of assistive technology, two parents, two teachers, and two assistive technology coaches. A grounded theory methodology was used to permit theoretical categories to emerge from the data. The purpose of the research was to investigate: (a) Is the promise of technology compromised by the visibility of technology support, and how do students who access technology through the Special Equipment Amount (SEA) negotiate any related social dynamic? (b) What does the diagnosis of a learning disability mean to students and their parents? (c) What are the particular experiences and contexts within which students that access technology through SEA are trained? and (d) How do teachers, parents, and trainers see their role in the technology assistance program? The research findings indicated a strong positive association between the variables of awareness, understanding, and acceptance. Participants’ responses revealed: (a) a direct relationship between students’ lack of awareness of having a disability and lack of knowledge regarding why they have a SEA laptop with access to Assistive Technology (AT), (b) a strong connection between students’ awareness and understanding of the diagnosis of LD and their willingness to “own” or accept a disabled identity in order to access necessary supports such as AT, and (c) overall, that awareness, understanding, and acceptance of a LD appeared to significantly impact students’ willingness to happily engage with AT. Beliefs expressed by participants about responses to AT revealed tensions between the promised empowerment of AT and the negative self-perception related to AT use. Students appeared to be unwittingly trapped in a cost-versus-benefit dynamic, such as independence and improved abilities versus inferior status and social labelling. Consistent with the literature on stigma related to invisible disabilities, students in some instances appeared to shoulder the burden associated with the social cost of being perceived as academically inferior. Participants perceived several reasons for lack of engagement and abandonment of SEA equipment, including stigmatized identities, compromised self-esteem, and indifference. Although these reasons prove to be barriers to successful integration and engagement with SEA equipment, in this study, stigma appeared to be the most powerful recurring explanation for AT abandonment.

Insights and Strategies to Support Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Post-Secondary Contexts: A Canadian Perspective

The number of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) entering post-secondary institutions is increasing, but students with ASD are struggling more than their typically developing peers, with high rates of mental health challenges and a lower graduation rate. This study’s purpose is to understand the learning needs/experiences of students who identify as being an individual with, or having a formal diagnosis of ASD, while highlighting perspectives of f aculty members and students from Sheridan College. Our research finds that the learning experiences of students with ASD at Sheridan are impacted by: (a) Environmental stressors, (b) Gaps in transitioning from high school to college, (c) Lack of access to leadership opportunities, (d) Lack of awareness or understanding of available supports, (e) Inadequate quiet spaces to support sensory and emotional needs, (f) Difficulty navigating inconsistent approaches in academic accommodation implementation, (g) Too much onus being placed on students to prove their need for accommodations, and (h) Difficulty navigating multiple platforms in the online learning context. Faculty participants’ responses revealed factors and strategies that have impacted their experiences teaching students with ASD including: (a) Building rapport and cultivating trust to encourage open communication and discussion regarding accommodation needs, (b) Recognizing challenges with group formats and allowing choice in group selection or foregoing mandatory group work, (c) Understanding stressors and strategies to support students’ social, communication and emotional challenges, (d) Collaboration with student affairs and Accessible Learning (AL) to support students with ASD, (e) Applying strategies learned in previous training and community employment to support students with ASD

Insights and Strategies to Support Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder - Poster

Poste

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead