Month: March 2017

 

My group was assigned to explore the peer programs web page UBC offered through the lens of disabled people. We were asked to analyze the page and to determine whether or not the Universal Design Concept (UDC) was applied to include a broad range of student perspectives. The UDC refers to a broad range of methods to allow inclusiveness to all peoples. The website design itself is clean and concise. There is a good contrast between the text and the background and is very straight forward to navigate. It also has an average Grade level of 9.9 for reading comprehension, making it easy enough for people to understand. In this perspective, one can judge based off this design that achieves inclusiveness.

However, after further exploring the contents of the page, I asked myself this question, is it really inclusive to everyone? One can notice that the text sizes of the website, even though it’s well designed, is on the smaller side. Also, if one wanted to find the web accessibility link, they would have to scroll all the way down to the bottom where there is a small accessibility link one can click on. This could be a problem to people who have visual impairments as it is hard to see what is on the site itself.

UBC itself offers many varieties of assistance to different groups of people for different reasons. The peer programs do not specifically offer assistance to the disabled. The only program that entails the help of disabled people is the suicide awareness team. They promote reaching out to those who have mental health issues and offer assistance and treatment through counselling and therapy. While this does include the aid to people with mental disabilities, it does not include physical disabilities.

While discussing about involvement on campus and equal opportunities given to all, it is hard for someone with disabilities to be included into the peer programs. One of the biggest requirements for any position is that they are are searching for peer mentors that are confident with themselves in front of a group of people. I myself do not have a disability so it is hard to put myself in someone’s shoes who does, but I believe that disabilities can sometimes cause problems in confidence levels. If someone has a physical disability such as deafness or impaired speech, how would they communicate with those who are actually seeking help from the peer programs?

To conclude, I do not think that there are as many opportunities to for people with disabilities to get involved, based on the peer programs offered here at UBC. Improvements to the website can be made. It would help people with visual impairments with accessing the page if UBC included an auditory output. Also, inclusion of a clearly visible text size bar, to increase or decrease the text size would be beneficial too. Lastly, the problem of the accessibility link being hard to find can be easily solved by making it more noticeable on the website.

 

 

 

The Universal Design Concept (UDC) is design framework that aims to be accessible and accepting to the widest range of people. My peers and I examined the Collegia Advisor webpage through a transgender lens to evaluate its inclusivity. Unlike other groups where the physical design layout of the page had a large impact in its accessibility (i.e. disabled individuals), our my group focused more on the acceptability component. We found it rather difficult to put ourselves into the shoes of transgender individuals where social considerations were much more of a factor versus physical constraints.

 

Our general findings were that the page’s design conformed largely to the ideas of the UDC. The colours and font used were neutral in their styling and did not convey a preference for any specific demographic. The text also did not imply any partiality for certain groups, with its use of gender neutral pronouns. Any aspects of the page that did exclude had to do with the job description, but referred to skills and experiences required for the position and did not discriminate towards transgender peoples. One particular concern that my group members and I did have pertained to the main photo on the web page, whose caption when lingered on with a cursor revealed “man and woman conversation”. We concluded that the designers found an apparent need to identity the gender of the individuals in the picture. Scrolling through other pages on the “Campus Life” domain, we didn’t find any other photo captions where gender was mentioned.

 

While this one case on the Collegia web page can be read into as being discriminatory, my personal opinion is that the web designer wished to implement the values of UDC by incorporating different genders. The gender binaries of “man” and “woman” used does not stipulate transgender discrimination. Rather, it is possible that the individuals in the photo are transgender. How does one even tell if an individual is transgender, or for that matter, a part of any defined social group (i.e. Aboriginal, disabled) solely based on physical appearance? By judging individuals based on physical appearances to be categorized into different groups is partisan. Stereotypes of these groups have all been socially constructed and by continuing to use them to as indicators to distinguish members of society from one another, are we not guilty of propriety?

 

This is what brought my group to conclude that even attempting to “walk in someone else’s shoes” is an inherently flawed concept. It assumes two things, both which are dangerous if taken to an extreme. Firstly, as my group members and I do not identify as transgender, our knowledge of transgender people was very much restricted to our stereotyped ideas of what we thought they would feel. Our analysis was therefore largely subjective and speculative, with possibilities for inaccuracies and misrepresentation. Secondly, by framing transgender people as a separate group we automatically assumed binaries. We fabricated a dichotomy of an “us” and a “them”, (similar to how the designers created gender binaries of man and women) which is unnecessary if not discriminatory. So perhaps the most puzzling and paradoxical part the UDC is that in order to be inclusive and we first have be exclusive.

Who do you want to Interview? Please read the alumni profiles below and provide your top 3 choices to conduct an interview with by making a comment on the post by midnight Sunday the 5th of March. Only choose those profiles with availability that match your own.

Example Comment: Rose: 3 / 1 / 7  – where profile 3 is the 1st choice, profile 1 the 2nd choice, and 7 the 3rd

Your TA will collate and form the groups to conduct the interviews and return with the next steps in this process. As stated you will need to have completed the TCPS2: CORE by the 14th March discussion group meeting to partake in Activity 3. This will guarantee your success (grade) in the Activity and on the course.

Profile	Education + Career	Availability
1	· BA from UBC · Human Resources Coordinator, Enrolment Services at UBC	· March 15-31 available during the day · Not available March 15 from 10-11 am
2	· BA in English Honours from UBC · Previously worked in other areas as an artist, childbirth educator, riding and swordplay instructor · Currently the Publisher and Senior Editor at Pulp Literature Press	· March 15-31 on Wednesdays and Thursdays · Monday or Tuesday afternoons may also work
3	· BFA from UBC · Currently the Communications and Administrative Manager for the ICORD Research Centre	· March 15-31 Wednesdays and Fridays between 8am and 4pm are best
4	· BA in Political Sciences and History and BEd from UBC in Social Studies · Previously worked as a teacher and counsellor in schools · Currently works as a Prevention Specialist for VCH working in schools in Vancouver with youth and parents · Also an actor for commercials and film – with more than 70 commercials currently	· Available March 15-31 during daytime weekdays · Flexible with the exception of March 17 and 20
5	· BA in Psychology with a CSIC minor · BEd with a French Immersion Specialization · Currently a Project Coordinator at the Refinery Leadership Partners · Current field is management consulting	· March 16-24 · Evenings on week nights · Or Mornings and later afternoons on weekends
6	· BA in Sociology and Anthropology · MA in Anthropology · MSW in Social Work · Currently employed with Vancouver Coastal Health · Has a private therapy practice · Also a local artist/writer who has exhibited	· March 15-31 · At her office on the North Shore available days, evening or weekend except Sunday · Could meet on campus on an evening or weekend including both Saturday or Sunday
7	· BA from UBC, BLS from University of Toronto · Worked as a Librarian before moving toward employee training and development ·  Worked overseas to help establish HR departments and training programs · Has also previously taught ESL at Chinese universities · Currently working in instructional design, curriculum development and editing for a university publisher	· March 15-31 – not specified
8	· BA and BEd at UBC · Has lived in Japan since 1999 where currently working · Currently tenured at a private university in Osaka in the Foreign Studies Department	· March 25-28 · Available to meet on campus
9	· BA in Interdisciplinary Studies · Focused on human interactions and intimate relationships in their studies · Completed MA in Professional Communications at Royal Roads University · Currently works for a politician in the Provincial Government	·       March 15-31 – evenings and weekends are best