Your language-teaching mission, should you choose to accept it, is to celebrate Disability History Month in your language classroom.
As I’ve mentioned before, each month of the school year I create a curriculum packet for the Edmonds School District for staff and/or parents to use. The goal is to focus on a different national month of celebrating diversity, with activities for a variety of core academic subject areas and some fun stuff (crafts, art, cooking). However, for my blog, I like to pull out some activities that would work well in a language classroom to share with you, as well as some additional ideas for the month!
October in both the USA and Canada is considered "National Disability Employment Awareness Month", whereas some American states, like Washington, Idaho, Texas and Missouri, celebrate a broader “Disability History Month”. However, while October is a nice time to highlight people with disabilities (and point out the ablism that is a lot of our curriculum), this is, of course, something we can do all year long!
The following are some suggestions of how to celebrate Disability History Month in the language classroom:
Discussing Deaf culture and language:
An aspect of ablism that I need to confront in my own teaching is referring to “language” as something that is spoken. However, there is a rich language history of sign languages that have developed around the world, such as Chinese Sign Language, French Sign Language (which is used in France and not to be confused with LSQ or Quebec Sign Language), Irish Sign Language, etc. In terms of additional language learning, as of 2016, ASL (American Sign Language) was the third most popular language to study in American colleges! Talking about the history of these languages, and their struggle for legitimacy and acceptance, is a great lesson in both the diversity of language and the importance of accessibility. While you can definitely do a deep dive into sign language and the Deaf culture of individual language groups with older/more advanced students, with younger/less advanced students there are some simple activities you can do to introduce them to the idea of sign. For example, students only need to have a grasp of numbers 1-10 in the target language for you to do a quick adding and subtracting exercise with them (PDF RESOURCE: Adding and subtracting with ASL)
Current Events through the lens of disability:
This is a two-parter: part one could just be a one class activity that involves some reading, writing and speaking, whereas the inclusion of part two could extend this considerably! Even if you only have time for a one class activity (or a half-class activity like reading the article and having students use the discussion questions), it’s great to be considering the perspectives of people with disabilities in your classroom.
Part One: Examine a newspaper article that talks about disability. For example, I found this short English article about how “Barbie To Add More Dolls With Disabilities”* by Shaun Heasley. I paired it with two activities: first, students examine how a newspaper article is constructed (using this template from the Natural Inquirer) and then they either respond in a journal or in a class discussion to some discussion questions. (PDF RESOURCE: Barbie To Add More Dolls With Disabilities News Article Activity)
Part Two: Students do their own reporting in the target language about issues around disability and accessibility in their community. Maybe they take the source article about Barbie and then write an article after polling their peers about their opinions. Maybe they investigate what kind of programs are available for students with disabilities in your school or district. Maybe they do some investigative journalism and discover how accessible your school building is for students with various disabilities? You can, of course, expand the idea of “news” to include a Buzzfeedesque listacle with what they think are the best depictions of characters with disabilities in movies or books. Either way, they engage in thinking about these issues and then organizing their ideas in a specific way (news article) in the target language.
What kind of inclusive language is used in the target language?
In English, there has been a lot of discussion about what words are used to when talking about people with disabilities. For example, in my state of Washington**, the Respectful Language Act (RCW 44.04.280) was passed in 2010 when Washington Arc advocates with intellectual and developmental disabilities organized for its implementation. A great discussion can be had just by examining the short law as a class and observing how this grassroots movement was successful in advocating to replace offensive language (e.g., mentally retarded, disabled people) with person-first language (e.g., people with disabilities) when referring to people with disabilities in state documents (Source: www.oeo.wa.gov). However, for other languages, conventions and conversations might be very different. For example, in giving guidance for French language users, some French sites advocate for the use of terms like “Les personnes ayant un handicap” or “Personne/enfant en situation de handicap/handicapé(e)”. For a native English speaker like myself, the word “handicap” might not feel right to use, yet in French it is considered inclusive and is an example of person-first language. I would have a discussion with my students about how my own culture influences my initial reaction to using certain language in my second language. Moreover, target cultures may have different histories and attitudes around disability, which can be discussed as well.
Highlighting people with disabilities who come from the target culture/use the target language:
There’s certainty not as much coverage of the Special Olympics as the Olympic Games, but there is quite a lot of material to explore in the target language, as many countries send athletes to the Special Olympics. However, when discussing the Special Olympics, I think it’s worth discussing the criticisms against it, such as reinforcing negative stereotypes about people with disabilities and creating a segregated sports environment.
While there are a lot of articles celebrating the accomplishments of people with disabilities (Stephen Hawking, Greta Thunberg, Michael J. Fox), an overwhelming characteristic of those who are celebrated is their whiteness. It’s worth trying to dig a little deeper to find examples of people with disabilities from a variety of races, gender expression, sexualities, religions, etc. It’s also great to have a conversation with older students about the idea of intersectionality (having more than one facet to one’s identity and how these facets interact). For example, the experience of double marginalization (racism and ablism) is something that can be highlighted.
Be inclusive of all students in your class
Although students with learning disabilities are less likely to be enrolled in language classes, supports for our students with learning struggles are incredibly important (and these supports help all students!) You can check out the 5-minute differentiation strategies checklist I made to help make quick adaptations in your existing lesson. For some great examples on how to build a differentiated unit I recommend the PDF of “Differentiated Instruction in the Foreign Language Classroom: Meeting the Diverse Needs of All Learners” by T. Theisen.
*Note: I’ve found similar articles discussing the new Barbies in other World Languages, like French (“Barbie handicapée : la marque mise sur la diversité”) and Spanish (“Barbie presenta su primera muñeca con audífonos para discapacidad auditive”).
**Note: If you are a teacher in Washington State I recommend two fantastic sites: some wonderful Washington primary sources about our state’s disability history here (for older/advanced students) and a series of amazing videos through the One Out of Five: Disability History and Pride Project with worksheets aimed at younger/less advanced language learners (and includes helpful captions in both English and Spanish!).
How do you highlight disability and accessibility in your language classroom? Share in the comments!