News

New York State Restores Pre-Pandemic Funding Levels for InclusiveU

InclusiveU, a program that helps students with intellectual and developmental disabilities attend Syracuse University, will receive $100,000 in the 2021-2022 New York State budget. Earlier this month, State Senator John Mannion visited the School of Education’s Center on Disability and Inclusion (CDI), which houses the Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education and InclusiveU, and congratulated them on the restoration of funding.

At the visit, School of Education Dean Joanna Masingila; CDI Director and Associate Professor Christine Ashby; and CDI Assistant Director and Lawrence B. Taishoff Professor of Inclusive Education Beth Myers spoke with Senator Mannion about the systemic challenges that people with intellectual disability face throughout their lifetime, from early childhood through adulthood.

Read article here.

Ashby on Universal Design for Learning at Syracuse University

Christy Ashby, director of the Center on Disability and Inclusion and associate professor in the School of Education at Syracuse University, spoke to Joey Pagano at the student publication The NewsHouse for “The Wheelchair Quarterback Column: Analyzing SU’s Universal Design for Learning technique.” Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, is a framework for designing flexible instructional materials that allow for multiple methods of representing information, assessing student learning, and engaging and motivating students. Pagano notes that “UDL is a set of techniques aimed at facilitating success for all students, though those with disabilities are often the beneficiaries.”

As Ashby says, faculty understanding and acceptance of both UDL and traditional accessibility accommodations can vary widely, but concrete UDL policies and training can help faculty better understand how to better support students without worries of “cheating” or making work “easier.”

“Some faculty go above and beyond to ensure that they understand how the disability impacts access and how they can support the student in all aspects of the course, but some do not,” Ashby said. “Testing accommodations are by their very nature individual to the student and generally are after-the-fact accommodations to assignments and tests that have already been designed.”

“Test accommodations are not about making it easier, but making it accessible. Students still need to know the content and be able to apply it, but there are multiple ways that can happen meaningfully.

In this same column, School of Education Dean Joanna Masingila mentions that Syracuse’s Disability External Review Committee initial recommendations, which were all accepted, included Universal Design for Learning training as a part of all new faculty orientations.

Reading “Analyzing SU’s University Design for Learning technique on The NewsHouse

Christy Ashby talks inclusive education, equity, and the CDI on the Jabbedu podcast

Center on Disability and Inclusion director Christy Ashby appeared on the latest episode of the Jabbedu Podcast: “Creating an Equitable Path for Students with Disabilities.”

From Jabbedu: We should all be working towards a more equitable future for all… but what does that look like exactly?  It’s hard to know for sure, but the point is that we’re making the effort.  On this episode, Dr. Christine Ashby shares with us her experience as a special education teacher in a fully-immersed school and some of the pros and cons of that design.  We spend some additional time chatting about how to change the culture of a school, before transitioning to some of the amazing work she’s doing with the brand new Center on Disability and Inclusion.  We wrap up with a highlight of her co-authored book, Enacting Change From Within.  Great conversation through and through – tune in!

The Jabbedu Podcast: “Creating an Equitable Path for Students with Disabilities”

School of Education Announces New Center on Disability and Inclusion

Bringing together decades of leadership into one collaborative center, the School of Education has announced the new Center on Disability and Inclusion (CDI). Formed to advance inclusive education and disability rights, and promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of school and society, the center is a strategic collaboration between the Lawrence B. Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education, the Center on Human Policy, the Inclusion and Communication Initiatives (ICI) and the newly established Mid-State Partnership and Pre-Employment Transition Programs.