Sarah E. Silverman

Student Disability Activism in Higher Ed, Past and Present Date: Thursday November 30, 2023 | Time: 12pm-1:30pm Eastern US/ 11am-12:30pm Central/ 10am-11:30am Mountain/ 9am-10:30am Pacific Registration Link Description: Student activists have played a major role in the fight for disability inclusion and representation on college campuses. In this session, we will explore past and present disability…

Ever since I read it for the first time, I have been endlessly fascinated by David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder’s statement (2006) that educators are among the “controlling professions”: those that define, oversee, and often surveil disability. Educators join doctors, psychiatrists, and agents of mental health services in this group. The idea is not that…

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash Preface: None of the perspectives I offer here are directed towards particular institutions or individuals. I know so many people doing amazing work in faculty development and I hope they continue. These are just some of my personal musings on stepping away from that work. Recently I have described…

Date: Friday September 22 | Time: 12pm-1:15pm Eastern US/ 11am Central/ 10am Mountain/ 9am Pacific Have you seen the phrases “Disability Rights” and “Disability Justice” and wondered what they mean? Even though these phrases are often used interchangeably, the framework of Disability Justice actually emerged as a critique of Disability Rights. While the Disability Rights…

Cover image description: An illustration of a human brain with a purple background. Note: This workshop occurred in the past. To see generic information about this workshop visit the workshops page. If you are interested in this workshop running again, please contact me. Date: Friday January 19th | Time: 12pm-1:30pm Eastern US/ 11am Central/ 10am…

In January 2023, the founder of the assessment platform QuestionMark hosted the CEO of the remote proctoring company Proctorio on a podcast dedicated to interviewing “assessment luminaries.” As part of a longer discussion about who he believes remote proctoring helps, the Proctorio CEO said: “Think about your working mothers. Think about people with disabilities, whether…

Note: This work is in progress and I am open to feedback/suggestions on it. Peruse the “upcoming events” or even just the website of any contemporary teaching and learning center at a North American college or university and you are sure to find something related to “inclusive teaching.” I started learning about inclusive teaching as…

I recently asked my students to reflect on their experiences in an online asynchronous course. The prompts (I’ll admit) were nothing very original: What did you get out of the course? Favorite and least favorite modules? What would you change for the next time the course is taught? One student began her reflection with a…

If you review a typical college-level syllabus, you will often find one or more standardized statements that describe institutional policies on certain issues. More recently, these “syllabus statements” have evolved to include helpful or supportive information for students such as “basic needs” statements or campus mental health resources. However, in my experience the two most…