The three videos of Ade Adepitan, Christine Sun Kim, and Chay Brown each explore everyone’s disability. In addition to this, their disabilities all intersect with all three of their unique positionalities, which include identity factors that are often marginalised.
Videos
Ade Adepitan is an athlete and human rights advocate who is physically disabled. He reflects on his experiences as a black man and draws parallels between the ‘Paralympic’ and ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement (ParalympicsGB, 2020). Christine Sun Kim, an artist who is deaf, references sound and language in her work. She is also a woman, a mother, and a person of Korean descent, and talks about how motherhood has impacted her practice (Art21, 2023). Chay Brown, a trans man who is neurodivergent, discusses his mental health difficulties in relation to his experiences within the LGBTQ+ community (ParaPride, 2023).
Finish Forever, by Christine Sun Kim
Sun Kim, C. (2018-2019) Finish Forever [charcoal on paper] François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, Available at: https://www.contemporaryartlibrary.org/project/christine-sun-kim-at-francois-ghebaly-los-angeles-11448/32?from=%2Fartist%2Fchristine-sun-kim-6174 (Accessed on 6 May 2026)
Intersection
The above examples highlight how disability intersects with each individual’s positionality, producing distinct and complex lived experiences. In the context of higher education, this makes it difficult to design a single, universal approach that adequately supports all students equally.
UAL data states that 18.6% of students have shared that they are disabled (Kennedy, 2026). From my own experience as an educator, neurodivergence is one of the most commonly encountered forms of disability. However, it is itself an umbrella term encompassing a wide range of cognitive differences and learning styles. When combined with each student’s unique positionality, the challenges they face can vary significantly.
Action Plan
My action plan as a teacher is therefore to observe and listen to each student, to try to understand both their unique positionality and specific challenges. Creating space for students to be heard is often the first step toward identifying meaningful and effective forms of support. Building on this, I see inclusive teaching not as a fixed strategy but as an ongoing, responsive practice. Instead of relying solely on standard accommodations, I aim to create a learning environment that allows for bespoke ways of engagement, contribution and understanding. This could mean allowing tutorials to be undertaken online, instead of in-person. Creating low-pressure ways to participate, such as written responses instead of speaking in class. And sharing hand-in checklists earlier than usual.
Takeaway
In Chay’s video, the interviewer notes that “if things are accessible for disabled [people], they are going to be accessible for everyone” (ParaPride, 2023). This is most definitely noticeable in the example of the hand-in checklist. All students look forward to receiving this!
Lastly, Ade remarks that: “If we give people the opportunity to shine…the sky’s the limit!” (ParalympicsGB, 2020), and this is something I aim to carry into my teaching practice by focusing on students’ strengths and creating the conditions where they can feel confident, capable, and able to succeed in their own way.
References
Art21 (2023) Christine Sun Kim in ‘Friends & Strangers’ – Season 11 | Art21. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NpRaEDlLsI (Accessed: 4 May 2026)
Kennedy, C. (2026) Introducing Frameworks for Disability Equity in Higher Education, [online] Available at UAL Moodle (Accessed: 04 May 2026)
ParalympicsGB (2020) Ade Adepitan gives amazing explanation of systemic racism. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAsxndpgagU (Accessed: 4 May 2026)
ParaPride (2023) Intersectionality in Focus: Empowering Voices during UK Disability History Month 2023. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yID8_s5tjc (Accessed: 10 May 2024)
I really appreciated your point about the difficulty of creating a single universal approach within higher education. Your observation that neurodivergence is such a broad umbrella term highlights how varied students’ experiences and needs can be, especially when positionality and lived experience are taken into account.
I also found your emphasis on listening and observation important. The idea of inclusive teaching as an ongoing, responsive practice feels particularly relevant within creative education, where students engage and communicate in very different ways. Your examples of low-pressure participation and flexible tutorial formats show how relatively small adjustments can make learning more accessible for everyone, not only students with disclosed disabilities.
I was particularly interested in your discussion of bespoke approaches to learning. Have you found any specific adjustments or strategies that students respond to especially positively within your teaching practice?
Hi Greg, thank you for your feedback! And to answer your question, to me, a bespoke approach to learning simply comes down to adding a bit more of a human touch to the learning process. It means taking the time to really understand a student’s individual challenges and working together with the student to find an approach that helps them succeed.
One specific example was an extra tutorial with a student who struggled to comprehend and complete the digital presentation. In class, I had already explained the requirements and listed all the necessary elements for submission. However, I realised that this approach was not fully connecting with them. So, I sat down with the student individually and we worked through the presentation page by page together. We drafted a simple layout on paper and annotated what content and elements could go onto each slide. By slowing the process down and using a more hands-on, visual approach, the student gained a much clearer understanding of the task and felt more confident completing the assignment independently.
Another example was when I supported a student who consistently missed the submission deadlines. After sitting down with them, it transpired that they felt overwhelmed and had many personal issues holding them back from doing course work. I worked with the student to break the assignment into smaller, manageable stages with mini-targets and regular check-ins. Together, we created a simple timeline for research, drafting, editing, and final submission. This helped reduce the student’s anxiety around the workload and allowed them to approach the assignment more confidently and strategically.
Experiences like these have helped me to understand that bespoke approaches are not necessarily about creating entirely different content for every student, but about adapting communication, pace, and support to meet individual learning needs. Even small adjustments can make a significant difference in a student’s overall learning experience.
I enjoyed reading this!
I appreciated your discussion of intersections between disability and other aspects of students’ positionality — and the specificity of some challenges students face because of this — and the observation that accommodations like early checklists are of benefit to everyone. I feel that there’s an interesting balance between these more standard forms of accommodation, and the bespoke requirements you discuss.
Has there been an adaptation you’ve made for a student which you think would be beneficial for the course more generally (if you had the time/space/resources to implement it, that is)?
Yes! Now that I think about it… I just replied to Greg’s comment with an example how I sat down with a student to: “break the assignment into smaller, manageable stages with mini-targets and regular check-ins. Together, we created a simple timeline for research, drafting, editing, and final submission”.
In Year 1, we introduce students to the concept of a ‘critical path’ and show them how to create one for their projects. We encourage students to develop a critical path independently for each assignment. However, I think there could be real value in a follow-up session where I work alongside students to help them build a critical path tailored to the project brief, timeline, and their individual challenges or working styles.
I feel this more collaborative and guided approach could help students better understand how to structure their workload, manage their time more effectively, and reduce feelings of overwhelm when approaching projects, especially the larger ones.
Thanks for the question Agnes!