Reading the Discussion, several things jump out at me. The mention of the necessity (unsurprisingly) for Universal Design for Learning, which for autistic students seems largely to consist of making lecture and tutorial notes available beforehand and recording lectures/tutorials and providing transcripts. This is already done at the OU for many tutorials.
Another thing mentioned was the importance of using trauma-informed practice and that negating this approach led to academic staff that were lacking in empathy and, ultimately, breaking the law. By using trauma-informed practices lecturerers can support autistic students' empowerment and self-advocacy (things that are hindered in autistic people through no fault of their own).
Anyway, I have not come across the idea of trauma-informed practice when it comes to teaching at any level - although I am painfully aware that many of my behaviours are the inevitable result of unresolved PTSD. (Did you know that it is 'common knowledge' in the psychological profession that 45% of autistics have PTSD? So many papers, so many..) So in the spirit of trying to be the undergraduate tutor I needed but never got, my next job is to find out what the heck trauma-informed practice is so I can ensure a) I'm doing it and b) set up an eSTEeM project to investigate its value as a teaching practice.
Symbolic violence
I've been reading through a fairly recent paper on Australian autistic university students' experiences (URL works for logged-in OU library access only): ‘It’s a symbolic violence’: Autistic people’s experiences of discrimination at universities in Australia - Diana Weiting Tan, Marion Rabuka, Tori Haar, Elizabeth Pellicano, 2024 (open.ac.uk)
Reading the Discussion, several things jump out at me. The mention of the necessity (unsurprisingly) for Universal Design for Learning, which for autistic students seems largely to consist of making lecture and tutorial notes available beforehand and recording lectures/tutorials and providing transcripts. This is already done at the OU for many tutorials.
Another thing mentioned was the importance of using trauma-informed practice and that negating this approach led to academic staff that were lacking in empathy and, ultimately, breaking the law. By using trauma-informed practices lecturerers can support autistic students' empowerment and self-advocacy (things that are hindered in autistic people through no fault of their own).
Anyway, I have not come across the idea of trauma-informed practice when it comes to teaching at any level - although I am painfully aware that many of my behaviours are the inevitable result of unresolved PTSD. (Did you know that it is 'common knowledge' in the psychological profession that 45% of autistics have PTSD? So many papers, so many..) So in the spirit of trying to be the undergraduate tutor I needed but never got, my next job is to find out what the heck trauma-informed practice is so I can ensure a) I'm doing it and b) set up an eSTEeM project to investigate its value as a teaching practice.