COVID as a catalyst: shifting experiences of disability and (mis)fitting in the college classroom

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 disrupted traditional face-to-face classroom environments, creating new opportunities for exclusion/inclusion and (in)accessibility. The purpose of this study was to understand students with disabilities’ experiences of (mis)fitting (Garland-Thomson, R. (2014). The story of my work: How I became disabled. Disability Studies Quarterly, 34(2), 1–18. https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/4254/3594 https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v34i2.4254) in the classroom both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews with 16 students revealed how the transition to online learning produced differences in students’ embodied experiences of disability and sense of agency in the classroom. Applying cultural contracts theory (Jackson, R. L. (2002). Cultural contracts theory: Toward an understanding of identity negotiation. Communication Quarterly, 50(3-4), 359–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463370209385672) and the lens of critical communication pedagogy (Fassett, D. L., & Morella, D. L. (2008). Remaking (the) discipline: Marking the performative accomplishment of (dis)ability. Text and Performance Quarterly, 28(1-2), 139–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/10462930701754390), we explore how the uncertainty of pandemic life inspired some professors to loosen rigid expectations of what “ideal” student participation looks like, exchanging ready-made contracts for quasicomplete and cocreated contracts. In addition, we consider how an uncritical return to “normal” might reassert ableist policies and practices.

KEYWORDS:

• disability
• critical communication pedagogy
• cultural contracts theory
• (mis)fitting
• COVID-19

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Rollins College for funding this research through the Student–Faculty Collaborative Scholarship program.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 People with chronic illnesses sometimes refer to themselves as “Spoonies,” particularly in online spaces.

1 POTS is part of the dysautonomia family affecting the autonomic nervous system, which is a part of the brain that the body does not consciously control such as changes in blood pressure, sweat production, or how fast the heart beats. An estimated one to three million Americans are diagnosed with this condition. See https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pot.

2 We have chosen to use person-first language throughout. However, some members of the disability community prefer identity-first language (e.g., disabled person) to emphasize that disability is a large part of their identity.

3 “Neurotypical” is a term used to compare typical cognitive processing to “neurodiverse” cognitive processing.