Learning a new language in an instructed classroom setting is sometimes regarded as less than essential—or just too much trouble for what it’s worth—for those Disabled learners of various kinds and backgrounds who make it into higher education settings (Sparks, 2016).
Variously Disabled learners are often nudged or outright directed by parents, curricular advisors, and public opinion to focus on what these authorities believe to be the baseline essentials that we as Disabled people need most urgently, to adapt to workforce vocational and social needs. Beyond the many faulty presumptions that keep those beliefs about us going (Sparks, 2016), what if it turns out that precisely those classes that teach additional languages sometimes offer Disabled learners a unique and eventually cherished onramp for expansive learning and transformation, and a place where we can flourish in ways non-Disabled authorities may not be aware of?
Read more here from the article by David Gramling and Sanya Malik.
