Building deaf-centered, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive higher education using deaf community co-design

There is an urgent need to dismantle the structural barriers that reduce higher education (HE) access for multiply marginalized deaf adults and advance community-led transformations. Towards these aims this project asks: What would HE designed by/for/with multiply marginalized deaf learners and communities look like and how can we develop or build it? Using a community-based participatory design approach, this project will invite three stakeholder groups to collaborate on the co-design of a future deaf studies program at York University. Stakeholders include: (1) community groups serving underrepresented members of the deaf community; (2) deaf adult learners facing various and overlapping barriers to HE; and (3) university- and community-based curriculum designers. Methods including community consultation and co-design workshops will engage deaf learners and community organization partners in the co-creation of HE program design. This study will generate tools and knowledge that can be used to build more just and accessible education futures.

Faculty Supervisor:

Rachel da Silveira Gorman

Student:

Partner:

Sign Language Institute Canada

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Arts, entertainment and recreation

University:

York University

Program: