Empowering colleagues through disability equity training: a social model approach

This session will outline the benefits of taking a social model approach to institutional disability equity training in Higher Education, drawing upon practices at University of the Arts London (UAL) as a case study.

Since 2016, UAL has developed a comprehensive programme of in-house staff development sessions and supporting resources about disability equity and inclusion. With 400+ attendees per year, and more than 30% of UAL staff having engaged in some form of training, this programme has positively contributed to institutional change.

The session will explore the benefits of:

· A focus on the social model of disability in staff development.

· Taking a pan-impairment approach which goes beyond ‘awareness raising’.

· Empowering colleagues to identify inclusive practices in their own context.

· Working with academic staff and educational developers, as well as disabled staff and students, to develop session content.

Key words: staff development; CPD and Training; inclusive practices; cross-institutional approaches