Accessibility First: Speaker Series

Date

Wednesday October 22, 2025
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Location

Zoom

Event Category

All ��˴�Ƭ students

��˴�Ƭ faculty & staff

This event is hosted by the Center for Teaching & Learning.

The Accessibility First Speaker Series aims to foster a sustained, campus-wide dialogue on disability justice, accessibility, wellness, and equity in higher education. Building on Queen’s commitment to inclusive excellence, this series will bring together faculty, staff, students, and administrators to reflect on the pedagogical, practical, and cultural dimensions of accessibility. By amplifying the experiences and expertise of leading scholars, educators, and community members, CTL aims to cultivate more equitable learning environments where all members of our community feel a sense of belonging. The series will showcase leading voices in disability studies, inclusive teaching, and community-based accessibility initiatives.

Access Friction: What Can We Learn from Situations in Which Access Needs Differ and Conflict?

Dr. Sarah E. Silverman

Wednesday, October 22, 2025; 1:00 - 2:00 pm

Even instructors who are very committed to inclusion and accessibility experience friction in their practice: For example, one student may be highly sensitive to the volume of amplified sound while another is hard of hearing. One instructor may communicate most effectively in writing while one of their students is dyslexic and prefers a face-to-face conversation. In this session, participants will explore the idea that inclusive teaching is not only about implementing specific inclusive strategies, but also about navigating complex learning situations in which there are multiple competing needs. Participants will begin by defining “access friction,” a term derived from the disability community that describes situations in which there are two or more competing access needs. Then, examples of access friction from participants’ own contexts will be shared and analyzed. Lastly, participants will use the concept of access friction to consider how to talk about inclusive and accessible teaching with students and colleagues. Instead of assuming that we can easily “include all students” with a few simple strategies, we expect and constructively engage with the friction that is part of our inclusive teaching journey. The workshop component will be followed by an open Q+A with the facilitator.

Sarah Silverman, PhD is a faculty developer and instructor of Disability Studies. As a neurodivergent educator, she has a personal and professional stake in conversations about accessibility in education, as well as extensive college teaching and faculty development experience. Her interests include accessible and feminist pedagogy, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and disability-informed critiques of educational technology. Her writings appear in To Improve the Academy, the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, the blog Feminist Pedagogy for Teaching Online, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, and on her newsletter Beyond the Scope. Her book An Introduction to Neurodiversity for Educators is forthcoming from the University of Oklahoma Press.

Check out Dr. Silverman's .

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