The following seminars and workshops are offered by the Blundon Centre as part of the Bring Student Life into your Classroom series. For more information or to book a seminar or workshop please e-mail blundon@mun.ca.

Disability as a Social Construct

Sociologists have long argued that "disability notions are not objectively determined but socially constructed". How disability is perceived can be a powerful factor that shapes our ideas and our thinking, including how we teach and learn.

In this session we will consider the differences in traditional approaches (medical model) to disability and models which look at the environment as both the source of the problem and the solution (social model). We will also explore the impact of each approach and how that relates to roles and expectations of individuals and society.

Throughout the session participants will be asked to engage in reflection activities and personal responses to short video clips of personal lived experience. Participants will have an opportunity to share their own experiences; challenge their own assumptions; and develop their own ‘to do list’ as they embark on their journey in making Memorial an accessible and inclusive university.

Where possible this session will be co-facilitated with staff and students from the Blundon Centre. 

Be a Leader in Creating Accessible and Inclusive Learning Environments

Understanding the social construction of disability is central to understanding the fundamental way to make our community accessible and inclusive and how to remove and prevent unnecessary barriers in our community (classrooms, instruction, programs, curriculum, information, campus etc.)

This session is aimed at moving from theory to practice. Participants (educators, staff and students) will be encouraged to shift the focus away from the ‘individual’ and the ‘diagnosis’ towards the environment (university) as a whole. Participants will have an opportunity to share their own experiences and explore ways to work, teach and learn that support access to all. Participants will develop their own ‘to do list’ as they embark on their journey in making Memorial an accessible and inclusive university.

Where possible this session will be co-facilitated with staff and students from the Blundon Centre.