Overview

This chapter is presented in video format and explores the barriers that students with learning disabilities face within the K12 education system in Ontario. The chapter presents case studies of students’ lived experiences with self-advocacy efforts and the barriers they encountered throughout their experiences. This chapter provides educators with some next steps to reflect on how to address these barriers within their classrooms.

Introduction

The introduction emphasizes the significance of self-advocacy for individuals with learning disabilities within the K-12 education system. This video serves as an introduction to the chapter and defines key terms such as learning disabilities, barriers, and self-advocacy. The introduction concludes by highlighting key barriers to self-advocacy for students, identifying a variety of potential barriers that could impact a student’s development of self-advocacy skills.

Case Studies

Case Study 1: My Experience in Grade 9

This video introduces the format of the case studies we will be exploring in this chapter, as well as goes through case number 1, which explores my experience as a person with a learning disability in my grade 9 English course. It also explores what barriers existed that impacted my self-advocacy in this experience.

Case Study 2: My Experience in Grade 10

This case study explores my experiences as a student in grade 10, and explores what barriers existed that impacted my experience in self-advocacy at this time.

Case Study 3: My Experiences in Grade 11

This case study explores my experiences as a student in grade 11, and explores what barriers existed that impacted my experience in self-advocacy at this time. 

Breaking Down Barriers

This section of the chapter looks at understanding how educators can make efforts to dismantle barriers for advocacy within the educational spaces they facilitate.  This section looks to apply theories such as the TPACK model, intersectionality, and Universal design as tools to support educators in dismantling barriers for self-advocacy in their classrooms. This section ends with actionable steps educators can take.

Full Presentation

This is a full 41-minute recording of the chapter that contains all sections above in one long-form video. Sections are broken up across the video.

References

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