Disability

Blog Task 1

Reflecting on Intersectionality in My Teaching Practice: A Personal Perspective

In this blog post, I reflect on how Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality informs and challenges my own teaching context, focusing on my role as Year 1 Leader on the BA Textile Design course.
Drawing on insights from the short film Intersectionality in Focus: Empowering Voices(UK Disability History Month 2023) and my experiences as an educator, I explore how we can better understand and support our students in their diverse identities.

Listening to Shay Brown speak in the film, I was struck by his reflection on “how we all as a community think about people’s intersecting identities and how we make sure everyone can feel part of our community.” Shay’s statement resonates deeply with my responsibility for induction and community-building. It prompts me to consider the community entering our course, and how we are actively working to welcome and understand them. I ask myself: are we, as a course team, truly reflecting on how to better understand the lived experiences of our students — in all their intersectional diversities?

Within the first few weeks of students joining the course, we run peer-led introductions, foster community-building, offer pastoral support, provide quiet spaces, and help students connect with Student Services and Disability Services.

This year brought new challenges. Our cohort saw a significant increase in international student numbers — rising from 40% to 75%. We struggled to engage many of these students in community activities. Attendance was noticeably lower, and 10–15% of students reported mental health challenges and feelings of isolation. Out of a cohort of 91 students, 11 have not progressed to Year 2.

In his paper Is race still relevant? Student perceptions and experiences of racism in higher education, Billy Wong states:

“…increased engagement can help to create a sense of community on campus, which can be particularly important for underrepresented groups. When students feel connected to their institution and have a sense of belonging, they are more likely to persist and complete their degree.” (Wong et al., 2021)

Students with hidden disabilities — particularly international students — often face additional difficulties accessing support. Language barriers, unfamiliar academic and social norms, and the complexity of our institutional systems can all contribute to this.

In the film, Shay Brown talks about how he holds privilege through his whiteness and because his disability is not always visible. But he also reflects on how certain aspects of identity can make spaces harder to navigate:

“If you struggle with social situations either through anxiety or because you are autistic, learning the unspoken codes and communicating understanding of how things work is really challenging and can add to anxiety.”

This highlights the non-linear, layered nature of intersectional identity — each student occupies multiple, overlapping spaces, which can both empower and marginalise them in different ways.

It also raises important questions around language, and how it is utilised within our complex bureaucratic systems and teaching materials. The differing cultural and traditional expectations that we as staff carry can create biases within our established norms. These aspects can result in invisible and systemic barriers for many students.

As Crenshaw argues in her seminal paper Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color:

“…the social power in delineating difference need not be the power of domination; it can instead be the source of social empowerment and reconstruction.
The problem with identity politics is not that it fails to transcend difference, as some critics charge, but rather the opposite — that it frequently conflates or ignores intragroup differences.” This reflection leaves me with a more positive outlook — that by beginning to understand intersectional identities within our own communities, we can start to meaningfully address systemic issues.

• Crenshaw, K., 1991. Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), pp.1241–1299.
• Billy Wong, Reham Elmorally, Meggie Copsey-Blake, Ellie Highwood & Joy Singarayer (2021) Is race still relevant? Student perceptions and experiences of racism in higher education, Cambridge Journal of Education, 51:3, 359-375, DOI: 10.1080/0305764X.2020.1831441
• ParaPride 2023. Intersectionality in Focus: Empowering Voices during UK Disability History Month 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yID8_s5tjc
• 
  UAL, 2023. The Social Model of Disability at UAL (2 mins). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNdnjmcrzgw