Increasing Inclusivity of Disabled Children in Classrooms

STRATEGIES FOR VISUAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

DESIGN PROJECT III

Sharmistha Poddar S1801108 M.Des Graphic Design 2018

Anchor Dr. Nanki Nath

Guide Dr. Tridha Gajjar

Document

Co-Guide Dr. Shilpa Das

Increasing Inclusivity For Differently Abled Students In Schools

Copyright ©2019-2020 Student document ment for achademic purpose only All rights reserved.

Masters of Design, Graphic Design, 2018-2020 National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India.

Edited and designed by Sharmistha Poddar sharmistha_p@nid.edu National Institute of Design (NID) Paldi, Ahmedabad – 380007, Gujarat, India. www.nid.edu The document is set in URW DIN and headings in Termina

Our view of the world is often divided one

RICH. POOR. EDUCATED. UNEDUCATED. FAMILIAR. FOREIGN. GOOD. BAD. BLACK. WHITE. US. THEM. We don’t see the human race as a singular unit with inherent internal connection.

Jon Troutman, Design school confidential

Acknowledgment Design project three being the last classroom

this project was taken forward. Her suggestions were

My GD batch is more like my family at NID. They

project has a crucial role in M. Des. Graphic design

instrumental to shape this project. I am very grateful

all have contributed to my learning in every step.

program. Throughout this project, I have had the

to her for being kind and patient with me.

Without their insightful discussions and constant

opportunity to interact with people who have helped

One of the instrumental people in this project is my

encouragement, I wouldn’t have come this far in NID’s

me discover unknown grounds. This project has

co-guide Dr. Shilpa Das I can’t thank enough for the

journey. I am grateful to the whole batch of M. Des.

proved to be a profound journey for me. In terms of

support she has extended to me during this project.

2018 for being there and having my back always.

trying to understand a sector that I didn’t give much

I would have been lost without her guidance and

thought about before. This project has made me more

knowledge she has given me about the topic.

I am eternally grateful to my parents for the

confident in terms of approaching people.

I would like to express my gratitude towards our

truly unconditional support and love and always

faculty Tarun Deep Girdher, for his invaluable advice,

encouraging me to pursue my dreams. There are not

I want to start thanking all the people who gave

and sharing his depth of knowledge and attention

enough words to express my gratitude towards them.

me their precious time to talk to me in lengths and

to detail. I would also like to sincerely thank Dr.

sharing their experiences. Few names I want to

Nanki Nath for always being available for any kind

mention here are Manali, Soumil, Ms. Rajvi, Ms.

of discussion as an anchor of the course and being

Nistha, Ms. Rajeshwari, Mr. Keshav Chatterjee, Dr.

considerate.

Apte, Ms. Hiral, Ms. Poorvi, Ms. Phorerum, and Ms. Srimonti Guha.

I would like to thank my seniors, especially Shipra Bharati, and Darpan Trivedi they have been my

I am grateful to my guide Dr. Tridha Gajjar, her open-

constant SOS help for this project. They patiently

mindedness and relentless motivation and clarity in

answered all my doubts and shared feedbacks and

times of doubt made a significant difference in how

tips that could be helpful for me and my project.

Content THE PROJECT

Why this project Definition Proposal

02 03 04

RESEARCH

Method Disability Models Inferences Project Evolution

06 07 14 15

STRATEGY

Why What Whom Deliverable Content Mind map Size

18 23 24 25 28

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The Project

Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

The project

Why This Topic After exploring different topics and talking to people, mainstreaming disability was chosen as the topic. Following the conversation with Dr. Shilpa Das and my senior Darpan Trivedi, I realized how we just talk about empathy and don’t practice it. I sought guidance from Darpan as I was not able to fix on to a topic, and that discussion opened my eyes to the pseudo inclusivity we practice.

I realized despite having a person with a hearing disability in our class we are not aware of how to behave with the person. The conversation raised many questions in my mind like how many times we go and talk to Manali about the things which are not about the curriculum, which is about a film or an experience or her feeling which we happen to generally do with others.

How we sometimes don’t take efforts for the sake of convenience. Do we walk with someone

who can’t move with our speed due to some disability?

I discussed my thoughts with my classmates and we found ourselves guilty of not being truly inclusive and empathetic. So I decided to work on this project to educate my self more about the topic. For this project, I wanted to learn how to solve a problem instead of doing something which is end product-driven. It took me time to orient myself not to think about the end product first and go with the flow of what the situation demands. I believe this will help me in the future too.

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Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

The project

Definition To start with, a proper understanding of the terms impairment, disability, and handicap is crucial.

Impairment Impairment’ is concerned with the abnormalities of body structure and appearance or of organ and system functioning, resulting from any cause.

It is an individual limitation in the structure and function of an organ. A person may be “impaired” either by a correctable condition (such as myopia) or by an uncorrectable one (such as cerebral palsy).

Disability ‘Disability’ is the functional consequence of impairment, in terms of altered functional performance and activity by the individual. It is the lack of ability due to the impairment or social

construct. People may be disabled by physical, intellectual or sensory impairment, medical conditions, or mental illness. Such impairments, conditions, or illnesses may be permanent or transitory.

Handicap Handicap’ relates to the disadvantages experienced in society by the individual, as a result of his/her disability. It is basically society and the physical environment that makes people handicapped.

Not all impairments result in disabilities. One may also be disabled but not handicapped.

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Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

The project

Proposal It is estimated that over 2.21 % of the Indian population is affected by some kind of physical disabilities as per Census 2011. Physical disabilities affect multiple aspects of a person’s health and wellbeing. Despite its high prevalence, we don’t see many in our mainstream society. The system design is generally not friendly in terms of usage and accessibility. In India, disabled people are rendered invisible both by the built environment which is not accommodating enough and by the backward mental attitude of the society. Human rights for them are constantly being violated. There is a lack of a positive role model in media and a lack of equal opportunity along with other issues related to this subject.

There is very less visibility of people with disabilities, they are rarely seen or acknowledged. There is no blind actor, no wheel

chair user in the parliament, there is constant violation of human right to a life of dignity and equal opportunity.

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Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

5

Research

Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Research

Method I started my secondary research by watching talk videos on disability and going through blogs which gave me an overview of the topic.

To dig deeper I read papers and book chapters suggested by Dr. Shilpa Das. Simultaneously I initiated conversations about the topic with people around me and with people who had experienced or are experiencing some kind of disability. The product design discipline was having a course at the time called Design for special needs, which turned quite helpful. I got contacts from people like a chain reaction.

I went to the following places/people to learn more in person. Health Care foundation where I met Dr. Apte and Andaz a kid with cerebral palsy and his mother Rajeshwari. I went to meet Ms.Rajvi Gosalia an HR executive experiencing cerebral palsy. Ms.Nistha Thakur Executive in IIM A, Founder Spread smile (NGO), she has muscular dystrophy. Had conversations with NID

students Manali Roy and Soumil Singh.

I had a brief conversation with Mr. Keshav Chatterjee founder of the Prabhat Education Foundation when he visited NID. I went to Prabhat Education Foundation where I met teachers and talked to a few students and one parent. I went to riverside school were the two in house counselors Ms. Hiral and Ms. Poorvi explained to me the existing system in the school regarding the inclusivity they practice. Ms. Phorerum explained the curriculum design and the system of helping other schools to develop a similar structure.

I had visited Kendriya Vidyalaya Space Application Centre and Kendriya Vidyalaya No 1 Shahibaug, where I did not have the scope of a productive talk with anyone due to the rather stringent boundaries set. Both schools had one student each with a locomotive disability.

Secondary Research objectives To get a overview understanding of disability as a whole.

To know about the different types of disability.

To understand the problems faced by disabled.

To get some direction for narrowing down the topic.

Primary Research Objectives To validate what I was thing was right or not.

To understand their problems and needs.

To understand how disability affect mental health.

To define the target audience.

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Research

7

Disability Models

IDEA

MEDICAL MODEL

MORALITY MODEL

SOCIAL MODEL

• Correct and cure.

• Define the disabled person as less then normal.

• They can enter society only on terms of abled bodied majority.

• Matter of charity.

• Shame to the individual.

• Sigmatise person with disability tolerance.

• Environment is not accommodating.

• Absence of universal design.

• Institutional discrimination.

FOCUS Individual

Karma

Disabling World

Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Research

Disability expleined by Dr. Apte, Health and Care Foundation

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Research

Data from 2011 census

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Research

Interview transcript

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Research

‘‘People who go to special schools are weak already’’

‘‘Relatives said to my father how will she get married’’

‘‘I can’t join in conversations with a larger group so I go to mess alone’’

‘‘My Family had reservations that I might have learning disabilities since I cant hear’’

‘‘Teachers didn’t know or didn’t try to understand how to help. Few were sadistic’’

‘‘Special education teachers come once a week to government schools’’

‘‘Why disabled children should be called special? what is so special about not being able to hear’’

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‘‘We are inclusive only, people with disabilities should take efforts, they can’t sit and cry over what has happened. They need to motivate themselves’’

‘‘My father says I am thick-headed. But my sisters are nice they do all the work and take care of me’’

‘‘Classmates wouldn’t talk to me much, they would go to the playground and I used to sit in the class alone’’

‘‘Despite having everything people feel different and lesser than others because of their nature” You know your limitations but one should discover their qualities also’’

‘‘The problem is parents didn’t teach how to handle my condition. they thought it’s needed. because they themselves couldn’t accept the reality of my condition’’

‘‘It took time to get accustomed to my disease since it aggravated suddenly.

I wasn’t able to handle things. Left studying. Was frustrated. Nobody was there to talk to’’

‘‘Kids like coming here, every kid is involved in every activity. they help each other’’

‘‘If you achieve something in life only then people will notice you’’

‘‘Didn’t send her to school because she wouldn’t have been able to sit for so long. Her needs are different’’

‘‘When I started taking part in competitions they started understanding that she is like us”

‘‘Parents’ main concern is to cure the disability, they sometimes don’t pay attention to other aspects of development’’

What people said

Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Research

Top left to right: K.V. SAC, Riverside school, Nishtha, Rajeshwari, Bottom left to right : Prabhat Education Foundation, , Andaz, Rajvi,

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Research

People at stake

People with disability themselves.

Family- mother father siblings relatives Caretaker Doctors nurses Neighbors Teachers Peers School staff Strangers who get in contact on day to day life

Contact mapping

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Research

Observation

Inference

Initial ideas

They either subjected to pity or made superheroes who have overcome the disabilities. They are objectified for the benefit of non-disabled people.

Breaking the assumption. A platform to ask questions if you have any regarding their condition .don’t stare.

Ask them before helping.

Counseling to parents.

Difficulty in accepting their condition resulting in anger and frustration which is mostly during teenage.

There are body image issues that they face.

Extracurricular activities in school for them.

Visual story, Zines.

Need to increase belongingness.

People face discrimination and isolation along with constant doubts and speculation. People make assumptions about what they can do or can’t.

Training for teachers’ awareness of students.

Game to understand impairment, campaign for positive messaging and removing negative attitude- skit, radio show, PSA.

Acceptance from family is crucial. Which shapes a person’s growth and personality.

Parents focus on curing the impairment and often ignore the other parts of the development.

Parents prefer to send their kids to a normal school rather than a special school.

Involving school kids in the same activity with different roles.

Empathy towards others that they also don’t understand how to help.

Some ways to help in coping up with the condition.

Prepare oneself for further degeneration.

Social awareness for the attitude shift of people.

Art installation/ Exhibition.

A platform for discussion of these topics with a person facing disability.

Alternative ways to do things for people facing disability e.g. audio-book for hearing impaired.

Psychological help for people facing disability due to accidents or degenerative diseases.

Counseling parents and children both are necessary.

Lack of understanding in teachers and classmates that what kind of help is needed.

Body image self-esteem.

Efforts from the other side are needed.

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Research

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Project Evolution My initial hypothesis was that Disabled people are more vulnerable to mental health issues. so I wanted to do a campaign for the inclusivity of disabled persons in educational institutes focusing on exploring the psychological needs of disabled people and the hidden barrier of nonacceptance or neglect.

Schools are the first contact for a child with the outside world. Since the number of students with disabilities in schools and colleges is less, they are generally considered as a minority. Teachers, due to lack of proper training and sensitization, generally have limited skills for managing and making the environment more inclusive for such students.

From the data on page no nine we can see that no of people affected by some disability comes under 10- 19 yrs which is a school-going age.

Out of this total population of 61% of children attends school.

After contact mapping I concluded that since a person spend a considerable amount of time with family peers and teachers, they have a bigger role to play in their development and mental health.

Strategy

Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Strategy

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The strategy address the need to have a inclusive growing environment for children.

Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Strategy

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What Disability is a limitation of activity and/or participation which is caused by either the body’s impairment and/or poorly designed world. This might take a toll on the mental health of a person with some kind of disability. Another big factor is the psychosocial aspect.

Body impairment is a biological factor that a designer can’t do anything about and a poorly designed world cant be fixed instantly.

The world is poorly designed maybe because of a lack of empathy or consideration of the ablebodied population.

If we get to develop empathy in able-bodied children two things will happen. First, the child with a disability will get a conducive environment since childhood i.e if his/her psychosocial aspect is taken care of since beginning it will positively affect their development and personality.

Second, the poorly designed world will get fixed eventually as the children are the future If they grow up to be aware and sensitive towards everybody. Plus empathy allows people to build

social connections with others. Empathizing with others helps you learn to regulate your own emotions. So targeting children will be holistically beneficial for both.

Limbs

Metabolic

Vision Sensory

Physical

Skin Hearing

Illness Retardation Learning Disability

Mental

DISABILITY

Accidental (illness, disease, stroke)

Autism Genetic

Degenerative (genetic)

Congenital

Birth Accidents

LIMITATION

Activity

Participation

Body Impairment

Poorly Designed World

Self Image Body Image Mindset Physical Restriction

Environmental Restriction Struggle Non Accessibility

Mental Health

Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Strategy

Where

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Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Strategy

Whom

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Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Strategy

Why Teachers Since every school can’t conduct a workshop even for an external body to do so also has high entropy. Growing up years are mainly influenced by parents and the school environment. For this project, I have chosen teachers as my primary target because the simplest thing which can be done to solve this would be making the teachers aware. After asking a few school teachers whether the information about handling differently-abled students is a part of there

training or not I got to know it is not. As teachers are a direct influence on the school kids so by an informed behavioral change they will impact both kinds of children. Abled bodied children will learn from the teachers by observing them and children with disabilities will directly get benefited. A set of the book seemed an appropriate solution in this situation since it can be made available easily and handy.

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Strategy

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Which School My initial target was Kendriya Vidyalayas, the reason being for it has students of multi-culture and diverse backgrounds. The deliverable should work in every state equally. As per my research and observation there are a few of children with disability per school.

But more universal the book is more schools/ teachers will be benefited so decided to make in only in English for now also keeping in mind the timeline of the project. But it could be extended in at least Hindi later.

Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Strategy

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A handbook A type of reference work, or other collection of instructions, that is intended to provide ready reference. The term originally applied to a small or portable book containing information useful for its owner.

Handbooks may deal with any topic, and are generally compendiums of information in a particular field or about a particular technique.

They are designed to be easily consulted and provide quick answers in a certain area.

Deliverable

Hearing Impairment

Intellectual Disability

Vision Impairment

Physical Disorder

Mental Health

Autism Spectrum Disorder

To develop a visual system for a set of handbooks for teachers that will give information about the need for students with disabilities.

There should be a set of handbooks that can be kept in the school library which can be introduced through disability sensitizing workshops or otherwise. To which teachers can go back to whenever the situation demands. There should be a separate book for each topic, not one book containing all the content since it is meant for library reference different teachers might need to refer to the different topics at the same time.

These handbooks will be guides for teachers to make the environment more inclusive towards differently-abled children in school.

For this project, I will be delivering only one complete handbook on hearing impairment.

Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Strategy

”

Content is king

Content Curation The content is collected from different websites ran through Dr. Shilpa Das once, Took friends’ help to edit it. After that arranged the content in meaningful flow and different sections.

The content was once run by Ms. Srimonti Guha who is an educator in Riverside International school and got feedback that crisp well informed, nicely categorized, and more than anything easy to understand. The content had to go through different rounds of edits to make it cohesive and to make sure the words that are used are appropriate.

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Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Design Development

Mind Mapping

The keyword would help in setting up visual language that would be needed to design the publication and establish a character that would be needed for the handbooks.

I took help of others by circulating a google form to make the mind map.

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Design Development

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Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Design Development

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Key Words Many Hands, Heart, Soft Colors, Openness, Community, Diversity, Equality, Warm, Rainbow, Addition, Connectivity

Voice Empathetic

Intention Inclusive

End User School teachers

Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Design Development

The size Some standard book sizes were chosen keeping in mind that it has to be small. So sizes around A5 were considered as every book won’t have a lot of content. A bigger size with fewer pages would look flimsy. The squarish size was chosen to give it a magazine kind of feel. A size smaller than that would give it leisure read feeling as we associate those sizes with novels.

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Sharmistha Poddar | M.Des Graphic Design - 2018

Design Development

5.8 × 7.6 inches

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WEB Changing The Way We Talk About Disability | Amy Oulton | TEDxBrighton Disability vs the Workplace | Lesa Bradshaw | TEDxLytteltonWomen Disability and work: Let’s stop wasting talent | Hannah Barham-Brown | TEDxExeter Disability and Child Protection | UNICEF Our fight for disability rights and why we’re not done yet | Judith Heumann | TEDxMidAtlantic The Truth About Growing Up Disabled | Dylan Alcott | TEDxYouth@Sydney Experiencing A Disability | What It’s Like How much do you know about intellectual disabilities? | Matthew Williams | TEDxVancouver Inclusion, belonging and the disability revolution: Jennie Fenton at TEDxBellingen Inspiration porn and the objectification of disability: Stella Young at TEDxSydney 2014 Living with an extreme disability | DW Documentary Satyamev Jayate S1 | Episode 6 | Persons with Disabilities | Full episode (Hindi) What’s Your Choice: Problems that people with disabilities face in India Would you Date a Woman with a Disability?

I got 99 problems... palsy is just one | Maysoon Zayid Dating with a Disability | Deepa Narasimhan | TEDxBangaloreWomen https://www.salto-youth.net/tools/toolbox/tool/difference-between-disability-handicap-and-impairment.207/

PRINT Design and the disabled body: Where do the twain meet? The need for designer in India to be aware of disability studies- Shilpa Das At the margins: women with disability in India- Shilpa Das Privilege or Marginalization- Narrative of a Disability Rights Activist- Nidhi Goyal Journey so far: My life with an impairment- Sameer Chaturvedi Disability and feminism - Shilpa Das Disabled persons in India - A Statistical profile 2016

CONTENT https://www.specialeducationguide.com/disability-profiles/hearingimpairments/ http://www.projectidealonline.org/v/hearing-impairments/ https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/hearing-factsheet.html http://www.rehabcouncil.nic.in/writereaddata/dedse_dhh09.pdf https://www.sess.ie/categories/sensory-impairments/hearing-impairment/tipslearning-and-teaching https://www.brighthubeducation.com/special-ed-hearing-impairments/67528-tips-and-strategies-for-teachinghearing-impaired-students/ https://www.adcet.edu.au/inclusive-teaching/specific-disabilities/deaf-hearing-impaired/