Since the inception of inclusive post-secondary education in BC, the notion of "unremarkability" has been an important idea in guiding what we do and what we don't do as an organization. In fact, you will find the term unremarkable in our mission statement:
"STEPS Forward’s mission is to make it unremarkable for students with developmental disabilities to learn, develop careers and pursue their passions alongside other students at post-secondary institutions"
When inclusive post-secondary started, there were no instructions or blueprints for how to proceed. Instead, parents involved in the development of this idea identified guiding principles to safeguard the work. Unremarkability was one of these principles. Unremarkability means that the inclusion of students with the label of developmental disability in post-secondary is the norm. Unremarkability means that the participation of students in everyday academic and social life of campuses is expected, it is not something extraordinary, special, or surprising.
After, 17 years of doing this work, we are not there yet, but this principle keeps us on course as we navigate the complications of student life and the complexities of the social devaluation that is still alive and well in our communities and society at large.
Unremarkability keeps us focussed on the need to develop the capacity of everyone on campus to include students in meaningful ways rather than focussing on changing students so they fit in easily. One of our very first inclusion facilitators, Jessica Humphrey, explained this well when she described how Inclusive Post-secondary Education moves beyond mainstreaming and instead focusses on widening the stream. At post-secondary, widening the stream is achieved by tapping into the resources that support all students to be successful. And, ensuring that these generic student resources support students with developmental disabilities to benefit from and contribute to the campus community in ways that are possible for any student.
It is important to mention here that supporting students to benefit from and contribute to campus life in the same ways as any students does not mean that they have to perform in the same ways as typical students and this is reflected in another of our guiding principles:
“The goal of Inclusive Post-secondary Education is not to normalize students with developmental disabilities, but to make their participation in post-secondary education the norm"
We recently shared this guiding principle on our facebook page, and within 24 hours it went viral reaching 14,000 subscribers. Something about it really resonated with people. I think that it struck a chord with so many people because it is quite a simple idea. I don’t think any of us go to college or university with the hope of becoming normalized. In spite of the clarity this principle provides, we have learned that it is incredibly complex to achieve. It requires us to change not only ourselves, but entire communities and the broader society.
The tag line of the blog, coined by our President, tries to capture this part of our work. "it's not us, it's you" means that the potential of inclusive post-secondary education can only be realized in true partnership with all members of the campus community. As inclusion facilitators, we cannot achieve anything in isolation. Our work requires that everyone engages in a process of unlearning, of raising their own expectations, of presuming the competence of all students, and being intentional about building relationships.
"STEPS Forward’s mission is to make it unremarkable for students with developmental disabilities to learn, develop careers and pursue their passions alongside other students at post-secondary institutions"
When inclusive post-secondary started, there were no instructions or blueprints for how to proceed. Instead, parents involved in the development of this idea identified guiding principles to safeguard the work. Unremarkability was one of these principles. Unremarkability means that the inclusion of students with the label of developmental disability in post-secondary is the norm. Unremarkability means that the participation of students in everyday academic and social life of campuses is expected, it is not something extraordinary, special, or surprising.
After, 17 years of doing this work, we are not there yet, but this principle keeps us on course as we navigate the complications of student life and the complexities of the social devaluation that is still alive and well in our communities and society at large.
Unremarkability keeps us focussed on the need to develop the capacity of everyone on campus to include students in meaningful ways rather than focussing on changing students so they fit in easily. One of our very first inclusion facilitators, Jessica Humphrey, explained this well when she described how Inclusive Post-secondary Education moves beyond mainstreaming and instead focusses on widening the stream. At post-secondary, widening the stream is achieved by tapping into the resources that support all students to be successful. And, ensuring that these generic student resources support students with developmental disabilities to benefit from and contribute to the campus community in ways that are possible for any student.
It is important to mention here that supporting students to benefit from and contribute to campus life in the same ways as any students does not mean that they have to perform in the same ways as typical students and this is reflected in another of our guiding principles:
“The goal of Inclusive Post-secondary Education is not to normalize students with developmental disabilities, but to make their participation in post-secondary education the norm"
We recently shared this guiding principle on our facebook page, and within 24 hours it went viral reaching 14,000 subscribers. Something about it really resonated with people. I think that it struck a chord with so many people because it is quite a simple idea. I don’t think any of us go to college or university with the hope of becoming normalized. In spite of the clarity this principle provides, we have learned that it is incredibly complex to achieve. It requires us to change not only ourselves, but entire communities and the broader society.
The tag line of the blog, coined by our President, tries to capture this part of our work. "it's not us, it's you" means that the potential of inclusive post-secondary education can only be realized in true partnership with all members of the campus community. As inclusion facilitators, we cannot achieve anything in isolation. Our work requires that everyone engages in a process of unlearning, of raising their own expectations, of presuming the competence of all students, and being intentional about building relationships.
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