Universal Design Readings - Destiny

These reading and the talk from Rachel on Tuesday was very eye opening. I have never heard of Universal Design before this week and it seems very important in all aspects of everyone's life, with disabilities or not. When all aspects of a place can be made accessible to ALL people in a comfortable way like the yellow ramp at the gym it allows for positive interaction. I feel that if a person in a wheelchair would have to use an add-on ramp I would feel uncomfortable using it as well because I could use the normal stairs. If there was solely a ramp that was made for all people to get to one place.

I also noticed in the "Right From the Start" reading, I was thinking a lot of the Innovation Workshop at MOXI. We want the curriculum in there to be accessible for all abilities and levels. This can be hard because our audience covers babies that are a few months old to older people. All these guests have all different backgrounds, experiences and talents no matter their ages. Having designed activities kind of limit who can actually engage.

To continue that, the readings say, "Educators should select materials that align with UDL principles and should remember that children must have multiple ways to accomplish a goal or learn a skill." Thinking of our audience being a much wider range than a teacher with a room of 25 first graders all working on practicing using scissors. I would love to see how a week or month would go if we just had open tinkering. Have all materials be accessible with no theme or limit so that all guests can decide what they want to use or make based on their individual levels. This could mean that the infants have access to paper, tape and coloring materials and the six to eight year olds are working on a project with wires, screw drivers, and pliers. An adult could be crafting jewelry or trinkets out of recycled materials. All the materials could be universally available. I understand that this is impractical with cost of materials and organization but it would be an ideal way to get everyone of all levels to interact in their own talents and try new processes.

I also think this is important because even though the new cozy corner is to create a welcoming and relaxed vibe it also creates a segregation. From what I have observed it has cause parents to be less involved in their kids interaction while being on their phones or even sleeping on the couch. Also, little infants and toddlers, specifically in this digital creativity month, are separated to be in the corner because the materials and processes aren't as accessible to their levels. I also noticed that the little ones that are put in the corner still seem interested in what the older kids are doing even though the parents are just trying to keep them in the corner. I can just see it becoming a problem if it does not develop into a part of curriculum soon.