When one persons inclusive is another persons exclusionary

One of the huge learning curves of this course and of trying to make my work much more inclusive has been the realisation that often in working really hard to make a space or classroom inclusive for a certain student group you often inadvertently exclude another. And being completely honest it’s occasionally made me long to be the contented pig and to have not opened the box. Not because I don’t care or think it’s unimportant but just because it feels like a pursuit of an impossible standard I’ve now set for myself to make every session I do tailored to everyones individual needs.

We watched this talk in our recent development days (not as a this is the gold standard FYI, but as a prompt for conversation) And whilst I like some of the ideas he presents – like the idea of looping. On the whole it feels like he is completely unaware that ‘not for everyone’ might be true. Having the lights on full blast being better for everyone for example. He also moves around a lot – not very inclusive or preferable for certain learners. There seems to be no acknowledgment of his privilege or positionality or that what he believes to be best might actually hinder some people from paying attention and/ or remembering what he’s saying…

I’m very particular, maybe in part because of my neurodiversity, maybe in part I’m just that sort of person – who knows. Or maybe (probably) the latter is the lie I told myself before my late diagnosis – “I’m just a pain!” and I acknowledge that so might every learner be in my classroom. But this puts me in a bit of a spin because I’m also a perfectionist and a people pleaser and want to try and do right by every person in the room.

So how do we do that?
& how do we let not our lense/ intention/ experience or preference get in the way?

Take for example the sessions for this unit, they’re not recorded and for obvious reasons. Or even if the reasons are not obvious they are outlined and explained anyway so no issue there.
That’s problematic for me, and probably other people too. Who would engage much better in the subject if there was both a recording and a transcript.

So it goes like this… & an inclusive space for one is an oppressive or uncomfortable space for another.

One persons bright lights on keeps me alert is anothers’ bright lights on gives me sensory overload
One persons open space to speak freely is anothers’ won’t remember a single thing they said
One persons online feels good as I’m in my safe space is another persons I have no space because I share with 3 people
One persons too much info on the slide zoned out is another persons I need to be able to read what they’re saying as they say it
One persons I’m much more productive working online is another persons I need to call a meeting just to verbalise something
One persons speaking on camera is better so I see facial expressions and don’t misinterpret etc is another persons I’m so anxious to speak publicly I might vomit
One persons “great it’s all on moodle” is another persons “moodle is my nightmare, I need help” but oh wait the way to access help is also on moodle, and then you have to fill in multiple forms to access help with filling in information….

We also talked in our team about the needs as an educator and how to balance the tricky art of meeting your own needs as a teacher/ speaker/ presenter whilst still trying to meet the needs of the learners.
I’d love to say we figured it all out, we absolutely didn’t. So if someone has, please let me know!