But how learning affects everyone and how people do have more than what goes on in school. And this is Kaylee and I've been speaking,
this is Katherine, I am so so so glad that you talked about all of the other possible intersections that affect accessible learning because, you know, in our community, we talk a lot about what Accessible Learning is and there's such a focus on the disabled community which is amazing because we are heavily, heavily, heavily impacted by inaccessible learning models. However, so our non disabled people have a varying demographics, you know, and I don't want to speak for other people's intersections. But and I was sad that we had a couple of guests that were going to join us today that would have been able to speak on that, that weren't able to make it but I'm really glad that you brought that up because, you know, considering the other lived experiences, besides the disabilities, you know spectrum is a really important part of the accessible education. You know, goal and movement. And I think you know we talked about this earlier that Accessible Learning is a model that benefits everybody that's why it's designed the way that it is so that no matter what your lived experiences and what demographic you're from or what intersections, you're a part of, it's going to benefit you regardless. And I think that's the ultimate goal of creating accessible learning styles and models. And I like you, Haley hope that it's something that we've learned this year that accessible learning really is possible, and that these kinds of models, even though they may not be inherently, you know, quote unquote necessary in the emergent sense that they were in the last year and a half, are very much still deeply and needed for a growing population of our society, and I hope that it continues as well because so many of us benefit from it for a variety of reasons, not even related to disability. The last question I have for you both before we wrap up today's awesome conversation on getting back to school, is how we as a community, both the disabled community, and our allies, and the general population, who may not be identify as either one of those categories. How can we as a community support learners of all ages, whether they're the little guys that I teach or they're the adults that both of you teach, how can we as a community support learners in their journey towards accessible learning. I would love to hear from Jade first we haven't asked your direct question in a while so can both of you kind of speak on that and how the community can support these learners. This is Catherine I'm dead speaking.
Yeah, this is Jay and I'm speaking. I mean really the best thing I think the community it just everyone can do is to push for education reform and for education to do some more of that, you know, kind of, whether it be hybrid or another model from the burden of like different sensibilities, because like you said, and like Haley said everyone, even if they don't have a disability like everyone has different accessibility needs. For example, like, I have a lot of English second language. And so they benefit greatly from having like a recording and especially a transcript, because they might hear a word and be like, I don't know what that English word is. And then if they see it though, then they'll be like, Oh, it's that one and then they can go look it up, etc, etc. Like, that's really, really helpful for them. So I think that's the best thing that anyone can do just for all learners, actually, is to make things, you know, more acceptable to advocate for that in general, you know, like maybe does that pay for funding, maybe we need to advocate for more funding for education like it's so, because the education system as it stands now I feel like it's still very antiquated, like it's very still, you know, even though we see computers being used now we're not utilizing all the things that they give like transcripts, and video and audio and all that sort of thing. So that's like the biggest thing released, I think. And, David, I'm done speaking.
This is Katherine, I am very much in agreement that that is a huge step forward in the in the in the effort for better accessible education for everyone Haley I would really love to hear your thoughts about how we as a community can help support learners of all ages and all kinds. This is Catherine and I'm done speaking.
This is Haley so I really want to echo Jake's point about education reform and I think a lot of that also comes from what goes on at the state level and federal policy level too. So, especially for disabled learners we have a kind of difficult time so if you know about the history of ADA which entitles public school students to a free and appropriate education if they have disabilities that Congress pledged to fund all of the additional costs, or at least up to 40% I believe, of the cost of special education the additional costs and they barely fund, about 15% of that. So, there is a huge gap in funding and state and local education budgets have to kind of fill in the gaps there. And sometimes it's just not possible especially depending on where your community is what resources your community has so there's a huge gap in quality of education, depending on where you are located, which is super helpful. So I think even just having that kind of reform on the policy, but I think something that's actionable that you can walk away with, if you are a parent and educator or student is having that empathy for what your students may be experiencing what you're experiencing. So like we were talking about with accessible education, because it doesn't just benefit disabled learners, it benefits all learners. And I think it's really cool when we were talking about how Jade's class had a lot of English a second language learners, or multiple language speakers, and how they are able to benefit from accessibility. I don't have that in my class but for my classes haven't had that yet but I do have students who have attention deficit and auditory processing issues in differences that really do benefit from those transcripts, and those captions and my biggest regret is we couldn't figure out how to get it to work at the beginning of the semester, so it took a while to get up and running, but I think having accessibility in class is so important, and I wish looking back, even when I took online classes in college that was things that happened in my education. I think it would have been better I did, and I think what happens with a lot of students is accessibility doesn't seem important unless you're either performing poorly academically or you actually advocate for it, so I didn't get kind of classified as someone who would need accessibility because I had good grades. So I think we have to understand that we have to be empathetic in that grades don't tell the whole story. They don't tell you anything about a human being separate from the students who are working towards getting into college grad school, or maybe making your grades don't define you, and they don't tell you anything about who you are human being. So please don't let that define your worth and overly stressed out about that, and education should be accessible to whoever wants it and needs it and that especially goes for adult learners who don't always have to be in a formal education setting to continue their learning. So, education comes in many forms. It might even come from you listening to this podcast today. Hopefully if that's Margaret, I hope that this experience was acceptable for you. And I think it should be for anybody who wants it so keep advocating, and don't be afraid to be empathetic and vulnerable with others as well so that's all I have to say, and this is Haley and I'm done speaking.
This is Katherine I could not have closed out with better thoughts, if I tried that you said, everything that we hoped to convey today, Haley and Jade thank you both so much for being here today and talking about what it, what it's going to be like for those in all different kinds of roles to go back to school this year, and we hope here at reversibility that today's podcast has helped listeners you listeners out there to be feel empowered and feel better prepared to advocate for yourselves, your students and your educators. This year, to have the most successful and amicable and empowering school year that you could possibly have. Thank you both Jay and Haley for being here today, and thank you listeners for listening to our second episode of this podcast reversibility amplified and until next time, thank you all and we will see you next month on our next episode, recording stopped. Thank you guys both so much for being here. That was an awesome conversation we definitely went overtime but I don't care because it was great. Thank you guys so much. So I actually had to stand up. So I actually have another meeting I have to get to, otherwise I would definitely chit chat for a couple minutes, but thank you both for being here and I will send out an email to you guys. When we air the episode I'll also send you both links, and if you guys both could send me if you have social media handles or a website or anything if you could send me any of those kinds of links that you would like, and then a headshot that you would like for us to use on YouTube, because we air it on YouTube, and the podcast platform. So, if you could send me those I'll email you again just to put it in writing what I asked. Because I'm a visual. But in the meantime, thank you guys so much for being here for being part of our community and for helping us with this episode. Thank you. It was fun. How are we doing week. Bye guys, Thanks. Bye everyone.
