Building Empathy, Community, and Understanding

As we move toward the end of another semester, the Instructional Accessibility Group would like to recognize some of the things that Roadrunners are doing to enhance disabled empathy, community and understanding. Read on to learn about the various projects and how you can get involved.

Traumatic Brain Injury is often referred to as the most complex condition in the most complex organ, but it is also one that carries heavy stigmas that affect how people with TBI are treated or supported. Part of this is due to the invisible nature of TBI and how our society addresses invisible disabilities in general. Another part of the stigma often comes from the assumption that the person with the TBI is responsible for the injury itself. In any case, the resulting lack of empathy for people with TBI has left them feeling unheard and unsupported. Enter Dr. Kathy Hardin. 

Dr. Hardin, an Associate Professor in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences as well as the Director of the CATBIRD Lab (Communication Advances in TBI Rehabilitation Delivery), believes in building empathy through understanding. Working with individuals with lived experience, Dr. Hardin developed a 4-hour program designed to approximate issues and experiences a student with a TBI might encounter. 

Expand your Practice: 

Here are two ways you can start supporting your students with TBI:

• Work with your students to develop checkpoints and deadlines; students with TBI benefit from being able to set their own limits (UDL Consideration 7.1: Optimize choice and autonomy).
• Allow your students to approach learning challenges in their own ways and offer varying modes of complexity; supporting student success does not have to detract from the rigor of the learning (UDL Consideration 8.2: Optimize challenge and support).

Useful Resources: 

• Kathy Hardin: Brain Injury Simulations
• Colorado OIT Empathy Lab & Steering Committee
• MINDSOURCE Brain Injury Network
• Universal Design for Learning Guidelines 

On Friday, April 25, the Disabled Alliance and Mentorship Network (DAMN!) had their first social gathering. As one of MSU Denver’s newest employee affinity groups, DAMN! hopes to foster an inclusive university environment that recognizes, supports, and celebrates disability as a vital dimension of diversity through advocacy, education, and community building.

While it may seem small, this first official event demonstrates how disabled culture is beginning to take root at MSU Denver. More importantly, it shows that people with disabilities are at the forefront of the change living up to the disabled adage of “Nothing about us without us.”

While the primary purpose the group is to enhance the disabled experience at MSU Denver, DAMN! is open to all university faculty, staff, and student-staff regardless of disability status. Anyone interested in joining can contact either Elizabeth Kleinfeld ([email protected]) or Ione Priest ([email protected]). 

Three years ago, a group of faculty and staff from various colleges and departments began the discussion of creating an interdisciplinary disability studies minor program at MSU Denver. Thanks to the dedication of that group, the Disability Studies Minor will be launching in Fall 2025. 

What is Disability Studies?

Disability Studies (DS) extends from the disability rights movement and centers on the ideas that disability is a social issue and that the experiences of people with disabilities vary based on other intersectional factors. DS accepts disability as a vital identity and cultural experience and examines biases and systemic barriers that exclude people with disabilities from places and processes. 

Want to Teach a DS Course? 

The DS Minor is looking for courses that can be added to the minor. These would be existing courses that could be easily adapted to include a focus on DS. Any faculty interested in seeing if their course would be a good addition to the minor can contact Elizabeth Kleinfeld ([email protected]).