As an undergraduate, Colleen had one professor who truly fostered an inclusive and participatory learning environment in a disability studies course. The professor began by discussing access with the class, allowing students to set flexible expectations for how they engaged with the space, such as choosing where to sit or move. Classroom elements like lighting, desk types, and location were adjusted based on students’ needs, even leading to room changes. The professor encouraged dialogue, creating a safe atmosphere for students to disclose access needs and contribute authentically. Note-taking roles were shared, assignments were flexible, and deadlines negotiable, accommodating various forms of expression like spoken word and art. The class embraced trust and valued all contributions, integrating interpreters and transcribers seamlessly. Together, they shared stories and built a community rooted in understanding and respect, leaving with a profound sense of what accessible and meaningful learning could be.

Example: Floyd's experience of Interdependence

As a music performance major, Abrams was required to take group piano classes, which followed a standard curriculum regardless of prior experience. Initially, her childhood piano lessons made the first semester manageable, but the increasing difficulty of skills like harmonic minor scales, chord progressions, and improvisation quickly overwhelmed her. Practicing daily did not yield improvement, exacerbating their anxiety, especially when performing in front of peers. Despite their efforts, her professor's dismissive responses to their struggles—questioning her practice habits and progress—intensified feelings of guilt and shame. The pressure to pass the piano proficiency exam heightened their dread, and eventually, the anxiety became so overwhelming that even the sight of a piano triggered distress. To escape the cycle of self-criticism and pain, she stopped attending class altogether.

Example: Abram's experience of a lack of Interdependence

An interdependent qualitative research paradigm embraces the idea of interdependence by foregrounding the fact that researchers need participants' involvement and care in creating a research methodology as much as participants need a researcher to take care when developing a research methodology.

Interdependence in an Interdependent Qualitative Research Paradigm

Interdepence is used to explain how rather than viewing a person as either independent or dependent we must understand independence/dependence in the context of an individuals relationship with others. Interdepence maintains that often rather than strictly following the model of a disabled person being fully dependent on an idealized non-disabled benevolent actor by viewing independence/dependence in the context of a relationship we can see how often relationships act out of solidarity and less along these binary lines.

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Crip theory challenges the binary associations of viewing non-disabled individuals as independent and disabled people as dependent, and the societal frameworks that place value on indepence. Mingus in the piece "Forced intimacy: An ableist norm" argues that Crip Theory challenges this binary by having a greater focus on interdependence.

Interdependence as Challenging Binary Associations

Mingus, M. (2017, August 6). Forced intimacy: An ableist norm. Leaving Evidence. https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2017/08/06/forced-intimacy-an-ableist-norm/

Forced intimacy: An ableist norm. 

Mingus, M. (2010, January 22). Interdependency (excerpts from several talks). Leaving Evidence. https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/interdependency-exerpts-from-several-talks/

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