Consciousness Raising: Collective Responsibility of UDL in Higher Education

This chapter will present the relevance of Iris Marion Young's Social Connection Model of Responsibility as a framework for promoting collective responsibility for inclusivity in Higher Education. Through this framework, a call to action is presented to stakeholders at all levels to develop insight and awareness into their role in enabling equitable access to higher education. The notion of consciousness raising is explored as a means of bringing to discursive consciousness the potential of assumptions and attitudes about diversity to impact the accessibility of provision. Critical Disability Studies is utilised as a theoretical and philosophical lens for challenging deficit-based understandings of diversity, and inviting all stakeholders to commit to the shared responsibility of designing accessible learning opportunities and environments, through application of the principles of Universal Design for Learning.