It's Time to Change How We Talk About Disability in Education The managing director of Berklees newly renamed Institute for Accessible Arts Education makes the case for why our language surrounding disability matters.
By
John Mirisola
October 13, 2022
Image by Kelly Davidson
Language is powerful, and the language that we use communicates values, attitudes, and power differentials, says Rhoda Bernard, managing director of Berklee's recently renamed Institute for Accessible Arts Education. That's why, as she looked at how the language around disability has shifted in recent years, and as she responded to feedback from disability advocates, Bernard knew that the time had come to update the name of the institute, formerly known as the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs.
Rhoda Bernard
Changing the name of the institute, which offers arts education programming for disabled individuals of all ages and provides training in accessible arts education to students and professionals, also presents a valuable opportunity to explore how and why the way we talk about disability has evolved-both in professional and personal settings. So we asked Bernard to share a bit of background on the institute, explain the reasons for the updated name, and discuss the profound effects that changes in language can have on the world around us. In this conversation, Bernard makes the case for dropping special needs from our vocabulary surrounding disability, highlights the importance of deferring to the preferred language of people with disabilities, and provides more helpful tips for how to have empathetic and respectful conversations about disability.
This institute first launched at Berklee five years ago, having grown out of a program you headed up at the Conservatory. Could you say a little about how that came about, and about the work the institute does on campus and in the surrounding community? The work of our institute began in 2007 at Boston Conservatory. At the time, I was the chair of the Music Education Department there. As part of that work, I established partnerships with a range of organizations so that our graduate students could gain hands-on experience teaching music to people of all ages. One of the partnerships was with a nearby school for children with disabilities that had no music program. My students went to the school one day per week and taught music classes to all of the students. The classes were incredibly well received by the students and the school, and the music education students found their time at the school particularly rewarding and beneficial to their learning.
Not long after that I established a small-scale, private lessons program at Boston Conservatory for just one disability population-people with autism. The program was known as the Boston Conservatory Program for Students on the Autism Spectrum. On Saturdays, autistic people came to the Conservatory to take private instrument lessons taught by graduate music education students. I developed training and support systems for my students to help them better teach their students with autism. That program was very successful, and I soon began raising funds to expand the work to include arts education programs other than private lessons, a range of professional development opportunities, graduate programs, and more.
A Contemporary Approach to Graduate Music Education
Learn more about what makes Berklees three graduate programs in music education distinct in the field.
When the merger [of Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory] took place in 2016, we created the institute, at the time called the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs, with me as its managing director. We spent the 2016-2017 academic year preparing and planning, and we launched the institute in September 2017. Creating the institute has led to a great deal of exciting growth for our work. We now serve 300 individuals, ages 3 to 93, in a wide range of disability populations, every week, in person and online, in our direct service arts education programs. These programs include 13 music programs, a theater program, and two adaptive dance programs. Our first-of-their-kind graduate programs in music education and autism bring together arts educators on a mission to reach every student to study with world-class experts in the field. And our professional development programs, which include an annual conference, an annual symposium, study groups, workshops, consultations, mini-courses, and more, engage educators, arts educators, and administrators from all over the world.
How did you and your colleagues arrive at the decision to update the name to the Institute for Accessible Arts Education? When we first created the institute, I surveyed our various constituencies for input on its name. I heard from parents and families that they did not want the word disability in the name. I heard from educators that they wanted the phrase special needs in the name, so that their principals could understand the nature of our professional development activities. Based on that input, we named the institute the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs.
Language related to disability is continually changing. About three years ago, I first started hearing quiet pushback from disability advocates about the phrase special needs in our institutes name.
The phrase special needs is an outdated phrase that many in the disability community find offensive for a number of reasons:
Special needs can sound euphemistic, as though the person using it is uncomfortable saying disability.
The phrase suggests that disabled people have needs and rights that are categorically different from what every human being needs.
The disability community did not choose this phrase. It was created by nondisabled people.
Ther
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
07/05/2024
BURBANK, Calif. The Walt Disney Company has finally delivered some from profits from its hefty streaming investments, with the second quarter of its fiscal year...
07/05/2024
Bonnie Hammer, vice chair of NBCUniversal, and Jen Psaki, MSNBC host, read from their new books at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan Wednesday, May 8. Hammer's...
07/05/2024
Paramount Plus has ordered the series Crutch, a comedy that is a spinoff of CBS comedy The Neighborhood. Tracy Morgan stars....
07/05/2024
Edward J. and Melody Thomas Scott and Lidia Bastianich will receive Lifetime Achievement honors at the 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards in June, the National Aca...
07/05/2024
The 2024 Giants of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts luncheon and awards ceremony happens in New York November 12, and the honorees are Al Roker, weather and featu...
07/05/2024
Dabl Network has added The Wayans Bros., The Jamie Foxx Show, Living Single and Everybody Hates Chris to its weekday and weekend lineups. Those shows join the l...
07/05/2024
After winning a proxy fight, The Walt Disney Co. said its entertainment business turned a profit and added subscribers in its fiscal second quarter....
07/05/2024
NBA Entertainment is closing out the second season of its series Pass the Rock with a look at Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs, the league's rooki...
07/05/2024
Syncbak, which provides stations with streaming capabilities, said it is rebranding as Zeam Media....
07/05/2024
Samsung has made a deal with Magnolia Pictures that will bring titles from Magnolia to the Samsung TV Plus free streaming platform....
07/05/2024
Amazon, which has added commercials to Amazon Prime Video, is rolling out new interactive ad formats that will enable advertisers to engage streamers and sell s...
07/05/2024
Syncbak, a 15 year-old provider of streaming tech for local broadcast stations has rebranded itself, adopting the name of its streaming service launched in Febr...
07/05/2024
POST Luxembourgs journey with TAG Video underscores how finding a vendor who und...
07/05/2024
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. New findings from Hub Entertainment Research provides extensive data showing that the majority of consumers will opt for lower cost ad-supporte...
07/05/2024
NEW YORK The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation (LABF) has announced th...
07/05/2024
CBS News has named Lindsey Reiser an anchor and correspondent for CBS News 24/7, the network's live, streaming news service. Reiser, who was most recently a...
07/05/2024
NEEDHAM, Mass. After more than two years of decline, worldwide tablet shipments posted modest year-over-year growth of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24),...
07/05/2024
ESPN is reporting that April was a record-setting month as the network delivered its best April prime time audience on record, dating back more than 30 years....
07/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced that Kirsten Donaldson has joined NAB as vice president of public policy. Donaldso...
07/05/2024
The Bulls are back home again this week from May 7-12! Don't miss out on any...
07/05/2024
Taylor Swift's Eras Tour arrives to shake up EuropeHaving shaken four continents, Taylor Swift's Eras Tour finally brings the biggest pop culture icon o...
07/05/2024
Isiphetho: Destiny' beats Scandal!'E.tv's latest telenovela Isiphetho: Destiny' beat the channel's longest running soapie, Scandal!' ...
07/05/2024
Now there's HELP for ex-prisoners to find work in South AfricaNew initiative for ex-prisoners to find work in South Africa proves it's never too late fo...
07/05/2024
Tonight on Scandal: Cohen is pulled into keeping a secretDon't miss Tuesday, 7 May's riveting episode of South African soapie Scandal! on e.tv on DStv c...
07/05/2024
Skeem Saam: Monday's episode, 6 May 2024 [video]Missed an episode of Skeem Saam? No problem! Watch the latest episode of your favourite South African soapie...
06/05/2024
By Ilyse McKimmie
Now, more than ever
That's a phrase so often used in the last few years that I've come to dread seeing it in notes like this one. A...
06/05/2024
alt= class=wp-image-12099 data-lazy-src=/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Blog-Exabyte-Storage-Demand-960x540-1.jpg/> Demand for storage solutions has reached unprece...
06/05/2024
Around the world, Asian and Pacific Islander (API) artists continue to impact mu...
06/05/2024
Spotify is making it easier for booklovers to count down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until a new audiobook releases. With Countdown Pages for audioboo...
06/05/2024
Get Ready to join Dan Hong as he hits the streets in his ultimate culinary journ...
06/05/2024
In this video, cinematographer Simon Rowling welcomes viewers behind the scenes as he lights a daytime-interior scene inside a coffee shop. Shooting on Panavisi...
06/05/2024
L3Harris is well positioned to support the complex and multifaceted nature of special operations forces in all domains through our agile and responsive technolo...
06/05/2024
OAKVILLE, Ontario As part of Emergency Preparedness Week, Alert Ready, Canadas national public alerting system, will be distributing a test alert to Canadians i...
06/05/2024
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. Horowitz Research has released a new study on the viewing and media habits of U.S. Hispanic/Latine audiences that shows a dramatic decline in...
06/05/2024
RE:Vision Effects Autograph 2024.4 released! 50% Off Through May 9th
Brie Clayton May 6, 2024
0 Comments
New game-changing motion graphics & VFX featu...
06/05/2024
NBC has renewed Night Court for a third season. The courtroom comedy was on the network from 1984 to 1992, and NBC rebooted it in early 2023....
06/05/2024
ABC has revealed its summer schedule. The Bachelorette gets going Monday, July 8, with Jenn Tran the star in season 21. Celebrity Family Feud starts up Tuesday,...
06/05/2024
It's almost go-time for the Holly Springs Salamanders! The season opener is ...
06/05/2024
Tonight on Scandal: Deception is rife as a man places his trust in the unfaithfu...
06/05/2024
Rap beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar turns NASTYA long-simmering feud between rap titans Drake and Kendrick Lamar has exploded into allegations of pedophil...
06/05/2024
The Amazonas Digital initiative will see INRED leverage SES's MEO satellites...
06/05/2024
Tonight on Skeem Saam: Kobus busts Pretty in a compromising positionDon't miss Monday, 6 May's riveting episode of South African soapie Skeem Saam on SA...
06/05/2024
Tonight on House of Zwide: Bra Zakes and Sphamandla agree to leave Tembisa and n...
06/05/2024
RT has announced details of its coverage across digital, TV and Radio in the ru...
06/05/2024
For years, radio stations have used on-premises servers to broadcast content and manage automation, traffic, and billing systems. As technology continues to adv...
06/05/2024
06 May 2024
AI and Big Data Take the Centre Stage in Central Asia at Beetech 20...
06/05/2024
FIRST LOOK AT JIM PARSONS & MAYIM BIALIK REPRISING THEIR ROLES FROM THE BIG BAN...
It's Time to Change How We Talk About Disability in Education The managing director of Berklees newly renamed Institute for Accessible Arts Education makes the case for why our language surrounding disability matters.
