Universal Design and Accessibility in the Criminal Justice Curriculum

Handouts

#32202

Speaker(s)

  • Michael Davis, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Southeastern Oklahoma State University

Session Details

  • Length of Session: 1-hr
  • Format: Lecture
  • Expertise Level: Intermediate
  • Type of session: General Conference

Summary

Students in Criminal Justice will have careers in law enforcement, corrections, and other government settings where accessibility and access is often underdeveloped and overlooked. By adding case studies on universal design to the CJ curriculum, students can be better equipped to lead on making justice more accessible.

Abstract

This presentation will cover multiple accessibility case studies that can be valuable to students who intend to enter the Criminal Justice profession, to make the profession more socially conscious and responsive to the needs of the whole community. Deaf, hard of hearing, and blind individuals often face difficulty in accessing 911 dispatch services. Individuals with learning disabilities or cognitive impairments often face difficulty filling out standard incident reporting forms or property damage inventories. By making the technology and software that is commonly used in the criminal justice community more accessible, students who enter the criminal justice profession can be better equipped to be part of the solution. Because these challenges are interdisciplinary, this presentation will be valuable across many professions, and not just the criminal justice field.

Keypoints

  1. Universal Design and Accessibility is deficient within the Criminal Justice Profession
  2. Case Studies on accessibility challenges can challenge CJ Majors to think critically about the problem.
  3. The criminal justice curriculum is already heavy on practical skills and professional challenges, and can be easily modified to include access and inclusion perspectives.

Disability Areas

Cognitive/Learning, Deaf/Hard of Hearing, Psychological, Vision

Topic Areas

Teaching about Accessibility in Curriculum, Uncategorized

Speaker Bio(s)

Michael Davis

Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Assistant to the President for Compliance at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

Handout(s)

UD and Accessibility-in-the-CJ-Curriculum