Intervention Connect

Introduction

My intervention, Connect, centres on students’ need to make meaningful emotional and professional connections during their study. It responds directly to data from our Course Student Survey (CSS, 2025), where 73% of students agreed there are insufficient opportunities to connect with other postgraduate taught students, a figure 10% above the UAL-wide average (see fig. 1 and fig. 2 appendix). This lack, I believe, negatively affects academic performance and social life, triggering a cycle that can amplify individual struggles.

My positionality as a fairly recent immigrant to the UK, who has lived in multiple countries and speaks several languages, informs this perspective. I know first-hand the importance of feeling connected beyond the need for networks. By designing this intervention, I hope to foster belonging and challenge the structural and social barriers that international students, especially those arriving from Asia, might face but may not initially recognise. This goal aligns directly with my teaching practice as an hourly paid lecturer on the MA Innovative Fashion Production course, where building networks is vital to students’ success and wellbeing.

Context

As part of the teaching team, I tutor and lecture students across the academic year. By block 3, students have settled into their studies, formed close bonds within the cohort (91% agreement on feeling connected), and become familiar with the institution (90%). The established sense of belonging not only shows in classroom interactions, but also manifests itself in Instagram following and LinkedIn connection requests we are starting to receive by the end of block 2. This also shows that they start contemplating about their career paths after graduation.

“There are not sufficient opportunities to connect with other postgraduate taught students.”
UAL course survey result (2025)

Yet, CSS data show that beyond this internal community, they feel isolated from the broader postgraduate network. Despite strong internal bonds, our course’s lowest scoring area in the course student survey relates to connecting beyond the course, highlighting an opportunity to strengthen relational networks and foster systemic inclusion. Therefore, the intervention is timed for the period after students select their Master’s project topics as they recognise the value of external networks, including alumni and industry professionals.

Inclusive learning and intervention rationale

Inclusive education is not merely about ensuring equal access; it is transformative when it recognises intersectionality and values students’ lived experiences (Holland-Gilbert, 2019). Czerniewicz and Cronin (2023) argue that belonging is deeply tied to “infrastructures of care,” which higher education often lacks due to competitive, individualistic cultures. Deficit discourses and structural inequalities can further reinforce feelings of marginalisation (Bradbury, 2020).

“Care in higher education must be about creating the conditions for all to flourish: this necessarily means fostering belonging, inclusion and recognition for those who have historically been marginalised.”

(Czerniewicz and Cronin, 2023)

This frames belonging as not just emotional comfort but as a systemic goal. Within this discourse, networks are mentioned as one way to foster belonging. They are seen as central to moving away from cultures of individualism to more collaborative, relational, and care-focused practices (Waghid, 2019). The intervention intends to connect the students to alumni and people outside of the University, so that they can navigate and co-construct their place within and beyond institutional structures.

Reflecting deeper on my positionality, as Senior Lecturer Hamish Chohan encouraged, it has shaped how I’ve designed this intervention. Coming from Germany, I didn’t initially experience marginalisation; yet, over time, I became aware, to my surprise, of the subtle but pervasive influence of the UK class system, which judges by postcode, accent, or background. I arrived as a confident, educated German woman, expecting equal treatment despite my low economic status. The powerwheel (see fig. 3) illustrates how my positionality profile changes based on my location, here in the UK versus Germany, my home country. This journey from not recognising marginalisation to gradually seeing local hierarchies directly informs how I empathise with my international, mainly Chinese, students.

Many of them may come from privileged backgrounds and might not experience marginalisation in the ways UK-centric narratives assume. By acknowledging this, I avoid framing them through an “othering” lens. Instead, I centre their perspectives, seeing any unfamiliarity with local structures not as a deficit but as a starting point for shaping our common experience. This approach shifts power by inviting students to express their own needs and goals, positioning them as co-creators of their learning networks rather than passive recipients of institutional support.

Reflection

The idea for the intervention emerged during a team discussion about the upcoming Master’s project unit. Reflecting on the previous year, I noticed that some students seemed reluctant to seek out help by others, both from within and outside of University, possibly held back by a lack of confidence and language barriers. This observation stayed with me, as I felt that these challenges were not just academic and emotional, but structural. How should they build and access supportive networks uniquely meaningful to them?

Around this time, I listened to a podcast episode (Different Perspectives: A Social Work Podcast, 2025) with Leah Cox, one of our IP guest lecturers, in which she discussed using a Human Library (The Human Library Organisation, n.d.), a live testimony session in which marginalised people share their lived experiences, followed by informal conversations, allowing for questions to be asked and time spend together, which she applied to the context of BA (Hons) Social Work. What struck me most was hearing the student’s own account of how meaningful that experience had been for her learning, especially that the encounter not only enhanced her expertise, it boosted her confidence and brought her closer together with her peers. I thought this was a helpful example of how to part from a purely skills-based perspective to considering the emotional and relational dimensions of learning.

Initially, my proposal focused on academic support, with inclusive aspects secondary. Sharing the idea with peers highlighted the need to centre the belonging aspect and on building a supportive network. One colleague, reflecting on her own experience as an international student, underlined how valuable such an event would have been, which made me realise the broader potential impact.

“Establishing a network for students who don’t have one.”

(Ruiz, 2025)

My tutor Tim Stephens also offered a critical perspective, pointing out that my original title, Expert Encounter, could unintentionally reinforce traditional hierarchies by suggesting that the expert holds authority. This feedback prompted me to reconsider the framing of the intervention. Drawing on Freire’s (1970) idea that “No one educates anyone else, nor do we educate ourselves; we educate one another in communion,” I was reminded that everyone brings unique forms of expertise shaped by their lived experiences. This reflection helped me reframe the intervention. I now prefer to include the students in the process of ideating the network event in terms of event design and choice of guests. In addition, I chose to rename it to Connect, as a space where students and our guests could share, listen, and learn from each other on equal terms.

Potential risks include guests or students viewing the event mainly as a networking opportunity for career gain, overlooking emotional and relational aspects. To mitigate this, I plan a co-created event manifesto to be shared with the guests, encouraging sharing vulnerabilities alongside achievements.

Reflecting on the planning for our networking event, another risk is linked to funding: there is no dedicated budget available, although our program leader kindly offered a small amount for providing refreshments. This lack of funding means I am unable to pay some external network candidates for their time, which is particularly unfortunate as some may need to make financial decisions about how they spend their time, despite their goodwill and desire to contribute.

Action

I propose implementing Connect after students decide on their Master’s project topics (end of block 2). Before the event, students will reflect on people, skills, and expertise they’d like to connect with. In tutorials, we’ll identify common themes to guide guest invitations, ensuring diversity in backgrounds, identities, and positionalities.

The intervention itself will be an informal, inclusive conversation space. It will draw on intergroup contact theory (Allport, 1954), promoting equal status, shared goals, and collaboration over competition. A co-created manifesto will help establish shared values and guide interactions.

By designing the event collaboratively, the aim is to build trust, expand networks meaningfully, and foreground care, agency, and inclusion.

Evaluation

Throughout this process, I learned the value of feedback and reflection in shaping inclusive practice. Through a shift in perspective to forefront the belonging and care aspect and facilitating network creation with co-selected guests, Connect evolved, demonstrating how reflective practice supports transformative design (Schön, 2016; Gibbs, 1988; Rolfe et al., 2001).

If implemented, to evaluate its effectiveness, I would adopt a mixed methods approach situated within an interpretivist paradigm, recognising that knowledge emerges from interaction and context (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). Reflexivity would be central, acknowledging how my positionality influences data collection and interpretation (Hall, 2025).

Data collection would include:

• Semi-structured interviews with volunteer students, exploring their experiences, reflections, and feelings of belonging (Kawamura, 2011).

• Post-event survey combining quantitative and qualitative elements: nominal and ordinal scale questions on usefulness and confidence; open-ended questions about personal relevance and suggestions for improvement (DeVellis, 2016).

This combination would provide nuanced insights into whether the intervention supports emotional and professional connection, and how it might be improved.

Conclusion

This process deepened my awareness of how positionality shapes practice and design. Feedback from colleagues and reflection helped shift the intervention from a knowledge-transfer focus to one centred on belonging, co-creation, and relational care. It reinforced the importance of resisting deficit framings and designing inclusive spaces that recognise the complex, changing positionalities of international students. Ultimately, Connect aspires not just to link students to networks, but to foster shared agency and more inclusive, care-based learning cultures.

References
Allport, G.W. (1954) The Nature of Prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Bradbury, A. (2020) A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: The case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England. Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(2).

Crenshaw, K. (1991) ‘Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color’, Stanford Law Review, 43(6), pp. 1241–1299.

Czerniewicz, L. and Cronin, C. (eds) (2023) Higher Education for Good: Teaching and Learning Futures. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. Available at: https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0363 (Accessed: 10 July 2025).

Different Perspectives: A Social Work Podcast (2025) The Human Library with Summer 27 March. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/episode6xsSfBnjZIxmaNsKMi2zf8?si=iQ3lYFKyT9SOVEgSYlJArA  (Accessed: 15 June 2025).

Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.

Hall, F. (2025) Positive Evaluation – Tools for evaluative thinking. Available at: https://positiveevaluation.myblog.arts.ac.uk/ (Accessed: 4 July 2025).

Holland-Gilbert, J. (2019) Precariat insurgency: A means to improve structures of inclusivity in higher education. In: K. Hatton, ed. Inclusion and intersectionality in visual arts education. London: Institute of Education Press (IOE Press), pp.122–142.

Kawamura, Y. (2011) Doing Research in Fashion and Dress: An Introduction to Qualitative Methods. Oxford: Berg.

Gibbs, G., 1988. Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic.

Recipes for Wellbeing (2023) The wheel of power and privilege. Recipes for Wellbeing. Available at: https://www.recipesforwellbeing.org/the-wheel-of-power-and-privilege/ (Accessed: 11 May 2025).

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D. & Jasper, M., 2001. Critical reflection for nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

The Human Library Organization (n.d.) ‘Home’, The Human Library Organization. Available at: https://humanlibrary.org/ (Accessed: 14 July 2025).

Waghid, Y. (2019). Towards a Philosophy of Caring in Higher Education. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-03961-5

Bibliography

UAL: Belonging Through Compassion (n.d.) Theory. Belonging Through Compassion. Available at: https://belongingthroughcompassion.myblog.arts.ac.uk/theory/ (Accessed: 16 July 2025).

Appendix

UAL wide our course MA IFP is doing well, with an average of 84.6% composed of the answers to the questions in fig. 1.

UAL wide our course MA IFP is performing very well in ‘Community’, with an average of 84.6% (see fig. 2) composed of the answers to the questions in fig. 1., compared to the UAL-wide much lower result of 68.6%. If the answer to the last question yielded a higher agreement rate, we would do exceptionally well. Notably, 84.6% is still our course’s lowest questionnaire score and therefore important to address.

Intervention Feedback from my peers

“Establishing a network for students who don’t have one.” (Ignacia)

“Access to experts is fantastic!”, “Can this be the start of a network that students can extend on?” (Kuljeet)

“Network > Expert encounter UK!” , “Can it be applied to other contexts?” (Julia)

Barriers to seeking help: > language & cultural understanding / Network > Expert encounter UK!

Reflection post feedback

After having received feedback from my peers and my tutor

• Firstly, I would change the name to Expertise Exchange or simply Connect (still thinking about it), because I now think it is misleading and doesn’t reflect my original intention at all. Admittedly, it didn’t even occur to me that it could be understood as a top-down old school knowledge transfer. For Tim, Expert Encounter sounded like if ‘the one with knowledge’ is invited to be the white high achiever lecturing the attendees on what they should do, reinforcing power dynamics. And now I can see it clearly too! I’m so glad about this feedback. Imagine! In my intervention, I didn’t mention, who I envisioned the experts to be, which were mostly Asian (alumni and staff).
• A common theme of the feedback was that my peers envisioned my intervention with building the foundation of a network, and some became very excited about it. Ignacia said, when she came to study, she would have loved to do a session such as the one I proposed. I really like this future extension idea.

Addressing Racism

What are meaningful activities that address and ultimately end institutional racism in Higher Education? How can we engage with, learn and teach about the topic without reinforcing stereotypes, institutional inequities, or triggering counterproductive fatigue? As a ‘white other’, a German immigrant not directly experiencing racial oppression, I reflect on the approaches of the set resources through the lens of anti-racism.

Both Bradbury and Garrett (2020, 2024) argue that racism in higher education must be recognised as systemic rather than incidental. This perspective shifts responsibility from individuals to institutional structures, requiring universities to rethink policies, curricula, and assessment practices that marginalise racialised learners. Bradbury, for example, highlights the importance of explicitly naming racism as institutional rather than masking it, postioning policy as a site for transformation.

Leadership commitment and accountability are essential. Garrett (2024) calls for university leaders to make anti-racism a strategic priority, backed by funding, staff time, and measurable goals. Publishing detailed data on racial disparities can help identify and address systemic biases. Equally, definitions of ‘excellence’ and success should be reimagined to value multilingualism and the cultural capital of racialised communities (Bradbury, 2020; Garrett, 2024).

Methodologically, critical race theory (CRT) offers a powerful lens to reveal hidden structures of racism, while intersectionality helps show how race intersects with other aspects of identity in shaping academic experiences (Bradbury, 2020; Garrett, 2024). 

Among the media resources, one supports and the other criticises anti-racism measures, reflecting opposing implicit positionalities.

Channel 4’s positionality is that of a progressive, public-service media organisation using documentary storytelling to challenge racism. Channel 4 (2020) documents an educational intervention where students participate in a ‘race’ activity, stepping forward or back in response to questions revealing societal privilege. Each student ends up with a different starting position. Asked, “Is this fair?”, none says yes. The exercise makes structural inequality visible and shows racism isn’t only explicit hatred but also unconscious bias. White students are encouraged to recognise their privilege and become active allies. The approach aligns with Sadiq’s (2023) emphasis on experiential learning and storytelling, aiming to foster empathy and solidarity rather than guilt.

In contrast, The Telegraph’s film by Orr (2022) adopts a skeptical, even oppositional stance towards anti‑racism initiatives in UK universities. It frames equality education (Advance HE) as ideologically motivated threats to free speech and academic freedom. From an anti‑racist perspective, this reflects a conservative stance that protects the status quo and questions the legitimacy of anti‑racist work. The title, “Turning universities woke”, frames ‘woke’ pejoratively, suggesting excessive political correctness. Notably, when Orr asks a student, “Do you feel woke really? What do you think that term means?”, the student replies, “If it’s like culturally competent and aware, yeah, I think I’m pretty culturally competent and aware, yeah.” On reflection, I was struck by the assumptive and intimidating way Orr questioned the students and touched by the students replies, endorsing bias training.

It is important to critically interrogate criticism to improve DEI training, especially by considering Sadiq’s practical suggestions. Sadiq, speaking both as a racialised Muslim man and a DEI practitioner, draws on professional expertise and lived experience. He points out that real progress depends on open dialogue rather than silent stereotyping:

“I have never been offended by someone asking me a question, but I have been offended by someone making an assumption about what my needs are. So ask me, ask what I would like.”

(Sadiq, 2023, Min. 12:11)

This quote captures his call for open, respectful dialogue, something I find valuable for my own teaching context.

In summary, addressing racism meaningfully requires systemic reform, leadership accountability, inclusive curricula, and cultural change supported by critical frameworks like CRT and intersectionality. Equally, it calls for a shift in teaching and engagement practices: moving away from a one-size-fits-all training, towards dialogue, lived experience, and local context. By combining structural changes with culturally aware practice, we can create spaces that move beyond performative gestures towards genuine inclusion and equity.

References

Bradbury, A., 2020. A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: The case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England. Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(2).

Channel 4. (2020) The School That Tried to End Racism. [Online}. Youtube. 30 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg (Accessed: 7th July 2025).

Garrett, R. (2024). Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education. Globalisation, Societies and Education.

Orr, J. (2022) Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke. The Telegraph [Online]. Youtube. 5 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU (Accessed: 4th July 2025).

Sadiq, A. (2023) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right. TEDx [Online}. Youtube. 2 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw (Accessed: 4th July 2025).

Expert Encounter

I’m planning an experimental, small-scale action research intervention, “Expert Encounter”, to improve the validity and quality of masters projects for MA Innovative Fashion Production students.

It is designed to address the problem, identified in a teaching team meeting earlier this year, that students are reluctant to seek expert advice early enough to react and implement it in their projects. As a result, some projects lack in relevance and feasibility. 

Although the project idea directly derives from the Human Library (2025), whose primary purpose is to combat people’s prejudices and promote inclusivity, I prefer to refer to my intervention as an Expert Encounter to avoid ambiguity. The Human Library typically invites people with protected characteristics to elicit on their lived experiences.

In contrast, I plan on using this method primarily for academic enhancement, inviting staff, industry experts and alumni to meet and converse with the students. However, I hope that it contributes to a decrease in social barriers and an increase in community and belonging amongst the students, both learnings that Summer, a social work student, highlighted in an interview about her experience of the Human Library session run by Leah Cox at the Universtity of Winchester in March this year (Different Perspectives: A Social Work Podcast, 2025, min. 9:28).

The intervention is planned to take place after the students have settled on their topics (see fig. 2) and worked on them for about 10 weeks, more than half their total time, before their final project presentations, and 8 weeks before submission, leaving them enough time for implementation. 

The 24 students will be split into 2 groups of 12 students of similar and overlapping research topic interest. In our last weekly team meeting, I brought forward for discussion which broad areas those could be. Together, we identified Pattern Projects and Digital to Physical, each associated with related research topics for which we thought of some potential experts.

The experts are invited to speak about their experiences for one hour, folllowed by an hour in small student groups of 6 to have conversations. The students and the experts will have 30 minutes to converse. Informed by Summer’s explicit positive feedback that “it was really nice to just sit down and chat” opposed to prior experience on a different unit where they “had to prepare questions [..] and that made it quite a nerve wrecking experience” (Different Perspectives, 2025, min. 8:28). Thus, I don’t intend to structure those conversations, but rather observe or gently help conversations starting, if needed.

References

Different Perspectives: A Social Work Podcast (2025) The Human Library with Summer 27 March. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/episode6xsSfBnjZIxmaNsKMi2zf8?si=iQ3lYFKyT9SOVEgSYlJArA  Accessed: 26 May 2025

Human Library (2025) Human Library Available at: https://humanlibrary.org/ Accessed: 26 May 2025

Tierney and McGill (2014) The 5 Minute Research Plan Available at: https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/2014/02/01/5-minute-research-plan/ Accessed: 26 May 2025

Appendix

Faith & Intersectionality

“What are your values?”, our group tutor asked on the topic of faith. My teammate responded first: ‘I deeply care about equity’, which resonated with me. My answer was ‘I deeply care about empathy as a means to get along with each other.’ Thinking about where those values could stem from, we both drew on being raised by parents we described as science-led thinkers, although we didn’t get the chance to unpick how this informed our values exactly. In my case, I associate science-led thinking with openness to knowledge gain, tolerance, and curiosity. Upon deeper reflection, I found that those characteristics may not be the origin of my values, but rather characteristics I appreciate and trust, reflecting my love for- and trust in my parents. Thus, I came to think, my values might stem from their other embodied and expressed characteristics, such as compassion, humility and respect, grounded in their religious and philosophical beliefs. While I am stemming from a large catholic family, currently my belief is that of agnostic atheism. I phrase this intentionally careful as I have experienced my views and that of my father change over the decades, navigating intense internal conflict on his part. For this reason, I agree with Appiah (2016), who suggests that our religious identities are not rigid, but shaped by the communities we belong to. I view faith as complex and understand, as Appiah (2016) argues, how a narrow view on religion, nationality and other identities might even be harmful. 

This teaching year 2024/25, 24 students are enrolled on the course I predominantly teach on, MA Innovative Fashion Production (as an Hourly Paid Lecturer (HPL)). All are Asian, only 12.5% (3 students) are male (see fig 1 and 2). 21 (87,5%) students are non-religious and 12.5% (3 students) prefer not to say (see fig. 3). Out of the latter 3 students, it is unclear if the they have a faith or an absence of faith. This is why it is worth noting that both religion and a lack of religion is protected by UK law, under the Equality Act 2010 (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2016).

The UK is only recently considered a Post Christian, secular society (see fig. 4) from a long history of predominantly Christian belief (ONS, 2022; Field, 2009), having shaped both government, culture and communities. Although persons of no faith are in some countries discriminated against, such as in the US and some Muslim countries (Humanists International 2024), it does not seem to be a wider issue in contemporary Britain (Gey, 2007). Therefore, I conclude that a person of no declared faith is not subject to systemic discrimination and/ or marginalisation in the UK at the moment. Hence, here, an intersectional assessment is not applicable. 

Contrarily, political propaganda in secular societies can cause harm by inflicting systemic discrimination and racism, highlighted by Trinity University’s (2016) speaker on Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in the Classroom. To navigate religious debates, he suggests to firstly find commonalities and use empathy for creating a diverse community. In his words, “If we can try and understand where people are coming from with empathy […] that allows us to really engage with difference in a way that is constructive rather than destructive.” This empathetic approach resonates with me (see introduction). Further, he recommends to look together with students at the arguments and propaganda used for obtaining or maintaining political power. What are the power interests of leaders? To separate or to unite? 

A communality between Dr. Jawad (2022) and Appiah (2016) is that she too warns for stereotyping religion and non-religion (she refers to Islam and the West) being harmful for mutual understanding. Just as Trinity University’s (2016) speaker, she too advocates for education on the topic, specifically with attention to how visibly Muslim women are affected (Jawad, 2022). I will illustrate their dilemma by applying Crenshaw’s (1990) theory of intersectionality, which states that discrimination is not simply the sum of each marginalised characteristic (here: gender plus religion), but is experienced as a distinct form of disadvantage that emerges at the intersection of these identities. Visibly Muslim women aspiring to participate in a sports competitions might not be allowed to compete because of wearing a hijab (religious discrimination). In addition, they might prefer sex-segregated sports grounds but there might be no provision of the option (sex-based discrimination). Together, these identities interact so that the discrimination they face is qualitatively different from what Muslim man or non-Muslim woman might experience. My key take-away concerning the educational setting, is to understand and support faith-based principles, such as dress codes like the hijab and modesty, the need for gender separated spaces.

I found more religious diversity across LCF’s School of Design and Technology, where I teach on some units as well. Although most students are non-religious (60.6%), the largest religious minority is Buddhist with 4.7% followed by Muslim with 3%. Christian present the religious majority with 11.8% (see fig.5).

In my teaching context, it is my responsibility to ensure that all my student’s contributions are taken seriously, regardless of their belief. This includes the expectation that everyone pays attention to making all others feel included. As Fricker’s (2007) work stresses; everyone should be validated equally as a knower (opposed to epistemic injustice), their credibility may not be diminished, particularly by refraining from stereotyped judgement (opposed to testimonial injustice), and by developing an awareness of gaps in collective knowledge that may disadvantage others in the group (opposed to hermeneutic injustice). Tolerance and acceptance have to be embodied. Differences to be embraced. 

Word count: ca. 874

References

Aktive Dashboards (2025) UAL data. July 2 Available with provided access at: (Accessed: 2 July 2025).

Appiah, K.A. (2016) Creed. Lecture 1 of Mistaken Identities, BBC Reith Lectures, BBC Radio 4. October. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07z43ds (Accessed: 2 July 2025).

Crenshaw, K. (1990) Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), pp.1241–1299.

Dinic, Milan (2020). “How religious are British people?”. YouGov. 29 December.

Equality and Human Rights Commission (2016) Religion or belief: a guide to the law. [PDF] Available at: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/religion-or-belief-guide-to-the-law.pdf [Accessed 2 July 2025].

Field, Clive D. (2009) Universities of Birmingham and Manchester.  Religious Statistics in Great Britain: An Historical Introduction (British Religion in Numbers) 

Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gender Talks (2020) Miranda Fricker On testimony and the power of words 16 June Available at: kyoutube.com/watch?v=VpnzEErB-r8&ab_channel=GenderTalks (Accessed: 11 May 2025)

Gey, Steven G. (2007). “Atheism and the Freedom of Religion”. In Martin, Michael (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge University Press. pp. 253–255. ISBN 978-0-521-84270-9.

Humanists International (2013) IHEU | New global report on discrimination against the non-religious”. iheu.org. 5 February 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2016.

Humanists International (2024) Available at: https://fot.humanists.international/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/FOTR-PAGE.pdf / https://humanists.international/2025/01/new-report-exposes-the-scale-of-blasphemy-laws-worldwide/ (Accessed: 2 July 2025).

Jawad, H. (2022) Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women. [Online]. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/  

Office for National Statistics (ONS) 2022. “Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021”. ons.gov.uk. 29 November 2022. Retrieved 13 August 2024.

Robert Evans (2013). “Atheists face death in 13 countries, global discrimination: study”. 9 December. Reuters.

Trinity University (2016) Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in the Classroom. [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk

Tweedle – Own work, data taken from Measuring religious affiliation in Great Britain: the 2011 census in historical and methodological context, using Tables 1 and 3 (up to 1978) and BSA Religious affilation surveys from 1983 to 2018., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128461024 published on Wikipedia: Religion in the United Kingdom.

Bibliography

Appiah, K. A. (2014) Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question). Youtube [Online]. 16 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2et2KO8gcY 

BBC (n.d.) Is there such a thing as western culture? BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1M31JT5Jn7CnJKms1XZ3nXb/is-there-such-a-thing-as-western-culture (Accessed: 2 July 2025).

BBC (n.d.) Kwame Anthony Appiah. BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2sM4D6LTTVlFZhbMpmfYmx6/kwame-anthony-appiah (Accessed: 2 July 2025).

Field, C. D. (2014) ‘Measuring religious affiliation in Great Britain: the 2011 census in historical and methodological context’, Religion, 44(3), pp. 357–382. https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2014.903643

Wikipedia (2025) Religion in the United Kingdom. Last edited June 20 Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_Kingdom#cite_note-:9-41 (Accessed: 2 July 2025)

Wikipedia (2025) Irreligion in the United Kingdom Last edited June 17 Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_in_the_United_Kingdom (Accessed: 2 July 2025)

Wikipedia (2025) Humanists International. Last edited February 5 Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanists_International (Accessed: 2 July 2025)

Wikipedia (2025) Discrimination against atheists. Last edited June 21 Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination_against_atheists (Accessed: 2 July 2025)

Wikipedia (2024) Hijabophobia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Last edited 14 February 2024. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijabophobia (Accessed: 3 July 2025).

Disability & Intersectionality

How does an individual’s disability interact with their other identities? Crenshaw’s theory of Intersectionality provides a suitable prism for analysis as it frames the intersection as a legal and societal blindspot that has to be considered for each individual to understand the many forces impacting them. Illustrated on the examples of Ade and Christine, I discuss how the intersection of their disability with their other identity aspects might have impacted their lives. 

Ade Adepitan intersects disability and race. He is a Nigerian-born black male and a famous British TV presenter and author (Wikipedia, 2025). Ade is socially well respected, exemplified in his opinion being frequently thought out on diverse topics (BBC News, 2025; Rotary, 2025, BCU, 2024). Bound to a wheelchair (Rotary, 2025), Ade, frustrated with structural barriers, emphasises “[…], what makes people disabled is not their disability. […] It’s society. Society is what holds us back. It’s that systemic discrimination and oppression.” (ParalympicsGB, 2020). This echoes the Social Model of Disability, which theorises disability as a social phenomenon, differentiating between disability and impairment (Shakespeare, 2010). 

Christine Sun Kim is a female American, blind and mute. She is a well-recognised artist living in Berlin. She intersects disability, gender, race and parental care. Her early experiences were shaped by her non-hearing community in Los Angeles which provided a place of belonging and inclusion. However, according to Christine, this meant at the same time exclusion from the hearing world and to pursue her artistic career she had to leave to move to New York and later to Berlin, an experience she found scary at first, but embraced soon after (Art21, 2023).   

A recurring theme I notice, is that both represent lived examples of what Ade describes as having found an “opportunity to shine” (ParalympicsGB, 2020, 03:50). Their socioeconomic success makes them rather exceptional too. As Caroline Ellison, Professor of Ageing and Disability at UniSA in South Australia, points out, “there is often an intersectionality between disability and homelessness or disability and poverty” (UniSA, 2023, 26:49). Thus, an evaluation of Ade’s and Christine’s experiences is likely not representative of intersectional disability in general.

Notably, an awareness of their exceptional success, led them both to using their influence for raising awareness. Ade’s scope of influence is international, working with Rotary, he shares in a interview “[…] it was a no-brainer for me to start working with Rotary International to try and spread the word and help, sort of try and eradicate polio.” (Rotary, 2025, 04:18), and as the new Chancellor of Birmingham City University he states: “To be in a position where I can influence is humbling and empowering.”

Christine raises awareness of the needs of the deaf, exemplified in an art project using  large-scale captions with poetically unusual, thought-provoking content. She realised that “[…] scale equals visibility and visibility can shape social norms.” She further urges her audience “If you don’t see us we have no place to be.” (Art21, 2023)

“[…] scale equals visibility and visibility can shape social norms.”

Christine Sun Kim (2023)

Talking to other teachers on the product programme, the most frequent impairments are mental health struggles (see fig. 2 disability 6 way FDD) and language barriers. Currently, our student cohort on the MA Innovative Fashion Production (IFP) course is International Asian only (see fig 3. Fee Status IFP) with a large minority of students with low English capabilities. To mitigate the language barriers, I am planning on integrating closed captions in more teaching situations, extending their current use from lectures to seminars. For creating spaces to consider students with mental health struggles and neurodivergence, I am thinking of ways to reduce anxiety, for example by considering noise sensitivity (ParaPride, 2025, 3:46) and re-thinking classroom participation models. I’m concluding with paraphrasing Chay that a place where everyone gets to participate is a better place for all (ParaPride, 2025, 6:57).

References

Art21 (2023) Christine Sun Kim in “Friends & Strangers” – Season 11 | Art21 1 November. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NpRaEDlLsI&ab_channel=Art21 (Accessed: 1 May 2025)

Birmingham City University (2024) Ade Adepitan MBE | New Chancellor of Birmingham City University25 October https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYpysAkaARM&ab_channel=BirminghamCityUniversity (Accessed: 2 May 2025)

ParalympicsGB (2020) Ade Adepitan gives amazing explanation of systemic racism 16 October. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAsxndpgagU&ab_channel=ParalympicsGB (Accessed: 2 May 2025)

ParaPride (2023) Intersectionality in Focus: Empowering Voices during UK Disability History Month 2023 13 December https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7GmJ0uFv_s&ab_channel=Rotary (Accessed: 5 May 2025)

Rotary (2025) World Immunization Week 2025: A Conversation with Ade Adepitan 30 April https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7GmJ0uFv_s&ab_channel=Rotary (Accessed: 2 May 2025)

Shakespeare, T. (2010)  “The Social Model of Disability.” The Disability Studies Reader. Ed. Lennard J. Davis. New York: Routledge, 2010. 266-73. Print. (Pre-print copy.) Available at: http://thedigitalcommons.org/docs/shakespeare_social-model-of-disability.pdf (Accessed: 1 May 2025)

UniSA Justice & Society (2023) The Social Model of Disability (ft. Caroline Ellison) n.d. September. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4NSNHlg6PKHGL6h15iDeyD?si=f1fe4e9df4574307 (Accessed: 1 May 2025)

Wikipedia (2025) Ade Adepitan 7 April. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ade_Adepitan (Accessed: 2 May 2025)