Ovations
Dr. Susan Carpenter
Dr. Sue Carpenter and Her Advocacy Group
Advocating for students is at the top of Dr. Sue Carpenter’s list. Associate Professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences Education Program, she recently formed a successful international advocacy group to advocate for students with intellectual disabilities to attend and contribute to higher education in the United Kingdom.
The IHE (Inclusion in Higher Education) UK advocacy group, includes members/interest from Norway, Republic of Ireland, Austria, Greece, Australia, Iceland, Bulgaria, Canada, the U.S. and the UK. It was created primarily to advocate for students with intellectual disabilities to be included in higher education in the UK.
Universities in the UK, unlike universities in the U.S. and indeed worldwide, do not have programs that include students with intellectual disabilities. Sue's aim is to bring to the UK programs like the Melissa Riggio Higher Education Program, the program at KCC (and 4 other CUNY campuses) that provides students with access to higher education. As of September 2021, the Melissa Riggio Higher Education Program will be housed under the umbrella of CUNY Unlimited allowing students with intellectual disabilities to fully contribute to the college community.
Bridging the gap around the lack of equity in the UK will allow students with intellectual disabilities to not only have access to higher education but also as research shows, have more likely fruitful employment thereafter.
Sue, also an arts educator, has included students with intellectual disabilities in the education courses she teaches since 2012. She saw the benefit for both the students with intellectual disabilities and undergraduates. She began her advocacy work at KCC by forming the CUNY Unlimited/Inclusion Faculty Interest Group (FIG) back in 2014 with a small, dedicated group of interested faculty and staff including Stella Woodroffe Director of Accessibility, and Carol Carielli and Lisa Esposito, faculty within the Education Program. This FIG became a model for similar groups at the College of Staten Island (CSI), Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) and Hostos. Sue now enjoys co-facilitating the FIG with Professor Jeremy Sawyer. The FIG now has 18 regular members, including faculty, staff, alumni and students. The student’s voice is essential to the work – ‘nothing about us without us’ being the mantra! Many of KCC’s FIG, including Margot Cole, an alum of KCC, also now enthusiastically participate in the International advocacy group IHE.
This advocacy serves to encourage collaboration between the UK and the U.S., given the U.S.'s successful inclusion model for students with intellectual disabilities which has expanded rapidly over the last few years to 400 programs across 50 states. Sue hopes this model will be replicated in the UK in the future.
Sue bridges ‘The Pond’ as a guest researcher of the Centre for Research in Inclusion (CRI) at Southampton University in the UK. Her involvement with CRI led her to collaborate with Dr. Ceri Edwards Hawthorne, a teacher at Sheiling College, a special education college in the UK. Ceri was eager to expand community inclusion opportunities for her students with complex needs. How could this possibly happen during a pandemic? The creative idea of connecting peers and pre-service student teachers at KCC in Brooklyn with Ceri’s students with complex needs in the UK through music via Zoom was developed.
Sue is dedicated to giving the students in the Education Program (EDC) at KCC the experience of this particular approach to inclusive music making. She originally trained in music outreach in the Music Engagement Program with Dr. Susan West at the Australian National University. The philosophy of the outreach is based on the work of Dr. John Diamond. It emphasizes the social outcomes and connections that can be made through music.
Ordinarily in a music outreach, all participants are encouraged to make eye contact, take each other’s hands, and sing for and with others. The former was not possible via Zoom. But even online, through the vehicle of singing, connections were made between the students and staff at Sheiling College and trainee teachers in Brooklyn. When they ‘meet’ on a Wednesday afternoon, the repertoire used includes international folk and Tin Pan Alley songs like ‘You are my sunshine’, ‘Bonas Diaz’ and ‘London’s Burning’
The EDC students at KCC zooming in from Brooklyn enjoy meeting students from the UK and commented on the enthusiasm and energy in their classroom. One of the enthusiastic participants from KCC is Michael Lettman, an advocate of those autistic spectrum, who is a student in the Melissa Riggio Higher Education Program. This successful inclusive international music outreach program is continuing and will expand into the new academic year. Through the vehicle of inclusive music making, students with intellectual disabilities in the UK have access and contribute to an American university experience. Kudos to CUNY!
For those interested in joining the CUNY Unlimited FIG or the Inclusion in Higher Education Advocacy Group or would like to find out about or include their students in the inclusive community music program, contact Sue via email at scarpenter@kbcc.cuny.edu.