ABSTRACT

The Coronavirus pandemic has caused considerable challenges for the higher education sector, leaving many students and staff to experience a sense of liminality as they cope with these challenges. This article, written by three disabled academics based in the UK, reports how during the Coronavirus pandemic, compassion and compassionate spaces could be nurtured when students and staff took the opportunity to recognise their common existence. We share insights from focus groups held with seven disabled academics and learners on their encounters with the pandemic, such as managing the complexities of studying and working from home. We demonstrate that acknowledging and responding compassionately to feelings of vulnerability can offer a lifeline for individuals. Specifically, we propose the application of the social model of disability when seeking to embed compassion in the neoliberal academy. By so doing, the higher education sector can benefit in terms of navigating our extraordinary Coronavirus circumstances, and in building a future inclusive post-pandemic academy.

摘要

冠状病毒大流行给高等教育部门带来了相当大的挑战，让许多学生和教职员工在应对这些挑战时体验到一种极限感。这篇由三位英国残疾学者撰写的文章报告了在冠状病毒大流行期间，当学生和教职员工借此机会认识到他们的共同存在时，如何培养同情心和富有同情心的空间。我们分享了与七名残疾学者和学习者举行的焦点小组对他们与大流行病的接触的见解，例如管理在家学习和工作的复杂性。我们证明，承认和富有同情心地回应脆弱感可以为个人提供生命线。具体来说，我们建议在寻求将同情心嵌入新自由主义学院时应用残疾的社会模式。通过这样做，高等教育部门可以在应对我们特殊的冠状病毒环境方面受益，并在建立未来的包容性大流行后学院方面受益。