This is a reflection written by Dr. Audra Buck-Coleman, Dr. Cheryl Fogle-Hatch and Robin Marquis. Buck-Coleman is an Associate Professor and director of the Graphic Design program at the University of Maryland, College Park. Fogle-Hatch is the founder of MuseumSenses, a Baltimore-based advocacy studio that researches and develops multisensory experiences for galleries, museums and other cultural organizations. Marquis is a Baltimore-based artist, facilitator, disability activist and accessibility consultant. They currently serve as the Community Outreach Coordinator for Access Smithsonian, the central accessibility office for the Smithsonian Institution.
During the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters, Buck-Coleman’s students worked with Fogle-Hatch, Marquis and others from the disability community to create an exhibit entitled Redefine/ABLE: Challenging Inaccessibility. The following is an asynchronous conversation about society’s treatment of those with disabilities during the pandemic written for the series from The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace on Learning During the Covid-19 Pandemic.