Co-Creating Inclusion: Participatory Design in Higher Education with Cheryl Li
Join us for an insightful online talk with Cheryl Li on integrating participatory and community-led design practices in higher education. Open to all staff, students, and faculty. Register now to receive the Zoom link!
This spring, we invite the university community to continue engaging in a series of events that explore the potential of collaborative art and design practices in shaping Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). Each session will offer unique perspectives on the transformative role of creative communities in addressing structural inequities. These events, designed for faculty, students, and staff, aim to bridge the gap between institutional goals and real-world impacts, encouraging everyone to participate in the ongoing conversation.
In this online talk, we will explore applying participatory and community-led design practices to higher education, drawing on insights from working with intersectional disability and Deaf communities at OCAD University’s Inclusive Design Research Centre. The guest speaker, Cheryl Li aims to share experiences in bridging the gap between institutional structures and the needs of equity-deserving groups.
We'll discuss moving beyond traditional consultation methods to foster genuine partnerships with students, emphasizing shared decision-making, accessibility, accountability. By sharing these experiences, I hope to contribute to a collective reflection on creating more inclusive educational spaces and exploring practical approaches to achieve this.
Cheryl Li (she/her) is a designer, researcher, and educator who practices community-centred design in the space of inclusion and accessibility. She is a Senior Designer at the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) based out of OCAD University, where she uses a co-design process to engage community organizations and stakeholders, facilitate inclusive and accessible working practices, and create accessible digital products and services. Her work has spanned the areas of financial inclusion for intersectional communities, exploring what equitable and accountable consultation for disability communities looks like, and creating a Community-Led Co-design Kit with her colleagues at the IDRC. Cheryl is also a sessional instructor in the Faculty of Design and Dynamic Media.
We acknowledge the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).