Campus hero: Archana Shekara

In each issue Redbird Impact highlights an Illinois State faculty or staff member who exemplifies the University’s core value of civic engagement. The spring 2023 Campus Hero is Kim Fisher, associate professor in the Department of Special Education and interim SEAT Center coordinator.

A technology expert and a passionate advocate for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), Fisher has worked in public school systems as an inclusion specialist, a learning behavior specialist, and as an assistive technology consultant. Much of her research and writing is focused on better understanding technology access, use, and support for youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities so they can participate in social, civic, and political activities in society. Her research boils down to this: “Technology is integral to our lives and all people should have the access and skills to use it to live, learn, work, and play.” 

After her undergraduate years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Fisher returned home to the Chicagoland area to pursue a master’s degree in education with a focus on special education and assistive technology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Self-described as a “kid who always loved technology,” she wanted to learn how to help people with disabilities use technology to navigate life. She jokes that much of what she learned back then is now available on her phone. In 2014, she completed her Ph.D. at UIUC in special education and came to Illinois State in 2020. 

Fisher is the recipient of a provost innovation grant, Digital Citizenship, the IEP, and Instruction: Training for Preservice Special Education Teachers, which will help prepare special educators to support youth with IDD to become digital citizens. She collaborated with The Arc of Illinois on a grant, Going Home Coalition Advocates’ Experience Using Technology, to study how advocates with IDD used technology for advocacy since the pandemic. She also received a University Research Grant from Illinois State, Who’s connected to whom and how do we measure it? A systematic review of egocentric network methods for adults with IDD, to study research methods used to understand the social networks of people with IDD.  

Fisher recently received the Education Award from the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities for her significant contribution to the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities. Her civic engagement work continues as a board commissioner for the Champaign County Developmental Disabilities Board. 

The following Q&A with Fisher was conducted in the summer. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Describe your profession and what you do?   

I’m a professor of special education. My main job is to prepare students who are going to mostly be general educator high school teachers to be inclusive teachers. I train them how to teach students with and without disabilities and how to create inclusive classrooms, schools, and communities. For instance, maybe a physics class they are teaching will have four students with disabilities out of the 25, I teach them how to implement accommodations or modify curriculum, how to use technology, and how to make those students feel welcome. I also work with teachers who are already in the profession in our master’s and doctoral programs. I teach them how to utilize research-based practices—those that have already proved to be successful—that help them to include students with disabilities in the general curriculum.

Why is this work so important? 

Well, public education and access to it is a human right. It was codified as law—that students with disabilities have a right to a free and appropriate public education—in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Nothing was required before that law was passed in 1975, so parents had nowhere to turn for help in educating their children. It’s a federal mandate, but the federal government only provides 16-18% of what it takes to educate a student with a disability. Since it isn’t fully funded, states and school districts have to pick up the rest of the cost. That means, for example, that the federal government only provides $18 of the $100 it costs to educate a student with a disability. Some districts have shrinking tax bases, so funding high-quality public education is a problem all over.

You went from being a student in Design Streak to being named its third director, so what’s that like for you personally to be serving in this job?  

I’ve been teaching ‘Streak’ since the fall of 2016, and it already had a legacy. It’s an honor to be part of that legacy. I’m a good fit because I come from a background of applied design since I had been a designer and art director for many years and had continued my professional practice. Also, I teach in a way that is client centered and student centered, but most importantly, equity centered. I am a sociocultural researcher, and I believe in bringing in and working with communities that are looking closely at social justice initiatives.

For years you worked in public schools, what made you switch to the university level? 

I decided on a Ph.D. when I was working in Wilmette as assistive technology director. Any kids around the district who needed technology had to be assessed by me. I then taught them and their teachers how to use the technology to access the general curriculum. I had one special education teacher I supported, Andrea Ruppar, now an associate professor of special education at UW-Madison. We became very good friends. Andrea went back to get a Ph.D. at UIUC, and she said: ‘You have to come back.’ So I did and now I’m surrounded in my work by all the things we used to talk about late in the day after school in her classroom. She’s a rock star in our field, and I feel like I knew her before she was famous.

What are we getting wrong as a society in terms of educating students with disabilities?

It’s the responsibility of general educators to teach students with disabilities and get them prepared for college or career and life after school. Teachers work really hard but aren’t provided a lot of training to support students with disabilities in their classrooms. For instance, ISU has one class with content dedicated to teaching general educators how to support students with disabilities in their classrooms. Almost all of my ISU students say they want more. Access to high-quality education is directly related to quality of life and the social determinants of health: economic well-being, housing, future education, and lifespan. We need more public money invested as a society into public schools, so that educators can do their jobs better.

What are your concerns for the future of students who have disabilities? 

The unemployment rate is higher for adults with disabilities. They have poorer outcomes on health, life earnings, employment, and other major outcomes. For example, their labor participation rate is substantially lower than people without disabilities. These outcomes are often due to the discrimination they face in housing, finance, future education, and employment. There is some systemic level of marginalization going on. Public education is a place where all students, no matter what their support needs are, can interact and learn from each other. It is where the future bankers, politicians, teachers, plumbers, and other professionals are made. Students with and without disabilities learn to work with each other and support each other, so that when they leave school, they create a better, more inclusive society. Not only is it a right for students with disabilities to have teachers to teach them and provide them with a public education, but it’s the right thing to do to better our society.

What do you see as the most important part of your job?  

Whether I’m teaching or doing research or collaborating with community members, the most important job is to advocate for people with disabilities, so that they have more inclusive opportunities and their rights are realized. My job is to educate others whether they be community members, students, or teachers that everyone has a right to take part in society and experience a full integration into society.

What are your hopes for the students you teach? 

They’re amazing. I cannot say enough wonderful things about them at a time when we, as a society, don’t respect teachers. They are like sponges. From the get-go, they are passionate to fulfill the rights of their students, and they are having such deep conversations about it. I’m so impressed that we have these kinds of students here at ISU who are going to be such great teachers. My ninth-grade son has a rare developmental disability, and I’d be so ecstatic and relieved if one of these students were his teacher.