Re-focusing the debate on trigger warnings: Privilege, trauma, and disability in the classroom

Abstract The use of trigger warnings has been a hot topic both in academic circles and the popular press. Unfortunately, the focus has thus far been on whether or not students need to “toughen up.” The backlash trigger warnings receive is largely due to the fact that scholars and commentators alike have conflated trauma and discomfort in the classroom environment to mean the same thing. In this essay, I argue that trigger warnings should be seen primarily as a means of ensuring disability access in the classroom. In order to do so, I contend that terms such as trauma and discomfort can no longer be treated as synonyms in order to understand the ways in which trigger warnings alert students to utilize their coping strategies. The inability to recognize the necessity of trigger warnings stems largely from some instructors’ failure to identify their own privileges. Writing from and through my own embodied experiences, I seek to find clarity in existing conversations in support of trigger warnings and refocus the discussion toward equal access to an education.