Accessibility for Viewers with Disabilities An ASL interpreter - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Accessibility for Viewers with Disabilities

• An ASL interpreter should be viewable on-screen.
• LIVE note taking by 3 note takers.

○ See links in the chatroom

• FREE unlimited replay available to anyone with a

self-identified disability

• PhDdreams.com Resources tab.
• Please email mgonz48@lsu.edu if you have questions.

Why I created this panel?

Melinda Gonzalez, M.A. (mgonz48@lsu.edu) PhD Student, Anthropology, Louisiana State University

• Academic “Safe” Spaces for Women were not Safe for Women
• f Color
• Unpaid Intellectual and Emotional Labor of WoC
• Mentorship expectations higher for Faculty of Color
• Senior Scholars asking WoC, including students, for free labor

creating class materials and “diversifying”

• WoC and Scholars of Color SHOULD BE paid for workload

Context for Panel

Decolonizing = social theory based on bringing forth indigenous and/or intuitive perspectives to knowledge creation and research Important Scholars: Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Shawn Wilson, Frantz Fanon, etc

Why Decolonizing?

In other words:

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.” ― Bob Marley

What does this approach address?

• PoC expected to speak on racism using gentle language
• Respectability Politics
• Explicit mention of colonial histories that lead to PoC

marginalization and racism

Panel Goals

• Address tokenization of Scholars of Color
• Share panelists experiences
• Create Visibility
• Create avenues for better allyship
• Make explicit that marginalized scholars need to get PAID

for their labor

Speaker Order

• Indu
• Pamela
• Katie
• Iris
• Tatiana
• Brigitte
• Q&A

○ Type Q in “Ask A Question” tab. ASL provided by: Nicole Cartagna

Transformative Anti-Racist Practices

Addressing Institutional Racism in the Academy and Safe/Brave Spaces Indu Viswanathan September 28, 2017

Reverence

Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheswaraha Guru Saakshaat Param Brahma Tasmai Sri Gurave Namaha

A SUGGESTED FRAME FOR DECOLONIZING AND LIBERATING OUR MINDS, CULTURES AND SYSTEMS

Self-Inquiry: On My Personhood in This System Engaging with Wisdom: Discernment, Authenticity & Reverence Radically Listen Commit to a Personal Transformative Practice

“Viswanathan”

I had inherited a social contract that allowed me access to certain spaces of whiteness (i.e. academia) under very specific conditions.

One of the conditions and effects of that contract was a fragmenting of my identity.

9/11

If I did not use the access afforded to me through this social contract, if I remained the silent “model minority”, then I was actively engaging in oppression. If I was not actively being anti-oppressive, I was being oppressive.

Nothing is neutral. “Neutrality” is a tool of

• ppression.

Fragility and privilege appear to be crutches that perpetuate the myth that whiteness is fixed and precious and keeps oppressive systems stuck by reinforcing or reinventing colonial tropes.

No one is inherently privileged or fragile. There are opportunity hoarders who depend upon the stamina of those they oppress.

In order to do this work, build your stamina.

A SUGGESTED FRAME FOR DECOLONIZING AND LIBERATING OUR MINDS, CULTURES AND SYSTEMS

Self-Inquiry: On My Personhood in This System Engaging with Wisdom: Discernment, Authenticity & Reverence Radically Listen

Commit to a Personal Transformative Practice

Personal Transformative Practices ≠ “Self-Care”

A truly deep transformative practice attends to the fractures created by the social contracts we’ve made.

An honest transformative practice doesn’t reinforce the myth of fragility or allow you to bypass discomfort. Find a practice that helps you build your stamina.

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students

Pamela E. Harris

Williams College

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

My early years

Born in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico Family emigrated to the US. I was 8 years old.

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

My early years

Born in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico Family emigrated to the US again. Second time I was 12 years old.

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

High School Years

High school graduation was a huge deal in my family. Being undocumented meant we never discussed college options. High school counselors did not know how to help me find resources. One even told me to become a receptionist, since I was bilingual.

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

Technical College

Milwaukee Area Technical College did not check immigration status for incoming students not requesting financial aid. Within 2.5 years I completed an Associate in Arts and Associate in Science.

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

Immigration Status Change - World of Opportunities

Married US citizen Lead to change in immigration status Could continue my studies:

BS in mathematics, Marquette University MS in mathematics, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee PhD in mathematics, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

Worked 4 years at the United States Military Academy, West Point Now: Second year Assistant Professor at Williams College

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

There is no “back of the line” for most Dreamers

I entered the country with a visa, which allowed me to apply for status change through marriage. The ability to apply for a status change depends on many factors. Including your country of origin. Main Point: US immigration system is broken.

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

How do we help Dreamers?

1

Welcoming Environments

2

Services and Resources

3

Communicate and Demonstrate Support

4

Provide Peer-to-Peer Support and Relationship-Building Opportunities

5

Build Staff Capacity and Knowledge of Relevant Issues

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

Create Open and Welcoming Environments

Build a supportive and welcoming institutional environment for undocumented students. Positive climates and culturally competent faculty may be important in facilitating persistence and college completion. Education personnel should consider ways that they can make their support of undocumented students clear and help alleviate fears about students’ status.

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

Services and Resources

Create a safe place for undocumented students to connect and receive staff and peer support, as well as key information. Train all staff on the unique needs of undocumented students to help them provide additional support and show sensitivity to youths’ concerns.

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

Communicate/Demonstrate Support for Undocumented Youth

Institutional statements that clearly articulates its support of undocumented students. Include undocumented students in public

• forums. Showcase their stories.

Explore ways that your institution can play an active role in expanding access for undocumented students.

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

Peer-to-Peer Support and Relationship-Building

Instill agency in youth by creating a safe community where undocumented students can speak openly. Start an undocumented student support group or club. Offer connections between student clubs and local stakeholder groups and community-based organizations to create additional support and more opportunities.

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

Build Staff Capacity/Knowledge

Train all key front-line staff offices to build understanding about DACA policies. Raise the awareness of advisors and other personnel of the unique needs of undocumented students and how to best serve them. Designate key staff as DACA “specialists” so that eligible undocumented youth have a go-to individual for accurate information and guidance.

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

Advise to DACA and undocumented students

Fear can be paralyzing. Take care of your mental health. Find mentors and build a support system. Seek legal advise from reputable

• rganizations as needed (United We

Dream) Don’t give up, keep fighting! We are #HereToStay.

Supporting DACAmented and Undocumented Students Pamela E. Harris peh2@williams.edu

References

The Department of Education: Resource guide for supporting DACA and undocumented youth, published in October 2015. Direct link here.

Conversations about Race, Privilege, and Well-Meaning Allies

• Prof. Katrina Phillips

Making Room for Excellence and Encouraging Overachievement for the Differently Abled in Academia

Iris Kaifa Adjunct Professor Business MS in Business Currently Pursuing a MS of Computer Engineering

• People with disabilities make up 12.6% of the US population
• In 2014, the largest proportion of workers with a disability (21.2

percent) worked in education and health services.

• Only 16.4 % of people 25 and older with a disability have

completed at least a bachelor’s degree vs 34.6 % with no disability

• About 1 in 5 people with a disability had less than a high school

diploma vs 1 in 10 people with no disability.

(1) The American Community Survey (ACS) estimates the overall (2)(Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, People with a disability less likely to have completed a bachelor's degree on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/people-with-a-disability-less-likely-to-have-completed-a-bachelors-degree.htm(visited September 26, 2017).

Inclusion Benefits us All

• Exposure
• Enhanced socialization
• Equal expectations for achievement

Institutional Blockers

• Stigmas
• Perceived Limitations
• Willful Ignorance
• Pitty

Removing Limitations

• True Accessibility- Ask the community what it needs to

succeed

• Rise to the challenge- Think outside the box on how

lessons or course materials can be adapted

• Incorporate the skills and strengths the individual

Advocate & Allyship

allyship is not an identity—it is a lifelong process of building relationships based on trust, consistency, and accountability with marginalized individuals and/or groups of people.

• Create a more robust lesson plan that caters to all the

senses when possible

• Enlist the help of online communities. Respect their

experiences even if they make you uncomfortable

• Ask the hard questions and be ready to fail initially

Tatiana M.F. Cruz, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of History Lesley University tcruz4@lesley.edu

• Black/brown familial dysfunction, “culture of poverty” thesis, & “tangle
• f pathology”
• Forced sterilization, birth control medical testing, lack of reproductive

rights

• Age, education, class/upward mobility, or politics of respectability do

not exempt academic mothers of color from dominant views of black/ brown motherhood

• Considered irresponsible, poor decision-makers / behaviors
• Reproductive rights reserved for older white women with tenure
• Invisibility or hypervisibility: identity as mother ignored or tokenized
• Microaggressions
• Difficult to find mentorship and build community
• Imposter syndrome and considered less “serious” or “focused” than peers
• Feel need to hide/ suppress identity as mother
• Spread too thin: extra unpaid labor for WOC (ie diversity work, mentoring)

• Structural barriers to success:
• low stipends /salaries designed to support single people
• lack of affordable housing and childcare
• lack of family-friendly benefits (ie healthcare)
• timing of classes/meetings
• difficultly traveling for research/conferences
• inability to network or socialize
• distance from family/friends/support network, etc.
• Unsure how to be mother-scholar and organizer/activist

• Open-minded, curious, question asker, critical thinker
• Conscious and social justice oriented
• Recognizes differences, privileges, inequalities, and

injustices

• Self-aware of their place in the world
• Informed about their community and broader current events
• Believes in diversity, fairness, equality, equity
• Sees themselves as part of something bigger or “the struggle”
• Unafraid to be a leader, stand on their own for what they

believe in, or stand up for others

• 1. Begin with yourself.
• 2. Start early.
• 3. Encourage curiosity and critical thinking.
• 4. Start with what’s “fair,” then move to understand

difference and foster empathy.

• 5. Model behaviors and expose children to diverse

peoples/spaces as often as possible.

• 6. Representation matters so surround children with

diverse images.

• 7. Don’t be afraid to keep children informed and

discuss issues as they arise.

• 8. Create ongoing dialogues with educators in your

children’s lives.

• 9. Empower children to take a stand, get involved,

and give back to their community.

• 10. Model self-love and promote healthy lifestyles and creative outlets.

• Please visit Melinda’s website

(www.phddreams.com) to download a detailed guide I created with tips and resources on how to raise “woke” children.

• Questions can be asked in Q&A portion at the

end or emailed to tcruz4@lesley.edu.

Antiracist White Colleagueship

• Dr. Brigitte Fielder

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Next installment of Decolonizing Academic Spaces

Join us for the second installment of Decolonizing Academic Spaces: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/decolonizing-academic-2/register All Panels run by Decolonizing Academic Spaces will have an ASL interpreter. In this installment, we will be addressing Invisibility and Access for Students and Professors with disabilities. Panelists will share their experiences, concerns, and tools for how to make classrooms and departments more accessible to people with differing needs. We will be discussing the challenges of physical disabilities, invisible disabilities, mental illness, and learning disabilities as well as tools to provide better support to students, professors and colleagues with disabilities. To donate to this panel, please follow this link: https://www.youcaring.com/melindagonzalezandspeakers-961313 DEADLINE FOR Abstract SUBMISSIONS: NOVEMBER 1, 2017 To Submit an Abstract , click here: https://goo.gl/forms/OYBIUPhnkYhCDhmk2