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Each time that I teach this course, students are most often surprised by this topic. They have either- not heard of ableism before- or they have not had the opportunity to reflect on it and think about it more deeply. Our next two modules will provide some space for that. The video I shared with you this week by Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor is one that really opened my eyes around the idea of disability and ability as social categories. I am interested to see how you respond to this video too. Their dialog in the video certainly furthers our ongoing conversation about intersectional identity and categories of privilege and marginalization!

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It's really interesting to think about gaps in understanding and knowledge as blind spots, but it's a really good way to put it. I like to think of myself as someone who is well-versed in a myriad of topics, especially those concerning equity for marginalized groups. However, I understand that there are some things I just don't know, can't fully know, and need to learn more about. I feel comfortable talking about many topics that others may find polarizing or controversial, but I am not an expert by any means and could always learn more. From some quick introspection, I think I could benefit from more focused research on inclusive practices concerning POC and the disabled. In my undergrad, I had a class focused on the exceptionalities of students and for one of our projects, we were assigned a disability and were relegated to that mode of transportation for the class. We had to go all around campus to test out how truly accessible it was. Although the school followed and adhered to ADA guidelines, it was definitely not easily accessible and really only worked to keep disabled people out of the community. It's really eye-opening to do something like that because as an able-bodied person, I see ramps and elevators and don't think twice about whether or not it's actually serving those who need it.

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After watching the video with Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor, I found some very interesting points that are bought up. Although Taylor is considerded disabled in the medical world, she doesn't let her condition define the meaning of her word of "walk". The word "walk" has been connected to the definition of using your legs and feet to move around. Taylor redefines the meaning of the phrase "taking a walk" by going around with Butler talking about abelism and what may be accessible to able bodied people like Butler may not be as easily accessible to those that are not able bodied like Taylor. It's important that these barriers are broken and as a community, redefine other words or phrases to have more than one procedure of going about an action.

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Ableism is something that's I've seen quite a bit with my SPED background. Though it's never the traditional teasing or name calling, it's more along the lines of neglect and lack of empathy. My school is very good with including SPED students from lessons to extra-cariculars, but I'll share my experience I've seen from a teacher. Commonly this teacher placed high needs students in the back corner of the room where they'd be least likely to disrupt the class. Though I understand this to a degree if they can't control, it was the lack of attention and the restrictive conversation that I found offensive. She rarely gave them modified work, met with them one on one, or included them in class discussions/prompts. As long as they didn't disrupt her, she was okay with it. Most days they spent sitting in the classroom aimlessly and bored. The only kind of support they recieved was from the classroom para or when the SPED pulled them for resource. The issue was because they were nonverbal or didn't understand they never/couldn't speak up. It's a disservice to the children and it still happens today. This was also the Covid year so rules where changing all the time. Even years after, some those students have no positive memories in that classrooms compared to who they have now as a teacher. Even if they can't do the work, sometimes they like to be apart of the class instead of their own little bubble. They're so much happier now.

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I know for myself I want to learn more I am a curious person who loves asking questions because I want to know more. How do people with disabilities think when an ableist says they are inclusive, then looks at a person and says, "What happened?". I understand I will always be curious. That is what humans do. But I don't want to be rude and disrespectful to anyone, especially someone who might already not get the most positive people to talk to because so many people look at "different" as being wrong or not the social standard. I hope I can teach my students to love everyone they meet in their life for who they are and not for what society says they should love someone for. I have a lot more learning to do no matter how old I get, I won't know everything, and I won't be able to teach students what I do not know. Learning helps you grow. If you are not open to learning, you're not open to growing.

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I am really happy to have refreshed myself on ableism through this module. Too often we take for granted what we do on a day to day basis and we need to make sure we teach this same lesson in the classroom. The second video really was a great way to think about how society forces disabilities on to people. When Sunaura talked about picking up a coffee mug with her mouth inn a coffee shop, I was even taken aback for a moment. Just because it isn't the norm doesn't make it weird or confusing at all. That is how she is able to live her life to the fullest and she should be applauded for her courage in those moments. The idea that societies negative connotations based on differences can lead people to be killed, really makes you think about everyone's mental health.

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I found the Woolman documentary to be really interesting as it covered a lot of terminology and explained some of the "isms" to demonstrate how ableism should be considered and approached in similar ways, but I found the walk with Judith Butler to be the most enlightening. To hear it from a person's own experience in two different cities, and to listen to them talk about the importance of being in a society where we help each other, it opens up the dialog about how as community members we should look to be a society that does help, regardless of how your body functions. I also thought it was interesting to hear them talk about our bodies in a disconnected way - that it doesn't define who you are or what you can do. Bodies have many different functions and uses and some need more support so that the person can be included.

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Physical and/or mental ability feels like one of the most "taken-for-granted" aspects of life. The materials presented so far have been a valuable reminder to me that disability runs a wide spectrum; we're not just talking about people who use wheelchairs. We probably don't realize just how much variance in ability is around us all the time. It was pretty enlightening to see in the documentary how people are totally unfamiliar with the term "ableism" (myself included until probably 4-5 years ago). To me, that says it all.

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Ableism is where people think they are better than other people with a disability. This is not true. People with disabilities just have a harder time doing something compared to others who do not have a disability. In our world today, if we see someone is disabled we tend to stare at them and wonder what is wrong with them. Being a parent, I taught my son is not nice to stare at someone who is different than you. We should treat all people equal no matter disabled or not.

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This is a topic that affects me personally, as well as a topic that I'm recently coming to understand in the past few years. I think the most important considerations to make when thinking about students with differences in ability, meeting their needs, and incorporating them earnestly in the classroom are visibility and understanding. Teachers, in my opinion, shouldn't shy away from conversations which enlighten all students about the feelings and needs of their peers; especially when those feelings and needs aren't obvious to them. I think differently abled students tend to get socially isolated because the understanding gap can make it difficult for these students to feel like they're a real part of the 'inclusive' classrooms they're in.

In my school I've seen a range of teacher opinions about differences in ability; some I've admired and some I've thought to be particularly harmful. On the one hand, I've been lucky to see teachers who are able to seamlessly integrate accommodations into their instruction, and the Skills teachers at NHHS in particular are always so happy to explain differences in ability to the other students. However sadly I've also heard teacher sentiment along the lines of "you're a regular education teacher, you don't deserve to have to deal with them" which I personally find antiquated and abhorrent; COVID isolation, economic struggles, and the many factors influencing the modern world means these differences in ability and difficulties with mental health are more prevalent than ever before.