The following is feedback from a customized Disability Awareness/Justice workshop.
What was the best moment of the workshop? Did you have an “aha!” moment? What clicked for you?
- That normalizing providing access needs help society as a whole by making non-disabled folks’ lives easier in ways they didn’t think of. As someone who lives with non-evident disabilities and mental health issues, the idea of asking for help or accommodations has been a lifelong struggle. Reframing it this was was super helpful!
- I did go into self-reflection of my own privileges. This whole workshop was eye-opening, and it has helped me be more sensitive and to those who do not have those privileges and struggle as a result.
- Self-reflection on the privileges that exist for me was eye-opening and helps me be sensitive to individuals that don’t have those privileges and struggle as a result of that.
- For me today’s workshop was so informative and it has made me question my internalized ableism. When Heather said that a wheelchair can be a tool for freedom, I realized that I have never thought about it in this way, so It was definitely an “aha” moment.
- The neurodiversity section was really interesting to learn about, especially when Harmony explained how neurological differences like autism and ADHD are natural variations of the human genome. I appreciate that Harmony mentioned how autistic people are taught to mask their symptoms to fit in with everyone else because I see this in my daily work with autistic students.