Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!
Reply to comment
This discussion is closed: you can't post new comments.
Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities

Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.
Narrative is determined not by a desire to narrate but by a desire to exchange. (Roland Barthes, S/Z)
What's New? Subscribe to Serendip Studio
Recent Group Comments
-
egiffordsmith
-
mkasahun
-
alesnick
-
alesnick
-
alesnick
-
alesnick
-
alesnick
-
alesnick
-
alesnick
-
alesnick
Recent Group Posts
A Random Walk
Play Chance in Life and the World for a new perspective on randomness and order.
New Topics
-
2 days 10 hours ago
-
2 days 10 hours ago
-
2 days 10 hours ago
-
2 days 10 hours ago
-
5 days 9 hours ago


Enabling Rather than Disabling
On page 5 of "Culture as Disability", McDermott asserts, "When, how, and why: these are, of course, deeply cultural issues, and depending on how a physical difference is noticed, identified, and made consequential, the lives of those unable to do something can be either enabled or disabled by those around them." I found this quote particularly intriguing because it emphasized the idea that if a disability goes unnoticed or made consequential, like deafness in Martha's Vineyard, it does not have the power, or rather, we are unable to give it the power to disable. I liked this idea because it reminded me of the "people-first language" we try to use and promote at the camp I work at over the summer. While it is product of a larger movement in advocacy groups for people with disabilities, we try to model similar ideas at camp. To use "people-first language" means to distinguish people with differences (both with disabilities and without) by what we all have inherently in common - we are people. This reminded me of the ideas presented in "Culture as Disability" because while it does still acknowledge that people have differences or disabilities, it takes a step in the direction of enabling people rather than labeling them in a certain way that disables their ability to lead their own lives.