In this second attempt to learn about and understand disability studies as a discipline, a follow-up from my first-year writing seminar, I feel that the work I have been doing has sunk in for me in a way that I hadn’t previously experienced. Truly, I see ableism as more deeply ingrained in and intertwined with daily life than I ever did before taking this class. Some of this understanding undoubtedly comes from the time we’re living: during a pandemic, disability, illness, and access feel particularly relevant. However, I also think I’ve become more inspired to be alert to the smaller and larger injustices that occupy my day-to-day existence even outside of the atypicality represented by living during a globe-altering virus outbreak. 

Link to my final below:

https://sites.google.com/view/my-mind-in-quarantine/home

It was hard to work on as I honestly have seen a drop in my own mental health. Hope everyone is hanging in there and thanks for a great class. :)

Here's the link to the google doc with my final project: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iux8noTqKbzK3aXggkv8O71c1MfweFhWfWUYMqxycGI/edit?usp=sharing.

Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!

Crip Camp was really interesting to me becuase it talked a lot about something very familiar to me, summer camps. I saw a lot of places where they talked about camp Jened creating a kind of atmosphere that allowed kids to truly be thereselves that I've personally witnessd and experienced in summer camps I've attended.

Coming from the Bay Area, it is a bit embarrassing that I didn’t know about Berekely’s rich history related to disability rights and culture. I was impressed and personally affected by the portion of the film about the 504 Sit-In where an interviewee discussed the Black Panther’s and Glide Memorial’s support, because these are two groups/institutions that are well-known here. The whole sit-in was remarkable, and I was amazed by Judith Heumann’s patience and determination during the demonstration– 26 days is crazy, but she held her position so emphatically that she and the other demonstrators could not be ignored. I really liked this part of Crip Camp as well as the beginning of the film where the story focused on being a teenager in a disabled body.

Hey! I saw a Facebook post about Dr. Jennifer Delora, owner of Access Deaf Consulting in NY and ASL teacher. She is offering free 30min ASL classes every week and a weekly sing-a-long via Zoom. Thousands of people have been interested so it's first-come-first-served. 

            This week I decided to spend more time thinking about the different arguments presented in Fixed. I found it very interesting that there were many conflicting opinions presented in the film. We start out by hearing how positive and utopic the idea of transhumanism is. Then, a few more scholars and disability activists bring up the idea that a foundation of basic health care is needed before we can move forward to the advancements of bionic limbs and brain chips. This is the argument I was searching for, as I could not stop thinking about the fact that all of these futuristic technologies would only be accessible to wealthy people.

I'm going to be honest, I was someone who when this pandemic first really broke out in the Western world, when it actually seemed relevant to my own life and not a far off issue which in itself is ignorant and close minded of me, I was comforted by the news that COVID-19 was mostly only lethal to immune compromised and elderly people. As fucked up as that sounds, when this first started it felt reassuring to know in all likeliness if I got sick, I would make it through. As we've watched this pandemic unfold, we've seen how although this still may hold merit anyone really can die from the virus and as all three authors talked about in their respective articles, resources are thought to be best used on those patients who have a fighting chance. I am conflicted.

Our readings covered such an expansive set of questions and ideas that it's almost impossible for me to know where to begin this reflection. It's also almost impossible for me to believe that everyone isn't having these conversations. These topics (COVID, genetic editing, "cures"), are clearly so, so important, in an incredibly urgent and quotidian way- while gene editing seems like a distant possibility, it is not, and triaging plans are being developed as I type. So, why are these conversations only happening in my disability studies class?