A digital ecosystem, fueled by serendipity. Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!
This is a term of endearment for Serendip. Salmon dip is a homophonic translation, which is to say that it carries over the sound of the word rather than its meaning. This phrase comes out of the belief that self-reflection constitutes some serious play. (Also the origin of the Twitter handle @notsalmondip).
Earlier this summer, I remember having to choose which writing seminar I wanted the most. Unfortunately as indecisive as I am, I was stuck between choosing this seminar and another one related to health studies. At first, I chose the other one because I wasn’t really sure. However, I kept thinking about this one in the back of my mind, and I switched at literally the last minute by emailing them! So today, as I write this, I consider myself very grateful for taking this class; it was always my first choice in my heart! Since my writing has come such a long way, getting placed into the normal writing seminar meant so much to me. However, I knew that there was still a lot I had to work on when it came to my writing abilities.
While I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this class, the “Portrait” element of the course title is what actually stood out to me and made me want to take it the most. I had taken many art classes in high school which involved a lot of short essay writing and close readings about paintings and images. So when I saw that I might be able to do some of that in this class, I was really excited. The disability element of the class began interesting a lot after a few weeks of the class. Particularly when we started reading writing by disabled people who told stories about their own experiences is when I became most engaged in the class.
I took this class only by chance after switching writing seminars with someone else at the beginning of the semester. I wasn’t particularly interested in the topic of the class in any way but was glad I would still be able to take intro to CS. At first, the portraits and videos we saw regarding disability made me very uncomfortable, Riva Lerer’s portraits were hard to look at, and it was hard for me to understand how these portraits could be seen as “beautiful”. There wasn’t any particular moment it happened, but I do see now that I have a much better understanding of what disability is, and am much more comfortable talking about it and seeing it.
CDS Portfolio: Final Reflection
Fiona Smith
Looking back at my understanding of disability theory and applications at the beginning of the semester, I clearly held limited and flawed views of the field as a whole. This class has made me ask questions of myself, of my surroundings, and even of my other coursework and major that I had never before considered.
My reflection is attached.
In my application for this class last year, I wrote that mostly what I knew about disability was that I did not know much. Coming into this class with no academic grounding in concepts of disability and only a bit of experiential learning in the field, I did not know the fundamental definitions in disabilities studies. Beginning with Eli Claire, helped me enter into disability studies by highlighting on the interdisciplinary and interconnected aspects of field. The themes of equality and self advocacy were partially what drew me to take this class, what Claire highlights in his work, and what stood out to me most about the course material.
Attached is my reflection on my learning this semester. I'm thinking here about the value of storytelling and embodied experience over traditional, academic "objective" understandings of truth. I think about my experience in this class as a whole as more of an experience than just a class, and one that has impacted me as a person as well as a learner! Thank you all so much for creating that space!