Reflection Analysis

In When We Fight, We Win by Greg Jobin-Leeds it says that “comparison can block compassion both for others and for ourselves.” I agree with such statement; I think that listening is a skill you learn throughout time. One can pretend to listen without really getting anything out of the conversation that one is having with that other person. In the Compassionate Listening workshop, I got to do it with Rachel Kurland and I sit and listened to her talking about the moment her friend treason her. I tried to understand her plight, why would she not cut that friendship off, I understood she loved her friend, however, I could not resist bringing my biases to our conversation. I asked myself, why is Rachel, such a good, loving, and smart person,

In the video “Inclusion, belonging, and the disability revolution” (TEDTalks, 2014), speaker Jennie Fenton opens with describing situations where people with disabilities are segregated and excluded from their communities, sent to live together away from society, or even treated as lesser humans. She then proceeds to introduce her family, including her six-year-old daughter that was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Jennie admits to previously having negative or frightened thoughts about having a child with a disability, but with her “seven realizations,” she learned that her daughter was merely on a different path than others, but that no one should ever feel broken or not a whole person (TEDTalks, 2014). After she explains that there are roughly one billion people with a disability throughout the world, Jennie states that she believes in possibility over disability. If a person’s

The community so wrongly named “disabled” has a place close to my own heart. Growing up with a special education teacher; more recent sister in this field, has made me see how incredible the people are. The challenge being young myself, I realized the fight for respect of the disabled public doesn’t lie in changing rules by legislator or in teaching older generations about the community. It lies within

Life lessons learned from Amanda Kraus are those that we will be using every single day. The knowledge I was taught has open my mind to a new perspective that I could relate to not only my experiences now at the University of Arizona but also in my former life. Therefore, implementing the ideas taught at the speaker series would help me for the reason of being able to realize what others think than rather just myself before doing any act of kindness. Finally, Amanda Kraus has educated and informed me on the ignored situations and circumstances that people with disabilities face in their daily lives in which could help me in the forthcoming

I was apprehensive about this exercise. I did not want to trivialize what it means to be living with a disability. I wondered; which disability am I comfortable doing? Do I have the resources? Am I capable? Nevertheless, this appeared to be a simple task and I have plenty of experience working with people with disability. I thought,

Every individual deserves compassionate relationships with others and deserves to have every opportunity at being the best version of themselves. I strive to help those who live with disabilities achieve this. Whether it’s helping a child grow in a positive and empathetic environment or assisting the elderly learn or maintain basic skills and become integrated with the community, I emphasize the individuality and skills they each have so they can live at their fullest.

Intern met with resident K. Brown for the purpose of addressing her personal concerns and speaking with her about her community service hours. Kiara informed me that she completed her community service hours for the previous week. Intern asked her to verify the days she completes CS hours, and she stated Sundays and Wednesdays. Resident did express her frustrations by saying that she used to mess up with her CS hours, but she is really trying to do better. Intern advised her that another resident completes hers during that time, so she will have to do CS hours on Mondays and Thursdays or Mondays and Fridays. Intern also explained to her the importance of doing CS hours. It was explained that not only is this a requirement of the program,

There are numerous individuals that believe disability makes a person helpless and incapable of obtaining a life full of accomplishments. Catherine Kudlick proved that this is not the case; anyone with a disability has the opportunity to achieve their life goals. It is clear in her interviews and writings that people without disabilities need to be educated on how disability can be an advantage. She learned how to change her perspective and in doing so, she dedicated her career to change other’s perspective on disability and the way it is viewed by society, in general. Catherine Kudlick has learned over time and through her experiences that disability is not to be ashamed of and with her acceptance she has made her career on educating individuals about disability.

The interview with Darlene and Kristen has added to my knowledge about adults with disabilities that I did not get from part 1 and 2 of this project. One is how the disability could be more beneficial than hurtful to the person’s life. Like with Darlene, one can could be almost oblivious to the disability and hardship it can cause. This aids them in fully functioning in their lives without feelling hopless and frustrated in their situation. I also learned how fullying being a caregiver can be. Any job is frustrating sometimes, especially those you have to take home with you, but interviewing Kristen showed me that the love and enjoyment see gets from Darlene and Rhonda, her other client, is worth it. I also learned how a relatively short

Coming into this class I really wanted to grow my understanding and comfort discussing disabilities. I have been involved in Special Olympics since I got here and have made some friends who have disabilities. I have always found myself being slightly guarded/ concerned about what to say and how I have talked to both the athletes and my friends. I was always concerned that I was going to do something offensive and I think that limited my relationships. So I decided to take this class.

21).These professionals are consistently fighting to support their students because others might not see or realize the importance because of their own privilege of not having a disability so they do not have to think about it. It is pressing that the professionals who work in this functional area work with other professionals in other functional areas so that they are educated on the resources that their students need and how they can continue to support their students. Another challenge is faculty understanding that there are different types of disabilities and to not be dismissive of one that you can not see such as psychological and learning impairment. For example, in the article inside higher ed, a student said “I have faculty who are more dismissive of something like bipolar disorder than they would be of something like cerebral palsy," one attendee

Throughout this class I have learned a lot. Honestly, before the class I didn’t really understand people with disabilities. I thought that they were weird and messy and I didn’t really want to be near them. I know that this is horrible thought but part of me I didn’t feel comfortable being around them. I didn’t know how to act and I didn’t want to treat them like babies. I had misconceptions of people with disabilities and I believed in all of the stereotypes. Looking back I know how that it was wrong of me to think that. I’m glad that I was able to be a part of this class in order to inform me of what people with disabilities are really like.

The three main concepts that take from this video are; no one needs to feel broken, children need to feel loved exactly as they are, and the importance of dreams. I find it sad that these common sense issues—are issues. But I have also been guilty of creating distance, possibly by actions but for sure by my thoughts. I have witnessed people with disabilities accomplish many great things, and in my mind I put them on pedestals, thought of them as “heroes.” I now understand that they do deserve praise for their accomplishments, but not because they did it with a disability. I remember feeling sorry if I saw a person with a disability, and this was me thinking that I was being empathetic. What I’ve learned most from this video and from class,

Genre two I thought going into the project would be the easiest however it ended up being the genre I feel I did the worst on. I struggled with presenting to the class, I felt as if I rushed my self and did not speak clearly enough. Looking back I wished I had done another form of presentation such as a video or a webpage like Hannah and Holly had created. When I was creating my power point I debated writing out what I was going to say onto the slides, however when I practiced presenting to my roommates, I spoke more clearly and calmly while going from my memory. However, when I got to class I felt uncomfortable standing in front of the whole class as well as the camera and found how nervous I was effected my presentation. This affected my organization of my presentation. I found myself more focused on my nerves than what I was going to say.

When people have a disability it is life changing for them. They cannot just flip a switch and turn it off; most times it is a permanent ordeal. Participating in this experience opened my eyes even more to specifically what disabled people go through on a daily basis.