@inclusion_initiative

It’s Saturday Sparks! We share a quotation that sparks new ways of thinking! Today’s quote comes from Dr. Beth Ferri of Syracuse University, one of our academic heroes, in her 2008 article titled, “Doing A (Dis)Service: Reimagining Special Education from a Disability Studies Perspective.” We recommend reading the entire article some time. It's filled with quotes from interviews with students, paired with Ferri’s astute observations on the field of special education and analysis of disability studies theories. Toward the end of the article, Ferri argues that the interviews with students demonstrate that students construct their own understanding of disability. The students view the schooling structures and teachers’ assumptions as forces that construct them as deficit, not their own differences and disabilities. She says that “By revaluing disability and difference, [our students] ask us to reject ableist assumptions that it is better for the child to walk than roll, speak than sign, read print than read Braille or listen to an audiobook.” ✨ How do our ways of teaching honor different ways of reading, writing, perceiving, and moving through space as equally valid? ✨ How do our ways of teaching position some ways of reading, writing, perceiving, and moving through space as more valid than others? ✨ What does that teach our students, disabled and non-disabled, about disability and diversity? #DisabilityPrideMonth #Disability #DisabilityPride #Ableism #DisabilityStudies #DisabilityStudiesOfEducation #DSE #DisCrit #LanguageMatters #InclusiveEducation #InclusionMatters #Inclusion #DiversityAndInclusion #EducationalEquity #AbleismIsTrash #KnowBetterDoBetter #EducationConsultant #ProfessionalDevelopment #TeacherDevelopment #LeadershipDevelopment #TeacherPD IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Dark navy-grey background with decorative purple and orange blobby shapes in the corners. Large, white bracket shapes set off the quotation in white bold text featuring the quote shared above in the caption. Slide 2 features the reflection questions shared above.

It’s Sunday Spotlight time! 🔦 We spotlight someone who we love and learn from–activists, advocates, educators, researchers, and more. Today we spotlight Mia Ives-Rublee, an athlete, social worker, advocate, activist, policy-maker, and organizer who uses the handle @SeeMiaRoll on all social media. Mia is currently the Director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress. In 2017, she was awarded Glamour’s Women of The Year award for her work organizing the Women’s March. In 2020, she was named as one of the 20 Women of Color In Politics To Watch by the organization She The People. Her profile there describes her: “Mia has never shied away from speaking up for herself or others. She grew up with parents who spent hours pushing the school system to follow the law and create a space for her to be included. That example set her on the path of advocacy and making sure people of all abilities participate in every aspect of society. Mia is a disabled Korean-American transracial adoptee who refuses to be limited by the boundaries other people set for her. A self-described endorphin junkie, she is an athlete who has competed internationally in wheelchair track, fencing, and adaptive cross fit. In 2017, she dove head first into organizing the Women’s March on Washington by founding and coordinating its Disability Caucus, making sure information and resources existed for marchers with disabilities. This enabled 41,000 disabled people to participate and have a voice and visibility in the movement for women’s and human rights.” Follow Mia on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram at @SeeMiaRoll. #DisabilityPrideMonth #SundaySpotlight #DiversifyYourFeed #Disability #DisabilityPride #Ableism #LanguageMatters #InclusiveEducation #InclusionMatters #Inclusion #DiversityAndInclusion #EducationalEquity #AbleismIsTrash #KnowBetterDoBetter #EducationConsultant #ProfessionalDevelopment #TeacherDevelopment #LeadershipDevelopment #TeacherPD #DisabilityStudies Image Description in Comments.