April 25, 2012 Presentations this week
This week i've really enjoyed listening to everyone's presentations. I feel like we all had great visions and intentions that will make us great future social workers. The project was an awesome, fun experience for me despite all of the struggles, frustrations, and detours.
I enjoyed reflecting on my groups progress. We took a long journey through our project to get to the point that we ended up at. Even though we didn't quite gain what we expected, I still think that everything we did accomplish was worthwhile. My favorite part of this experience was when we actually went inside the Capitol. I was impressed at how beautiful it is inside there and it was really cool. I've lived up here for three years and never even thought about going inside until the project. Our struggles and change of ideas led me to a great experience that I think every person in the Austin area should experience in their lifetime. It was also pretty cool that I got to share that moment with fellow classmates that I would normally never see outside of classes. We had a great time, but at the same time we learned alot.
I also enjoyed the other presentations this week as well. I got to learn things, such as facts and stats, about the homeless and educational disparities that I didn't know before. Of course I was aware that there were problems within these communities but I didn't understand the full extent of them. I thought everyone came up with great action plans and events, as well. The food drive for the homeless is a wonderful idea and truely helps the homeless community. I also liked the idea for the Suena event because like Catalina said, kids always feel more special when something like UT is involved. I didn't ever get that opportunity when I was in school, but I know I defnitely would have enjoyed to. I thought it was also pretty cool how alot of the other groups found ways to incorporate their project into the Afterwork Activism group. It showed how well social workers can network with each other.
Great job everyone who presented so far!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
April 18, 2012 Ageism
I felt like this image spoke a thousand words on the topic of Ageism.
In class discussion today we got to hear lots of different perspectives that I found interesting. Like ableism, I feel like ageism isn't talked about too much or aware to people as much as things like racism and such. While the image of the older woman above is representative of ageism, it is also not the only type of person that is affected.
Young people are also affected by ageism. Just because some people are young in age, they can be assumed to be naive, inexperienced, dumb, etc. I feel like young people are even oppressed within the term ageism because people automatically assume that ageism is only about elderly. It fails to recognize the problems that young people have to face as well. When I was looking for images on ageism the only ones that I could find when I searched "ageism" were about elderly. I had to type a different phrase to find images about youth and ageism.
For both young and older people, ageism can negatviely affect people in many ways. For example, they could possibly be discriminated against when applying for jobs and leadership positions. Young peoples' ideas could be ignored and older people can be assumed to be incompetent, due to age. One thing that I thought about was how young people can be taken advantage of by older adults in a sexual manner because they assume that younger people aren't able to be in charge of themselves and their bodies. They may feel as if they can intimidate young people because of their older age.
Age can leave people very vulnerable in many aspects of their lives. I think the most important thing for everyone to do to stop ageism is to learn not to assume things. That intersects with other things, such as ableism. It's not right to assume that they are less capable of things because they have a disability or because of age.
In class discussion today we got to hear lots of different perspectives that I found interesting. Like ableism, I feel like ageism isn't talked about too much or aware to people as much as things like racism and such. While the image of the older woman above is representative of ageism, it is also not the only type of person that is affected.
For both young and older people, ageism can negatviely affect people in many ways. For example, they could possibly be discriminated against when applying for jobs and leadership positions. Young peoples' ideas could be ignored and older people can be assumed to be incompetent, due to age. One thing that I thought about was how young people can be taken advantage of by older adults in a sexual manner because they assume that younger people aren't able to be in charge of themselves and their bodies. They may feel as if they can intimidate young people because of their older age.
Age can leave people very vulnerable in many aspects of their lives. I think the most important thing for everyone to do to stop ageism is to learn not to assume things. That intersects with other things, such as ableism. It's not right to assume that they are less capable of things because they have a disability or because of age.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
April 12, 2012
This is an example of ableist language.
I must admit that I am guilty of taking my abilities for granted. I hardly ever think of ableism because i'm not affected by it. I wouldn't be surprised if there were tons of other people who do the same. Ableism isn't as known as other injustices such as racism, sexism, etc. People who aren't disabled probably don't take the time to be aware and sensitive of ableism issues, unless someone close to them are disabled.
It's sad because many times ableism forces people to leave schools, lose jobs, or limit social lives because they are unable to perform the skills that are necesary to live in the "normal world." People discriminate consciously and unconsciously based on what they see. For example, people with visible disabilities, such as wheelchairs, will be less likely to get hired based on the assumption that they will need extra help or have less skills than others. I'm even guilty of feeling sorry for someone that I see with a visible disability.
Ableism should be an issue that should have more awareness. I don't think people are aware of it enough to make a change.
This image speaks volumes. People should be aware of the fact that these people are just like us. They don't need our sympathy. They need our support.
Here's a positive image for the week that I found:
And here's a social injustice image:
That's messed up...
I must admit that I am guilty of taking my abilities for granted. I hardly ever think of ableism because i'm not affected by it. I wouldn't be surprised if there were tons of other people who do the same. Ableism isn't as known as other injustices such as racism, sexism, etc. People who aren't disabled probably don't take the time to be aware and sensitive of ableism issues, unless someone close to them are disabled.
It's sad because many times ableism forces people to leave schools, lose jobs, or limit social lives because they are unable to perform the skills that are necesary to live in the "normal world." People discriminate consciously and unconsciously based on what they see. For example, people with visible disabilities, such as wheelchairs, will be less likely to get hired based on the assumption that they will need extra help or have less skills than others. I'm even guilty of feeling sorry for someone that I see with a visible disability.
Ableism should be an issue that should have more awareness. I don't think people are aware of it enough to make a change.
Here's a positive image for the week that I found:
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
April 4, 2012 Transgender
I googled "transgender" to see what I could find because this class sparked an interest during discussion. I found the American Psychological Association (APA) website and it was titled, "Answers to your questions on Transgender people, gender identity, and gender expression." The very beginning stated this:
"
I feel like transgendered people can be so misunderstood. I honestly couldn't really explain what/who they were until last semester when I took Soc. on Gender. We had to read a great book about Transgenders in the workplace. It was amazing to see how they were treated equally until they revealed that they were trans. After it was out in the open, all of a sudden discrimination was flying left and right. One example in the book that I found so interesting was about the issue of sexism. There was a woman who had to give a presentation to her colleagues in a business that she worked at. (It was some sort of office/business place) Anyways, she gave the presentation and explained her work to all of them and all the men came out of the room and were complaining about the presentation. None of them were impressed or satisfied with her work. Soon after that she transitioned to a man and applied to the place as her "brother." As a man she gave the exact same presentation as she did before and when it was over a man walked out and said something like, "Wow, Ben's way better than his sister."
Here's a GREAT video on a Transgender child
I also mentioned in class a story about a child who was raised gender neutral by his parents and how they didn't reveal the sex to anyone except very few people. I'm posting the link to the article below. Apparently after 5yrs they revealed the gender and it's a boy. It's pretty interesting. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2089474/Beck-Laxton-Kieran-Cooper-reveal-sex-gender-neutral-child-Sasha.html
I also found a tragic story on Gwen Araujo, who was a transgender that was murdered. She faced death from a hate crime just for being different. There is even a movie made after her case called A Girl Like Me. I'm interested to see it.
And here's the picture of the transgender that I brought up in class who had children.
Random image for the day: It's so powerful to me
I googled "transgender" to see what I could find because this class sparked an interest during discussion. I found the American Psychological Association (APA) website and it was titled, "Answers to your questions on Transgender people, gender identity, and gender expression." The very beginning stated this:
"
What does transgender mean?
Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. Gender identity refers to a person’s internal sense of being male, female, or something else; gender expression refers to the way a person communicates gender identity to others through behavior, clothing, hairstyles, voice, or body characteristics. “Trans” is sometimes used as shorthand for “transgender.” While transgender is generally a good term to use, not everyone whose appearance or behavior is gender-nonconforming will identify as a transgender person. The ways that transgender people are talked about in popular culture, academia, and science are constantly changing, particularly as individuals’ awareness, knowledge, and openness about transgender people and their experiences grow.
I feel like transgendered people can be so misunderstood. I honestly couldn't really explain what/who they were until last semester when I took Soc. on Gender. We had to read a great book about Transgenders in the workplace. It was amazing to see how they were treated equally until they revealed that they were trans. After it was out in the open, all of a sudden discrimination was flying left and right. One example in the book that I found so interesting was about the issue of sexism. There was a woman who had to give a presentation to her colleagues in a business that she worked at. (It was some sort of office/business place) Anyways, she gave the presentation and explained her work to all of them and all the men came out of the room and were complaining about the presentation. None of them were impressed or satisfied with her work. Soon after that she transitioned to a man and applied to the place as her "brother." As a man she gave the exact same presentation as she did before and when it was over a man walked out and said something like, "Wow, Ben's way better than his sister."
I also mentioned in class a story about a child who was raised gender neutral by his parents and how they didn't reveal the sex to anyone except very few people. I'm posting the link to the article below. Apparently after 5yrs they revealed the gender and it's a boy. It's pretty interesting. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2089474/Beck-Laxton-Kieran-Cooper-reveal-sex-gender-neutral-child-Sasha.html
I also found a tragic story on Gwen Araujo, who was a transgender that was murdered. She faced death from a hate crime just for being different. There is even a movie made after her case called A Girl Like Me. I'm interested to see it.
And here's the picture of the transgender that I brought up in class who had children.
Random image for the day: It's so powerful to me
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