9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, my name is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Michelle Nario Redmond. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I am a social psychologist 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I teach at (Hiram?) College. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the psychology [br]and biomedical humanities program, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I just wrote a book on ableism, [br]the causes and consequences 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of disability prejudice.[br]My first memory, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I'll just back up and say 1990, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when the ADA passed [br]I was in graduate school, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in Kansas, and disability prejudice,[br]the ADA or anything 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 related to disability issues [br]was completely off my radar, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I worked at a place [br]where one of the pioneers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of disability studies worked, [br]Beatrice Wright, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I had yet to have a class with her. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It really wasn't until 1995,[br]which was five years later, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when my daughter was born,[br]Sierra was spina bifoda, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that I became aware [br]of disability and found the work 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of Carol Gill and (Simi Litton?)[br]and began to educate myself 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 on disability studies and its scope,[br]and the first memory I have of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 confronting inaccessible spaces[br]was a few years later, when we enrolled 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 my daughter Sierra in a preschool,[br]at a Catholic preschool, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 right down the road; and it just didn't[br]even dawn on me that we would have to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 work so hard for her to be accommodated[br]as a preschooler, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it was really a function of[br]the fact that the building was older, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there were steps, and they really didn't[br]know, nor did they need to legally know, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 about reasonable accommodations [br]and civil rights of their students, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because they were a private facility and[br]weren't subject to the ADA's rules. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So it became clear to me that we needed [br]to find a new preschool, and luckily 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we found another private place - [br]it wasn't a public school - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but it was a music school settlement[br]and they had resources 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they were already operating [br]under a sort of set of presumptions 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 about the value of diversity[br]and diverse perspectives, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we didn't really have to ask for much,[br]because they bent over backwards 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to include my daughter[br]in a typical classroom, with her peers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 her preschool peers, music classes,[br]there were so many eclectic-- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 movement classes, and they even[br]purchased equipment 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for their exercise room and movement room[br]that would be useful to her among others, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and she has since grown up to become this teacher [br]and has applied to work there 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as a preschool teacher, so I think[br]it would be really amazing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if she came full circle, but I guess[br]to answer the broader question 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 about being frustrated and aware of[br]inaccessibility and lack of inclusion, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we were in a district that, when she then[br]was about to move to preschool, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I knew that she probably wouldn't be [br]able to go to a private school, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not only because of the financial cost[br]but also because they would not have to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 think about best practices[br]and the law when it came to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 accommodating their [br]students with disabilities, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and so I knew we would be[br]looking at the public school, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the public school in our neigbourhood[br]was not accessible. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We went to visit it,[br]the playground had a little house 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that she wouldn't have been [br]able to get into, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it was really disheartening[br]and so it came at a time 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when we were already [br]looking for other opportunities, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and my husband got an opportunity[br]to move us as a family 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to the West Coast[br]in Portland of Oregon, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so the way I-- so the way we had to[br]navigate her early educational experiences 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was to only look at spaces and schools[br]that were in districts that were new, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so that had buildings [br]and had training in terms of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 accommodating their diverse students[br]and their disabled students, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because just having the brief experiences[br]that I did with the preschool 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and IEP meetings that were going to[br]require me to fight at every juncture 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for her basic rights [br]to show what she knows 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and participate and recognise herself[br]as a valuable contributor 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to the school community,[br]we're not going to be forthcoming 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 without a fight, [br]and so we narrowed our search 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to a district,[br]and thank God we had an opportunity 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the resources to do this,[br]that was pretty known for their 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 inclusivity 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000