< Return to Video

vimeo.com/.../436580300

  • 0:01 - 0:03
    So,
  • 0:03 - 0:05
    My name is Michelle Nario - Redmond
  • 0:05 - 0:06
    I am a social psychologist and
  • 0:06 - 0:08
    teach at Hiram College
  • 0:09 - 0:11
    in psychology and biomedical
    humanities program
  • 0:11 - 0:16
    and I just wrote a book on Ableism
    the causes and consequences
  • 0:16 - 0:19
    of disability prejudice.
    My first memory
  • 0:19 - 0:21
    and I'll just back up and say in 1990,
  • 0:21 - 0:24
    when the ADA passed
    I was in graduate school,
  • 0:25 - 0:33
    in Kansas, and disability prejudice,
    the ADA or anything
  • 0:33 - 0:39
    related to disability issues
    were completely off my radar,
  • 0:40 - 0:44
    and I worked at a place
    where one of the pioneers
  • 0:44 - 0:47
    of disability studies worked,
    Beatrice Wright,
  • 0:47 - 0:50
    and I hadn't yet to have a class with her.
  • 0:50 - 0:54
    It really wasn't until 1995,
    which was five years later,
  • 0:54 - 0:59
    when my daughter was born,
    Sierra, with spina bifida,
  • 0:59 - 1:03
    that I became aware
    of disability and found the work
  • 1:03 - 1:09
    of Carol Gill and Simi Litton
    and began to educate myself
  • 1:09 - 1:15
    on disability studies and its scope,
    and the first memory I have of
  • 1:15 - 1:23
    confronting inaccessible spaces
    was a few years later, when we enrolled
  • 1:23 - 1:27
    my daughter Sierra in a preschool,
    at a catholic preschool,
  • 1:27 - 1:32
    right down the road; and it just didn't
    even dawn on me that we would have to
  • 1:32 - 1:36
    work so hard for her to be accommodated
    as a preschooler,
  • 1:36 - 1:41
    and it was really a function of
    the fact that the building was older,
  • 1:41 - 1:47
    there were steps, and they really didn't
    know, nor did they need to legally know,
  • 1:47 - 1:53
    about reasonable accommodations
    and civil rights of their students,
  • 1:53 - 2:01
    because they were a private facility and
    weren't subject to the ADA's rules.
  • 2:01 - 2:05
    So... it became clear to me that
    we needed to find a new preschool,
  • 2:05 - 2:10
    and luckily we found a private,
    another private place. It wasn't
  • 2:10 - 2:13
    a public school, but it
    was a music school settlement
  • 2:13 - 2:16
    and they had resources
    and they were already operating
  • 2:16 - 2:22
    under a sort of set of presumptions
    about the value of diversity
  • 2:22 - 2:27
    and diverse perspectives,
    and we didn't really have to ask for much,
  • 2:27 - 2:32
    because they bent over backwards
    to include my daughter
  • 2:32 - 2:37
    in a typical classroom, with her peers,
    her preschool peers, music classes,
  • 2:37 - 2:42
    there were so many eclectic
    movement classes,
  • 2:42 - 2:48
    and they even purchased
    equipment for their exercise room
  • 2:48 - 2:53
    and movement room
    that would be useful to her among others,
  • 2:53 - 2:58
    and she has since grown up to become
    this teacher and has applied
  • 2:58 - 3:02
    to work there as a preschool teacher.
    So, I think it would be really
  • 3:02 - 3:08
    amazing, if she came full circle.
    But, I guess, to stance the broader
  • 3:08 - 3:15
    question about being frustrated and aware
    of inaccessibility and lack of inclusion,
  • 3:15 - 3:22
    we were in a district that, when she then,
    was about to move to preschool, I
  • 3:22 - 3:27
    knew that she wouldn't probably be able to
    go to a private school, not only because
  • 3:27 - 3:32
    of the financial cost, but because
    they would not have to think about
  • 3:32 - 3:36
    best practices and the law when
    it came to accommodating
  • 3:36 - 3:39
    their students with disabilities,
    and so I knew we would be
  • 3:39 - 3:44
    looking at the public school,and the
    public school in our neighborhood
  • 3:44 - 3:49
    was not accessible. We went to visit it,
    the playground had a little house
  • 3:49 - 3:52
    that she wouldn't have been
    able to get into,
  • 3:52 - 3:56
    and it was really disheartening
    and so it came at a time
  • 3:56 - 3:58
    when we were already looking
    for other opportunities,
  • 3:58 - 4:02
    and my husband got an opportunity
    to move us as a family
  • 4:02 - 4:04
    to the West Coast
    of Portland of Oregon,
  • 4:04 - 4:11
    so the way I...we had to
    navigate her early educational experiences
  • 4:11 - 4:18
    was to only look at spaces and schools
    that were in districts that were new,
  • 4:18 - 4:23
    so that had buildings
    and had training in terms of
  • 4:23 - 4:26
    accommodating their diverse students
    and their disabled students,
  • 4:26 - 4:31
    because just having the brief experiences
    that I did with the preschool
  • 4:31 - 4:39
    and IEP meetings that were going to
    require me to fight at every juncture
  • 4:39 - 4:43
    for her basic rights
    to show what she knows
  • 4:43 - 4:47
    and participate and recognize herself
    as a valuable contributor
  • 4:47 - 4:51
    to the school community.
    We're not going to be forthcoming
  • 4:51 - 4:54
    without a fight,
    and so we narrowed our search
  • 4:54 - 4:57
    to a district,
    and thank God we had the opportunity
  • 4:57 - 5:02
    and the resources to do this,
    that was pretty known for their
  • 5:03 - 5:04
    inclusivity.
  • 5:04 - 5:08
    We did that also when we came back
    to the Cleveland, Ohio area.
  • 5:08 - 5:12
    We were able to avoid all districts
    that weren't at the cutting edge
  • 5:12 - 5:17
    of full inclusion and proof of excellence
    and had newer buildings
  • 5:17 - 5:20
    that could accommodate those
    with disabilities,
  • 5:20 - 5:26
    but I guess that that was my earliest
    memory of how, 'Oh, we have a road
  • 5:26 - 5:32
    ahead of us and we have to take it upon
    ourselves to either continue to fight
  • 5:32 - 5:40
    battles that had already been won,
    legislatively or find spaces, places
  • 5:40 - 5:43
    and organizations that were ahead
    of the curve
  • 5:43 - 5:50
    in terms of implementing, monitoring and
    just execute the basic civil rights
  • 5:50 - 5:54
    of their various constituents
  • 5:54 - 5:59
    The impact that all of that has had on me
    is to just be able to communicate
  • 5:59 - 6:02
    with other parents and students
    with disabilities
  • 6:02 - 6:09
    about not only knowing their rights but
    knowing how to get those rights
  • 6:09 - 6:19
    how to advocate for ensuring that those
    rights are addressed, are met.
  • 6:19 - 6:21
    I think the ADA has made
    a huge difference
  • 6:21 - 6:25
    and the aha moment was even when I was
    collating information for this book
  • 6:25 - 6:29
    on disability prejudice. I realised that
    when I was a kid,
  • 6:29 - 6:34
    when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s,
    people with disabilities weren't able to
  • 6:34 - 6:39
    do any of the things that we took for
    granted as kids: go to the movies
  • 6:39 - 6:44
    go to restaurants, go to visit a friend,
    at a friend's house, or invite
  • 6:45 - 6:48
    others to your birthday parties.
  • 6:48 - 6:55
    And, since the ADA passed in 1990,
    it wasn't an immediate set of changes,
  • 6:55 - 7:02
    as, you know, there has been significant
    progress made, particularly in public
  • 7:02 - 7:08
    spaces and in employment settings,
    where there are even employers
  • 7:08 - 7:14
    who are part of an organization
    of inclusive excellence, who
  • 7:14 - 7:19
    recognize that disabled employees are
    actually more reliable and
  • 7:19 - 7:23
    have less turnover and are worth
    investing in and promoting.
  • 7:23 - 7:29
    But, there are still so many places,
    small businesses, educational institutions
  • 7:29 - 7:41
    that are not carrying out the basic,
    sort of gains and practices that the ADA
  • 7:41 - 7:45
    has made possible .There's just way too
    much variation, and I think part of that
  • 7:45 - 7:49
    is just a lack of education in
    terms of what
  • 7:49 - 7:55
    is reasonable and what is necessary
  • 7:55 - 7:57
    in terms of accommodating your citizenry
  • 7:57 - 8:01
    and lack of resources in some cases but
  • 8:01 - 8:04
    also a lot of misinformation about whether
  • 8:04 - 8:08
    or not it's worth it. The ADA is going to
  • 8:08 - 8:12
    be 30 here in July. We're celebrating all
  • 8:13 - 8:16
    over the country and we are still fighting
  • 8:16 - 8:20
    for businesses to do what they should have
  • 8:20 - 8:22
    done 30 years ago, those that have been
  • 8:22 - 8:25
    around this long. They have not, they have
  • 8:26 - 8:28
    have waited for complaints or they have
  • 8:28 - 8:31
    failed to do but the bare minimum in
  • 8:31 - 8:35
    terms of recruiting the largest minority
  • 8:35 - 8:38
    I work in the education sphere and to me,
  • 8:38 - 8:40
    we could be doing so much more with
  • 8:40 - 8:43
    advertising and recruiting for those kinds
  • 8:43 - 8:46
    of students that we tend to really, at
  • 8:46 - 8:49
    least my institution, do well to retain
  • 8:49 - 8:53
    because we're a small, intimate college,
  • 8:53 - 8:56
    Hiram College. And, and for
    years I've tried to
  • 8:56 - 9:00
    encourage us to consider more universally
  • 9:00 - 9:02
    designed approaches, but also approaches
  • 9:02 - 9:07
    that do more than the bare minimum
    when it comes to housing and
  • 9:07 - 9:10
    extracurricular accommodations for
  • 9:10 - 9:12
    students to who use mobility devices. For
  • 9:13 - 9:15
    example, my daughter ended up having to be
  • 9:16 - 9:18
    carried in her chair, to various club
  • 9:18 - 9:21
    meetings while she was on the Hiram
  • 9:21 - 9:25
    College campus. She was told that,
    during the
  • 9:25 - 9:28
    winter, when the ice storms came, that
  • 9:28 - 9:32
    they couldn't transport her up the long
  • 9:32 - 9:34
    hill, while they were
    telling everyone
  • 9:34 - 9:37
    else to walk like a penguin, and we had
  • 9:37 - 9:41
    vans to do this. We had to file with the
  • 9:41 - 9:45
    Ohio Disability Rights Commission and
  • 9:45 - 9:48
    request that the school thinks about other
  • 9:48 - 9:51
    ways of accommodating her, should there
  • 9:51 - 9:53
    be a storm, an ice storm, and she can't
  • 9:53 - 9:55
    get up to campus.
    And the solution
  • 9:55 - 9:58
    was to have her move to a
    new dorm.
  • 9:58 - 10:00
    You can't just do that over night.
  • 10:00 - 10:02
    You can't just move all your bedding
  • 10:02 - 10:04
    and all your bathroom supplies
  • 10:04 - 10:07
    and your whole... you know at the moment's
  • 10:07 - 10:09
    notice, when the weather changes
  • 10:09 - 10:11
    and so it has been my experience that
  • 10:11 - 10:15
    still a lot of places have done
    the bare minimum approach
  • 10:15 - 10:18
    and think that that's all they need to do
  • 10:18 - 10:22
    when instead, they could be following more
  • 10:22 - 10:26
    of the latest practices and
    implementation's science
  • 10:26 - 10:29
    and making it easier for people to
  • 10:29 - 10:32
    register concerns or complaints. And
  • 10:32 - 10:34
    they often don't even need to file a
  • 10:34 - 10:37
    formal complaint issue, if you
    approach a business or
  • 10:37 - 10:40
    your educational institution
    with an issue.
  • 10:40 - 10:45
    Often times, progressive thinkers that
    recognize the value of
  • 10:45 - 10:49
    customers with disabilities frequenting
    their businesses or
  • 10:49 - 10:52
    diversifying their faculty or their
    student body
  • 10:52 - 11:01
    will simply not be aware that they have
    failed to accommodate or
  • 11:01 - 11:05
    make accessible various programs
    and spaces.
  • 11:05 - 11:09
    And that can be as simple as asking.
    But a lot of times a lot more
  • 11:09 - 11:12
    has to be done, you have to document
    you have
  • 11:12 - 11:15
    to make sure your emails go to
    multiple people
  • 11:15 - 11:21
    and make the business case of why
    surveying your policies
  • 11:21 - 11:24
    to see whether they are biases or whether
  • 11:24 -
    there is discrimination in filing of
  • Not Synced
    complaints or even you have a title
  • Not Synced
    of, you know, a (...) officer on campus
    or (...) cooridnator
  • Not Synced
    so that you can let students
    with disabilities know
  • Not Synced
    who may have not proper documentation
  • Not Synced
    how they can go about making sure that
  • Not Synced
    they get what they need to show
  • Not Synced
    what they know, before they fail classes
  • Not Synced
    because they haven't knocked at the door
  • Not Synced
    of disability services and provided proof
  • Not Synced
    that they have a particular condition
  • Not Synced
    So I know, I am sort of rambling a bit,
  • Not Synced
    but I just, just wasn't aware of how much
  • Not Synced
    further we need to go when it comes to
  • Not Synced
    surveying and making sure that the ADA
  • Not Synced
    is being implemented and just because
  • Not Synced
    a law passes doesn't mean again
  • Not Synced
    that it is just going to happen
  • Not Synced
    you have to have allies and acitivists
  • Not Synced
    and insiders working very hard
  • Not Synced
    to make sure that people are recognizing
  • Not Synced
    the value of legislation
  • Not Synced
    which I think, still people are under
  • Not Synced
    the assumption that it applies to
  • Not Synced
    people who identify with disabilities but
  • Not Synced
    I don't think that was even neccesserely
  • Not Synced
    even the intent of the ADA
  • Not Synced
    I think it recognizes that people flow
  • Not Synced
    in and out of abilities and the extent to
  • Not Synced
    which they are excluded or discriminated
  • Not Synced
    against, because of their abilities is
  • Not Synced
    really what this legislation was about
  • Not Synced
    even having a record of having a
  • Not Synced
    condition that maybe you no longer have
  • Not Synced
    or you had it temporarily can mean that
  • Not Synced
    you might be excluded. If you applied for
  • Not Synced
    jobs recently, you know, many places
  • Not Synced
    require a statement. You have to indicate
  • Not Synced
    based of strict definitions whether you
  • Not Synced
    have limitations in these major life
  • Not Synced
    activities that will qualify you as a
  • Not Synced
    disabled person and I want to believe that
  • Not Synced
    they are asking these questions, so that
  • Not Synced
    they can mindfully recruit people with
  • Not Synced
    disabilities joining their ranks, their
  • Not Synced
    staffing, but sometimes I think what
  • Not Synced
    prevents people from using that
  • Not Synced
    information to disqualify candidates
  • Not Synced
    so there has to be checks and balances
  • Not Synced
    and accountabilities when it comes to
  • Not Synced
    making sure your civil rights legislation
  • Not Synced
    doesn't put all of the owners on the
  • Not Synced
    group itself to file and follow through
  • Not Synced
    and figure out which parts of the ADA are
  • Not Synced
    being violated. You know that can be
  • Not Synced
    really discouraging when all you want to
  • Not Synced
    do is go out and you know, go to the beach
  • Not Synced
    and find out which beaches are accessible
  • Not Synced
    or whether there is, you know, a mobility
  • Not Synced
    devices that are availible via the sand or
  • Not Synced
    you just want to go camping or you just
  • Not Synced
    want to go frequent people who are
  • Not Synced
    minorities on businesses or disabilities
  • Not Synced
    on businesses and some of this is out
  • Not Synced
    there and I tried to promote it through
  • Not Synced
    books and activists pages, but there is so
  • Not Synced
    much that we can do to leverage more of
  • Not Synced
    these ways of monitoring and implementing
  • Not Synced
    taking access to the next level whether
  • Not Synced
    for the disabled community pro forma or
  • Not Synced
    proper or for anyone who uses strollers
  • Not Synced
    who might carry a lot of materials in
  • Not Synced
    their hands could benefit from a push
  • Not Synced
    button. I think we need all to make a
  • Not Synced
    better job at making the business and the
  • Not Synced
    other benefit cases for improving our ADA
  • Not Synced
    access. Where my passions lie of late is
  • Not Synced
    in getting out the votes because we know
  • Not Synced
    that disabled people have been
  • Not Synced
    disenfranchised from the vote and from
  • Not Synced
    parenting and from all kind sorts of other
  • Not Synced
    basic human rights but this being an election
  • Not Synced
    year there is all kinds of folks working
  • Not Synced
    to crip the vote, #cripthevote Alice Wong
  • Not Synced
    and others who have been trying to make
  • Not Synced
    sure that candidates for president and for
  • Not Synced
    congressional offices and even local
  • Not Synced
    campaigns are expressing what their stance
  • Not Synced
    is on the ADA and on disability rights and
  • Not Synced
    human rights and hold, for the first
  • Not Synced
    time we've seen some traction on that.
  • Not Synced
    But what people don't realize is how many
  • Not Synced
    places are not accessible to voters with
  • Not Synced
    disabilities either because they use
  • Not Synced
    assisted technologies that don't
  • Not Synced
    interphase with the electronic equipement
  • Not Synced
    or they can't get accessible transportation
  • Not Synced
    or the place itself is simply inaccessible
  • Not Synced
    or they are institutionalized and barred
  • Not Synced
    from voting because of that and so the
  • Not Synced
    center fro American progress has been
  • Not Synced
    publishing some of the numbers, like over
  • Not Synced
    60% of polling places are considered
  • Not Synced
    inaccessible. That's a problem. So voting
  • Not Synced
    by mail may benefit a lot of groups if
  • Not Synced
    you think of some of that in the future.
  • Not Synced
    And then the second big issue we should
  • Not Synced
    follow up on that not many people know
  • Not Synced
    about and that I am not even so clear of
  • Not Synced
    how is the ADA serves the population of
  • Not Synced
    people who are incarcerated in jails and
  • Not Synced
    in prisons and in institutions. I know the
  • Not Synced
    ADA amendments have been 2009 done a
  • Not Synced
    better job of successfully helping folks
  • Not Synced
    litigate when they are isolated and there
  • Not Synced
    for not included because of their
  • Not Synced
    institutionalized placements, but also
  • Not Synced
    I am aware that not many people know about
  • Not Synced
    the number, the sheer number of people
  • Not Synced
    with disabilities visible and a lot of
  • Not Synced
    invisible who are incarcerated and who are
  • Not Synced
    caught up in that system of jailing and
  • Not Synced
    aren't getting what they need inside or
  • Not Synced
    should have never been incarcerated to
  • Not Synced
    begin with bacause mayve they experience
  • Not Synced
    a condition that was misunderstood from
  • Not Synced
    the outset and so instead of deescalating
  • Not Synced
    a situation. Police need more training, we
  • Not Synced
    need to make the public more aware of how
  • Not Synced
    many people are languishing in the
  • Not Synced
    institutions where they are not only not
  • Not Synced
    productive, but you know what a waste of
  • Not Synced
    human capital. So, as we think about
  • Not Synced
    the black lives matter movement and the
  • Not Synced
    opportunities for intersectionality, I
  • Not Synced
    think the opportunities for allies of all
  • Not Synced
    kinds of civil rights groups need to come
  • Not Synced
    together and really leverage their powers
  • Not Synced
    to begin to think about not necessarily
  • Not Synced
    about defunding police or the incarcerating
  • Not Synced
    institutions but recognizing how many
  • Not Synced
    people of color have disabilities, how many
  • Not Synced
    women are how many are incarcerated with
  • Not Synced
    disabilities that may not even belong there
  • Not Synced
    so there is so much to be done on those
  • Not Synced
    two funds alone. And, clearly employment
  • Not Synced
    people are still way under employed but I
  • Not Synced
    know there are folks working to improve
  • Not Synced
    that and I am trying to work with those
  • Not Synced
    organizations to araise awareness about
  • Not Synced
    how they can do better in terms of
  • Not Synced
    their work force and retaining and
  • Not Synced
    retaining and recruiting actively
  • Not Synced
    professionals who, you know, they may not
  • Not Synced
    consider as a valuable resource but gosh
  • Not Synced
    people with disabilities are so of the
  • Not Synced
    most creative folks because they have to
  • Not Synced
    figure out how navigate and they do have
  • Not Synced
    persepctives that are normally based on
  • Not Synced
    maybe their particular
    impairment experinces
  • Not Synced
    but having to navigate the world that
  • Not Synced
    isn't accessible, how to find the backdoor
  • Not Synced
    how to find the policies and so there is a
  • Not Synced
    lot of resilience to be found there, too.
  • Not Synced
    We need to be asking community members to
  • Not Synced
    confront ableism when they see it and part
  • Not Synced
    of that is educating people on the various
  • Not Synced
    forms that disability prejudice
    and discrimination can take.
  • Not Synced
    There is an interesting moment right now
  • Not Synced
    with regard to anti-racism frameworks
  • Not Synced
    that are getting a lot of traction and
  • Not Synced
    people are beginning to, at least
    educational institutions,
  • Not Synced
    start teaching circles where many of us
  • Not Synced
    are reading Ibram Kenids book how to be an
  • Not Synced
    anit-racist, how to first recognize when
  • Not Synced
    prejudice and discrimination exist on the
  • Not Synced
    bases of race, that we could also be doing
  • Not Synced
    with books related to disability prejudice
  • Not Synced
    and abilism but I really think the moment
  • Not Synced
    is now to consider some of the things at
  • Not Synced
    the same time because I think we may loose
  • Not Synced
    nuances of people who are confronting
  • Not Synced
    multiple oppressions. Though, I am just
  • Not Synced
    bringing that up because I know there is a
  • Not Synced
    lot of folks at my school now thinking
  • Not Synced
    about that we review policies to find out
  • Not Synced
    (...) discriminatory
  • Not Synced
    our policies for recruitment may have
  • Not Synced
    things embedded or cooked into the
  • Not Synced
    algorithms that are unintentionally
  • Not Synced
    excluding or failing to retain or promote
  • Not Synced
    those with disabilities at our institutions
  • Not Synced
    and so, when I think about the next steps
  • Not Synced
    what people can do I come back to, you know
  • Not Synced
    when people say something and they may
  • Not Synced
    just not know, they are not familiar
  • Not Synced
    perhaps with folks with
    various disabilities
  • Not Synced
    and we know that contact with people who
  • Not Synced
    experienced disabilities and differences
  • Not Synced
    is what makes people less prejudice
  • Not Synced
    because they come much more aware of the
  • Not Synced
    whole person and our stereotypes are not
  • Not Synced
    generalize-able and how if they listened
  • Not Synced
    to the voices of disabled people they can
  • Not Synced
    hear first hand what is problematic and
  • Not Synced
    we need to be doing by allowing folks with
  • Not Synced
    disabilities to speak, to be heard and
  • Not Synced
    then to support their agendas and not
  • Not Synced
    necessarily just take over.
    So, the confrontation
  • Not Synced
    literature is all about not necessarily
  • Not Synced
    saying: "Hey, you are a jerk. You just said
  • Not Synced
    something racist or ableist" and putting
  • Not Synced
    people on their defensive heels. That we
  • Not Synced
    can do this in ways that actually open up
  • Not Synced
    dialogues and that we should be
  • Not Synced
    encouraging difficult dialogues and brave
  • Not Synced
    conversations around what we can do
  • Not Synced
    locally in our houses, in our communities
  • Not Synced
    in our schools and organization to make
  • Not Synced
    one change, to make one difference: to ask
  • Not Synced
    what is our policy,
  • Not Synced
  • Not Synced
  • Not Synced
Title:
vimeo.com/.../436580300
Video Language:
English
Team:
ABILITY Magazine
Duration:
28:40

English subtitles

Revisions Compare revisions