Elena's Disability Presentation Review

    The disability presentation was both really interesting to listen to and to watch come together as a class leader. I think disabilities are a super important thing to stay informed about; the CDC says 1 in 4 people have some type of disability and yet there is still a stigma that disabled individuals are not capable of functioning independently. It's vital to a progressive society to understand where other people are coming from, both to be able to accommodate (such as including ramps in all buildings to make them wheel-chair accessible) but also to not underestimate. Just because a blind person needs braille does not mean they can't understand the topic they are reading about just as well (if not better) as a person with vision can. 

    As a person who has struggled with mental health issues in the past, the best thing (for me, at least) someone can do, is just listen and learn. The people I am most grateful for in my life are the people who listened to me explain where I struggle, and subtly worked to help in everyday situations. A year ago I was living alone as my mother was out of country due to a family emergency; I entered a dark place and was struggling to make myself eat consistently. I mentioned it to a friend of mine and she went out and bought me a burger. It was a small gesture but the thoughtfulness of it really helped me pull myself together. 

    These presentations were a great introduction to the topic of mental illnesses and other disabilities and I hope all the groups learned something new and maybe changed the way they see the world. I certainly did, I had general ideas about a few of the disabilities but I never knew what organizations were available or the different statistics.

    On a lighter note, making a presentation about how everyone else did was certainly an experience. 

Back in high school, I took 2 years of AP Capstone. Part of this class involved writing a 20-page dissertation paper and then presenting it to a "board" for 20 minutes. This was one of the hardest classes I have ever taken. My teacher a wonderful and hilarious man who ended up being my favorite teacher in high school- that said, he was hardcore. When we presented, we were not allowed to read off cue cards, we were not allowed to have text on our slides (well, not any more text than just the titles and quotes if we were quoting), we couldn't speak casually, we weren't supposed to stutter or said "like" and "um".

    The most important thing that class taught me, however, was how to investigate the validity of my claims. I'll never forget my first presentation, I had spent weeks preparing and was very proud to have gotten through it without stuttering when, at the end of the presentation, my teacher asked: "why is the survey you used credible?" and gave me a C. I had no idea- I never looked into where I got my information from. I never thought about how some graphs can be skewed or how surveys can be invalid.  

    I promise I have a point as I prattle on about this class. 

    Upon finding out that the credits the class rewarded me were not accepted by any schools, I thought I had wasted 2 years of my life. And I kept thinking that until I was watching everyone's speech and I suddenly realized I had my teacher's voice in my head yelling questions. Each group said the world is more open with disabilities- where did they get their information? Was it a credible site? What countries? Do they mean the first world or the third world? Groups often quoted too- and never explained who they were quoting- how do I know that's not a crazy person ranting on a street corner? Hearing my teacher's voice, suddenly made me realize that my time was never wasted because I learned a valuable life skill. It feels dramatic to say, but I think being taught to double-check my sources is part of the reason I separated from my family's political views.

    Circling back to having to create a PowerPoint reviewing everyone's work, I wanted to try and pass on at least a little bit of what I learned from my teacher in high school. But I am also very well aware of how criticism can be very discouraging. I was genuinely extremely impressed by how organized and well informed everyone was- especially for the short amount of time they had to prepare. I don't think I could have done a better job even if I was pulling all-nighters. So I wanted to form a balance between telling everyone how great they did -which once again, to emphasize, they did very very well- and trying to impart a life skill I don't fully understand myself yet. I don't know how well I did but I hope at the very least, no one was discouraged.