Latin Music:
Diana Pastora Carson:
Welcome to the Beyond Awareness Disability Awareness That Matters podcast. I'm your host, Diana Pastora Carson. Here you'll find a safe space to learn and grow with leaders in education, disability studies, disability advocacy, and diversity, equity and inclusion conversations. Specifically, we look at how disability fits into diversity, equity, inclusion, access and belonging, and how to frame disability awareness in the context of educating K through 12 communities. This show serves educators, parents, and community members who strive to learn and or teach about disability in a research based and respectful way, moving beyond simple awareness and diving into inclusive and socially responsive conversations. Now, let's go beyond awareness.
Diana Pastora Carson:
Hello, my beautiful friends and welcome back to Beyond Awareness: Disability Awareness That Matters this morning. It's morning here for me right now. I am on a walk with my dogs on a dirt road in my neighborhood, and, um, just enjoying the beautiful weather, sunshine, fresh air here in San Diego. And, you know, I thought, I'm not gonna sit in front of a microphone today. I just have something on my heart that I wanna share with you. And so I'm gonna do that while I have the dogs and nature on my side. Um, it's part of my self-care practice and not stressing about things. And I hope that you also find ways to minimize the stressors in your life. It has been a stressful about six months for me, as I mentioned in my last podcast episode about my why and all the things that were going on with my brother Joaquin.
Diana Pastora Carson:
And, um, now I'm, I'm through that and I've had some other things going on. Um, family member who moved in, who has some, um, support needs as well. And, uh, a dog taught me the hard way that not all dogs are meant for the country life and farm animals. Um, so she's walking with a muzzle on right now. And, um, let's see, what else? Well, I had a birthday and, uh, we also had a death in the family, so it's been kind of a wild ride. And I know, oh, and also the end of a semester at San Diego State University and grading and all the emails of 630 students who, you know, wanted an A but didn't pass the class because they didn't come to class and didn't do any of the work. So, dealing with all of that, and you as educators, if you're an educator and a family member, you know, you, you understand this is a busy time of year.
Diana Pastora Carson:
Um, so I just wanted to practice self-care and do this in an organic and healthy way. So here I am. Uh, it's so gorgeous out. So today I wanna talk with you, really kind of process with myself. Um, you know, what we think about ability awareness or disability awareness. I recently spoke with somebody who was talking about, you know, having a disability awareness or ability awareness activity in a, in a classroom of elementary school students. And if you know me, you know, and if you know my work, I really talk about going a different direction. That we need to be talking about access awareness. We need to be talking about assistive technology awareness. We need to be talking about ableism awareness. We need to be talking about disability history, awareness and disability rights and disability justice, which is, um, you know, more focused and centered around the bipoc community and multi, um, multiply-marginalized community. Uh, so when we talk about traditional disability awareness, oftentimes it's simulations, you know, pretending that we experience this disability. And, you know, there are so many different types of disabilities and there are so many different experiences within those same disability categories or labels. And really, it's, it's not about the label, it's about the humanity. It's about our interconnectedness and about how we respond to people's varieties of needs.
Diana Pastora Carson:
So oftentimes we'll talk about a disability, and, you know, children or students will think that everybody who has that label that they're the same and they have the same needs when they don't have the same needs. And so later there's no transfer, transfer of knowledge, or there is an attempt to transfer their knowledge about one person's situation over to another person with that same label who has very different needs needs. And so it's just, it's just not productive and, um, it's not progressive. When we focus on a disability label for disability awareness, again, we need to have those individualized conversations in intimate settings when they come up, when it's a natural teachable moment, um, but not make a big deal about it. You know? And again, with permission, with permission, nobody wants to be talked about. Um, so it's really just talking about what people need in those intimate settings. That's all. Not because of a label, but because that's just who that person is and what their needs are. And again, the point of going beyond awareness is to have people think about how we can create a welcoming community, take it beyond just awareness of a disability, but more about awareness of how we
Diana Pastora Carson:
Society can respond in a way that embraces everyone and is committed to having everyone's access needs met. If you really ask yourself why it is that you wanna do this, why you would even be compelled to do anything related to disability awareness, I bet that that would be at the core of why you're doing it. And if it's not to ensure access for all of your, all of our students and all of our children, then you might want to reflect on that. What is your purpose? If it's just for a fun activity that warms hearts and pulls on heartstrings, you'll get that done. But the side effect of that is the continuation or the perpetuation of ableist mindsets and ableist, um, actions now and in the long run. And I don't think that's what any of us want.
Diana Pastora Carson:
Oftentimes they're fun, cute activities, but they really do very little to proactively, um, demonstrate a commitment and strategies for inclusion, inclusionary practices. And that's what we need. That's what we need to be directly, um, shared, taught to students. We need to understand ableism those discriminatory responses to disability or differences, the perceptions that there is something wrong with a person because they have a disability or that they're deserving of pity, right? We don't need more of that. We don't need anybody to feel sorry for us. We need people to ensure that we have access and, and access not just now to education, not just now to relationships, not just now to playgrounds, not just now to curriculum, but we need access throughout the lifespan. We need access to education, yes, access to healthcare, access to communication, access to um, homes. We need access to financial security.
Diana Pastora Carson:
We need access to, yes, relationships and, um, employment. We need all of that. People with disabilities need all of that throughout the lifespan. So we need to have the awareness of access. We need to understand that everybody has different needs, whether they're diagnosed with a disability or not at any point in their life. And that as a community, that we wanna promote belonging. And one way to do that, one way to have welcoming community, welcoming spaces is to ensure access. That there was forethought about making sure everybody can participate, that everybody feels like they are welcome and that they belong. So some practical ways that we can do that. And I don't have all the answers. I'm still learning as we all are, you know, and I'm always welcoming more insight from my who experienced diverse disabilities. But some of the ways to do that are, for instance, um, doing audio descriptions like I did at the beginning of this, telling you where I am. I failed to tell you what I look like, but that's okay because this was not a video presentation, right? Everybody's experiencing it in an auditory way. Um, also, you know, having sign language interpretation, if it's, uh, an in-person event or, uh, video experience, that's another way to be welcoming.
Diana Pastora Carson:
Also with this podcast, there's always a transcript, always a transcript for anything that's audio or video. There should be captions or transcript, another way to have people know that they belong, that they're welcome having ramps. Obviously physical access to environments obviously is a way. Um, you know, not putting shopping carts in the accessible spots in parking lots, not blocking the path for people who require safe access in different ways. So those are just some basic ways, but also the way we speak about people, the way we think about people, the way we give forethought and really get to know people and take a stand for them. Having access if they have a disability, really shows people that you care that you get it. Okay? So that's the kind of disability awareness that we want. Haben Girma, who is the, as her book title states, the Deafblind Woman who Conquered Harvard Law, Haben Girma, she says that people come up to her all the time and tell her, oh, you're so inspirational, you're so inspirational. And I love her response. She says, what are you inspired to do? What are you inspired to do? Because for a lot of us, we say, you're so inspirational, but then it stops there
Diana Pastora Carson:
And we can't let it stop there. Disability awareness that matters means that we're going beyond that simple awareness or that feeling of feeling good and inspired, but we're making a commitment to one another. We understand that we are members of each other. We understand that everybody needs a safe space where they feel welcome, where they have access, because people cared enough to give forethought to how the space or the activity, the opportunity was going to be accessible for everybody.
Diana Pastora Carson:
So that's what was on my heart today, my friends. I just wanted to share it with you and hopefully you, you enjoyed the birds in the background and my dog whining 'cause she's seeing the birds . Um, also I want you to know that my website has changed up a little bit. So my past podcast episodes may say, uh, a different link. Uh, I have changed the show notes, but I don't know how to go back and change the audio to reflect that. But my website is diana pastora carson.com. DianaPastoraCarson.com, where you can find my resources, books, um, my cheat sheet, uh, I can't remember what it's called now. , as you can see, this is a heart-centered operation here. Um, it's called Beyond Disability Awareness, I believe, it's a tri-fold, laminated guide for what to include when you're talking about disability awareness.
Diana Pastora Carson:
So, um, you can find a link to that on my website and you can also contact me through the website if you're interested in any keynotes or other speaking opportunities. I hope you all are doing well. This is coming at the tail end of Teacher Appreciation Week. Teachers, educators, know that you are so loved and appreciated. I hope you were blessed by your students and your staff this week. I hope that you have a fabulous, fabulous rest of the month and end up the school year, and I hope that you all have a fabulous rest of your day.
Diana Pastora Carson:
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Beyond Awareness Disability Awareness That Matters. Be sure to subscribe, rate and review this show on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, or Spotify. You can also follow me, Diana on Instagram at Diana pastora Carson and at facebook.com/go beyond awareness. Or go to my website for more information at www.dianapastoracarson.com. Links to my books and resources can be [email protected] slash store. For your free Beyond awareness resource called How to Talk About Disability with Kids, simply go to go beyond awareness.com/talk. Podcast transcription and podcast guest information can be found in the show notes, intro and outro music provided courtesy of my son Emmanuel Castro. Thank you again. Be well, be a lifelong learner and let's be inclusive. See you next time.
