20 Mar Discussions

In the Indigenous Policy class I teach we had an assignment where students were to think of events or ways in which policy had affected them or those in their networks. They had a lot of trouble thinking of things at first, and then it burgeoned. Part of it was that we often think of policy from the perspective of “how we do things” rather than more criticially about how that policy was created and implemented and has now become “how we do things.” 

In terms of policy and theory have you found yourself seeing things differently and noticing how information from this class and these readings has made you aware of absences or pressures around disability issues that are part of your life? 

With the rediscovery of unmarked children’s graves at Residential School sites we are more aware than ever of the need to know and understand our history. I think we see many signs of institutional thinking all around us, and yet little evidence perhaps that this is what people with disabilities and their families cope with, from the agencies that support them. Self-advocates often talk about creating a module on their history for school systems, and yet this hasn’t happened. One woman in Victoria that I talked to, from UVic, talked about what a school curriculum informed by Critical Disability Studies might look like…  

• Can you draw any parallels to what youve just read in this module?
• How are these constructed or described? If no historical references are present, what do you make of this? Post your findings and analysis, in the forum.