Notes

complete wgs workshop

chem topic 5-6 worksheet 10:20!!!

Synthesis HW











What is something you learned about differences related to gender, race, class, sexuality, and disability--either a new way to define an old term, a term that's new to you, or a challenge to your way of thinking? How does what you learn relate to either your own experience of difference--including about how you learned about difference--or to one more more aspects of Women, Race, and Class.

1) An original thread must include at least one longer quotation (at least a sentence or longer). An original thread should be at least 300 words (about a page of double-spaced page). You are encouraged to write more--and you may write as much as you wish. Use your word processor's word count in order to determine how long your response is.


Kochhar-Lindgren's "Disability" gave me greater knowledge of the distinctions and language used to describe impairment affect the world around us. The introduction of the term "social construct" to identify disability provided a broader lens through which to view the indifferences and hardship caused by disability in people's lives. According to Kochhar-Lindgren, when referring to disability social construct is how  it is perceived and treated in society. For example, being denied a job handicap even if you are overqualified is a negative social construct, whereas wheelchair ramps at malls are a positive social construct. One should not be blind to the impact that impairment has on people's life, but they should also not allow it to influence their judgment or treatment of that individual. I was also able to better distinguish of how societal standards influence how people perceive disability. By drawing a barrier between what is and isn't "normal bodily functions,"   we create a wider divide between the disabled community society which further pushes negative views and treatment.
Furthermore, through Ferguson's "Race" and Ponce's "Sexuality" readings, I was able to make greater connections between how race affects how one is perceived not only based on class or ability, but also on sexuality. A white lesbian woman, for example, would have been more socially accepted than a black lesbian woman. It was fascinating to see how everything connects back to the past. In the early 1900s, white women were seen to represent the very definition of womanhood.