Disability and Justice

The Disability and Justice Capstone will focus on Disability and human rights of people with disabilities.  Understanding Disability from a social justice model, rather than a medical or deficits model, reframes Disability as an interaction between people and their environment.  Students’ volunteer service will be with community partners who serve people with disabilities, and include co-facilitation of educational groups, assistance with professional conferences focused on empowerment and social justice, development of internet and written advocacy tools, and individual support given to people with disabilities.

This Capstone course will prepare students to:

  1. Critically assess current and historical cultural representations of Disability;
  2. Understand Disability in the modern social, economic, and political climates;
  3. Understand and critique the various theoretical of models Disability;
  4. Understand the experience of Disability as part of the diversity of human experience – with an assessment on the concepts of “normality” and “ability";
  5. Work within interdisciplinary teams, comprised of student peers and community partners, to address social justice concerns important for people with disabilities, such as housing, health and wellness, economic equity, community integration, employment, universal access and ending violence and abuse;
  6. Bridge academic, classroom knowledge to the social and ethical issues of the community, taking information from their field of study and applying it to their advocacy on behalf of people with disabilities.

 

 

 

Project

Disability and Justice

Students will be responsible to complete nine weekly entries in their Critical Reflection Log.  At the end of the ninth week of the term students will turn in all nine entries to get full credit for this assignment (40 points).  Students will not turn in their Log until the end of the term, but are required to complete one entry per week, and to bring in this weekly entry to class to assist in class dialogue.  

These Critical Reflection Log entries are intended to help students sort out what they are doing in their community placement sites, what they were thinking and feeling as they carried out their community service, and how student behaviors affected not only themselves as students, but others around them.  Being critically reflective ensures that we will not take things, people, or situations for granted, and allows us to develop an understanding of the effects our words, behaviors, and attitudes have on us and others, so that we can begin to attend to social oppression, individual and collective responsibility, and transparent dialogue.  

Please answer the following weekly questions in your Critical Reflection Logs.  Please be sure to write one entry per week.  Each Wednesday in class student will be responsible for sharing their thoughts based on the entries on your Critical Reflection Logs.  

Week 2 -- Critical Reflection Log entry:

  • Given this is your senior year in college, please tell me why you chose your Major course of study and what you hope, professionally, to do with your Major after graduation?
  • In what ways do you want this Capstone course to inform your academic knowledge? What do you want to get out of this Capstone that will foster your professional development?
  • Conversely, how will your academic knowledge (your Major) inform your community service learning during this Capstone class? What are your strengths as a PSU student, as a community member, that you bring to your community service work?


Week 3 -- Critical Reflection Log entry:

  • What has been your understanding and perceptions of Disability?
  • Where did these perceptions come from?
  • Where were your sources of knowledge and understanding (e.g. personal experience, the experience of someone you know, such as a friend or family member who experiences a Disability, media, film, and/or popular cultural portrayals of Disability?

Week 4 -- Critical Reflection Log entry: Please discuss with your Community Partner liaison (the person who will be supervising you during your service work) the following - and record this conversation in your Log:

  • Share with the liaison what your goals are for the Capstone service - share what you hope to get out of your time at the agency,
  • Ask the liaison what their agency's goals are and what they hope will be accomplished during this Capstone term,
  • Share with the liaison what your strengths are - what your specific areas of interests are and what you hope to do professionally,
  • Ask the liaison what the agency expectations are for those who volunteer and give service time,
  • Together with the liaison, talk about expectations and specific activities that will be worked on and completed by the end of the Spring term.

Week 5 -- Critical Reflection Log entry: Think about what you are currently doing at your community service placement. With this in mind, please answer the following questions for this week's Log entry:

  • Describe what you did today.
  • What did you see or observe at the site?
  • How did you feel about the experience?
  • What connections do you find between the experience and course readings?
  • What new ideas or insights did you gain?
  • What skills can you use and strengthen?
  • What will you apply from this experience in future work with the community?


Week 6 -- Critical Reflection Log entry:

  • Now that you have been actively involved in service learning at your respective community partner sites, please describe what the needs addressed by the agency?
  • What service does the community partner provide?
  • If this agency did not exist, what service or supports would be missing in the community?

Week 7 -- Critical Reflection Log entry: Think about what you are currently doing at your community service placement. With this in mind, please answer the following questions for this week's Log entry:

  • Describe what you did today.
  • What did you see or observe at the site?
  • How did you feel about the experience?
  • What connections do you find between the experience and course readings?
  • What new ideas or insights did you gain?
  • What skills can you use and strengthen?
  • What will you apply from this experience in future work with the community?


Week 8 -- Critical Reflection Log entry:

  • Reflecting on your service learning, how do you feel you are doing individually as a service learner?
  • In terms of your successes at the community site, how do you feel you are working with your partner?
  • What are your strengths individually?
  • What are your strengths as a Pair in terms of the service learning experience?
  • What are your challenges / things that you want to do differently as an individual service learner?
  • What are the challenges / things that you, as a pair, want to do differently as two people working together in a service learning environment?

Week 9 -- Critical Reflection Log entry: Think about what you are currently doing at your community service placement. With this in mind, please answer the following questions for this week's Log entry:

  • Describe what you did today.
  • What did you see or observe at the site?
  • How did you feel about the experience?
  • What connections do you find between the experience and course readings?
  • What new ideas or insights did you gain?
  • What skills can you use and strengthen?
  • What will you apply from this experience in future work with the community?


Week 10 -- Critical Reflection Log entry:

  • Please write 5 different ways the service learning work you did throughout the term benefited the agency in which you placed?
  • In addition, please think about and write 3 ways the service work you did contributed to the overall improved health and vitality of the general community.

One solo, student-lead, in-class group dialogue - (20 minutes)
Each student will be responsible for beginning and facilitating an in-class dialogue about a topic relevant to the week's readings.  These student-lead facilitated discussions will be centered on one of the four overall Senior Capstone Goals: (1) Critical Thinking and Inquiry, (2) Communication, (3) Diversity and Attention to Variety of Human Experiences, and (4) Ethical and Social Responsibility.  
More information about how to construct your student-lead in-class dialogue will be discussed, and you will be given a handbook about Service Learning to use to draw ideas for in-class presentation topics and hands-on learning activities during your facilitation time.

One in-class presentation done with your Community Partner pair (30 minutes)
Each Community-Partner "Pair" is responsible for giving a formal, in-class presentation at the end of the term.  During the presentation, each "Pair" will discuss the following points:
(1)  What is the name of your agency and what is it mission or goals?
(2)  What is the social issue the agency addresses?  
(3)  What are the services the agency provides to individuals and the community?
(4)  What tasks did you both do during your service learning time @ the agency?
(5)  What did you learn about yourself from the service work and the material covered in this course?
(6)  What did you learn about Disability?
(7)  In what ways will the knowledge you gained in this term affect you professionally, in terms of what you will do with your Major and where you see yourself going after graduation?
(8)  What would you change about your service learning time @ your agency?
(9)  What would you do differently if you could do your service learning experience over again?
(10)  Will you continue to stay connected to the community through volunteer work after graduation?

Four 1-page essays based on additional course readings
These essays will be based on additional course readings.  I will present questions about 4 articles and your essay will be your thoughts / responses to these questions.  I will give you these questions throughout the term.