The personal side of bias, prejudice, and oppression

I live in an area where homelessness is very prevalent. The downtown area of my city has homeless people scattered on every street corner and in local parks. While they generally keep to themselves occasionally holding out a sign for help, many people are bothered by them. I am not sure if they are uncomfortable, fearful or ignorant, probably all of the above.  Most recently, our city voted to ban panhandling within the downtown area.  This bill was passed and in a few weeks these individuals will be arrested for holding a sign or asking for money.  I disagree with this bill because I think it infringes on their first amendment right, freedom of speech. I believe these individuals are being oppressed by our city council because they are concerned about the perception of our city. While these individuals may be homeless, on drugs or mentally ill they deserve the same rights as everyone else. Wealthy people are able to express their freedom of speech thorough advertisement. Local shop owners are able to advertise their stores on billboards or fliers in their window. However, the homeless are not able to ask for help. I believe this diminishes their equity as human beings.

I have been following this bill closely because I live in an old part of town. Many people are concerned that if this bill passes the homeless will migrate to our part of town. OUR PART OF TOWN! This thought process makes me angry that I am still living in a society where people feel entitlement to things that are not their own. I am disappointed in the city for trying to hide this group of people rather than provide more services and support. I am embarrassed that I live in an area where tolerance is not demonstrated and oppression is acceptable. I yearn for a society that embraces and helps the homeless rather ban them from public places.

In my opinion, in order to change this into an opportunity for equity the priority and the thought process of the city council members must change. Citizens of this city must stand up and advocate for people who don’t have a voice and challenge what is right.

Awareness of Microaggressions

Several years ago, I lost about 35 lbs. I worked hard. I watched what I ate and exercised regularly. It was a life changing experience for me.  I have a friend who constantly makes comments to me about being “thin and blonde”.  She is tall and dark haired and her body structure was bigger.  When we would go out together for dinner or drinks and were approached by men, she would always assume they were interested in me because I was “thin and blonde”.  She always made these comments in a joking manner but afterward I always felt uncomfortable and more self-conscious about myself. She was committing a microaggression about my physical appearance. She assumed that because I was “thin and blonde” that was “lucky in love”.  When the reality was that I had gone through several bad relationships and my appearance had nothing to do with it.  There were many times when she made comments to me and I didn’t say anything. Eventually, I had enough of feeling bad about myself and told her how her comments were making me feel.  She didn’t realize how her words were impacting me and she made an effort to stop. I think it is important to have an open dialogue with people about microaggressions and how to eliminate them.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I asked my husband, sister and co-worker their definition of culture and diversity. Each person had a different perspective.  My husband’s definition of culture is based around a person’s lifestyle.  It is the way they eat, live and their set of beliefs. Diversity is a melting pot of many different cultures to make unique populations of people.  My sister defined culture as a group of people who have similar values and beliefs.  She feels diversity is the opposite of culture. It is the different values and beliefs of people in the same place.  My co-worker defined culture as the encompassment of different groups including work place, ethnicities and religious groups. She believes that people behave differently based on which group they are with.  Diversity is the differences within a culture.  Diversity may connect individuals to their cultural group. 

I think each definition is reflective of the aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied within this course. I think each definition is individual to each person’s life experience.  It is difficult for me to evaluate their definitions of culture and diversity because I see how it is reflective of their own life. 

I think my husband and sister could have been more descriptive in their definition of culture. Within their definition I feel as though they were only describing “surface” culture and could have thought harder into “deep” culture. Obviously, my co-worker is a part of early childhood education and had a solid definition. 

As I said earlier, after listening and talking with each of individual about their definition of culture I could tie in their definition to their own life experiences.  For example, my sister lives in an area that is not very diverse and I believe her definition reflects that. It is important for me to respect individual definitions of culture and diversity and to remember there is no right or wrong answer.

My Family Culture

If a major catastrophe devastated the infrastructure of our country and I could only take three things I would bring a necklace, our family photo album and my journal. I would bring the necklace because my granny gave it to me on my 16^th birthday. It was a gift from my grandpa to her. She is my favorite person in the world and very important to me. I would bring our family photo album because it has pictures from both my husband and I’s childhood, pictures from our wedding, pregnancy and baby. The photo album represents our history and our future! Finally, I would bring my journal. This journal was written to me while my mom was pregnant with me. She talked about her feelings, thoughts, fears and excitement about being pregnancy and having a baby. She gave it to me at the beginning of my pregnancy and I wrote to my son while I was pregnancy. When he is old enough he will be able to read about his grandma being pregnant and his mom.

            If I was told that I could only keep one of these items I would be very emotional and torn between them all. They each represent a piece of who I am and having to decide which has the most meaning would be difficult.  I think what would help me make the decision would be thinking about my son’s future. I would want to choose the item that would give him a good representation of our family culture and history.

            In June, our city was devastated by a fire. Our city was on fire for days. Hundreds of houses burned and thousands of people were evacuated. Many of my friends’ had minutes to evacuate their home and gather important papers and keepsakes. Thankfully, we were not evacuated but we were on notice. During that time, I had to decide what to bring with me in case we were evacuated. These items were the ones I packed first. When I read this assignment I knew my choices right away. Those things can never be replaced and strongly represent what is important to me, my FAMILY!

             

When I think of Reserch...

Some of the insights I have gained about research from this course are the different types of research, quantitative vs. qualitative and the characteristics involved with each.  I have learned about different ethical concerns that may arise and how to address them.  Not only did I learn about research but I learned how to decipher research articles. At the beginning of this course, I was very intimidated by research and the articles I have had to read throughout my program. However, now I have a better understanding about what I am reading. I can read it once or twice vs. ten times! J  

Conducting research doesn’t seem as intimidating to me after this course. I have learned the pieces involved in conducting ethical research and methods I would like to eventually incorporate into my own career.  While I may never conduct an actual research study, I will take pieces from research including data collection and use it to help me understand patterns and trends. I have new ideas and strategies to incorporate this into my job.

The whole process of conducting research was relatively foreign to me. As I said, I have read research articles but honestly I tried to avoid them because I didn’t understand the process and had a difficult time understanding what they were saying.  I have learned the process starts with a topic, focuses on a question and forming a hypothesis. It is important to decide what kind of research design best suits the topic and to consider the ethical concerns that are involved in the study.  One of the biggest pieces is to ensure the results are valid.  I have learned that the whole process works together to formulate a study that will contribute to the field.

One of the biggest challenges for me came early in this class. I struggled with deciding on a topic and then narrowing down my subtopics and finally formulating a question that was specific. I have a tendency to think broadly about topics and want to incorporate to much.

Research Around the World

This week I looked at Australia’s early childhood research.  Some of the research being done focuses on service delivery for families living with children with disabilities, the challenges of teaching the arts and how teachers’ feel about this.  The website also offers a research in practice section. One of the topics caught my eye because it is similar to my research simulation. The topic is learning and teaching through play. The book is available for purchase and provides a lot of great information about play. There were also several articles that focused on play. Obviously, this is a hot topic in Australia at this time.

One thing I noticed as I explored the website is that many of the research going on internationally are also being researched in the United States. Internationally a lot of the topics including bullying, children with developmental disabilities and at risk and play based learning.  I think it would be interesting to see if the results of the research are the same as in the United States.

This website offered a lot of great information about research as well as policies. There was also a lot of access to other resources including magazines and journals. I thought the website was user friendly which is really important when doing research (in my opinion).  I enjoyed exploring this organization and website.

Reference:

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefits Children and Families

I have enjoyed thinking about this blog topic throughout the week. I have recently switched professions from a classroom teacher (kindergarten autism) to a developmental interventionist working with toddlers’ ages 0-3 on the spectrum.  I go into homes or other social settings (daycares or preschools) and work with families. I show them strategies to work on building communication, play skills, social skills and behavior.  One of the pieces within this field is a peer program.  A child with autism participates in a peer program with a developmental interventionist 1:1.  The program is in a preschool setting, twice a week for two hours. During this time appropriate play and social skills are the focus.  Knowing that background, if I could conduct research on any area in early childhood it would be the benefits of using typical peers to model appropriate behavior, provide appropriate social interaction and play skills to children with autism. I would create my own peer program that goes beyond the classroom and into the community as well. I believe the benefits of this would impact both children with autism and typical peers.  It would provide the children with autism appropriate models leading to future independence and inclusion while teaching typical peers patience and tolerance for children different than them. It would benefit families as well.  Parents’ would have support as well.  I strongly believe children with special needs should be integrated into general education and community settings. By providing a program that teaches these essential skills while allowing access to typical peers equals success for everyone.