#Education Advocacy

[tellniaconsults]

Learning accommodations request template

You are entitled to your education, and reasonable accommodations are required to be made for you, recognised as a right by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, article 24. Accessible and equitable education is also part of Australia’s disability strategy 2021-2031. I say this as a preface, because should you face resistance, it is important that you know your rights in this area.

Furthermore, you do NOT need to disclose your disability diagnosis, and the school or university is not supposed to ask. What they can request is a letter from a treating practitioner confirming you are eligible for disability supports. Your GP or an allied health professional can provide this.

Beyond that, you do not have to tell them your diagnosis. If asked, you can simply politely remind the person you are in discussion with that you do not have to disclose the nature of your disability, however you are happy to discuss your accommodation requirements.

I would recommend that for secondary school and University students you assume this letter will be required.

Accommodation request for school or university template:

Hello, My name is [Introduce yourself], I am a [Year level if in high school or course and year for university.]. I am writing to Request a meeting/a phone call/[other form of communication that meets your needs] to discuss learning accommodations in relation to my disability. Accommodations I am requesting are [state what you need. Examples include extra time on tests, the ability to type exams instead of writing, braille learning materials, sign language being available, different learning formats, extra time to get to and from classes, your classes being in close proximity to each other, exams in separate rooms, access to a clarifier for assessment tasks]. I have attached/will provide if needed a letter from my [Insert the type of practitioner who has provided or will provide your letter] which confirms the necessity of this/these accommodations. [if you have requested a in person discussion, phone call, video chat or any form of discussion that requires scheduling, at this point offer three dates + times you could have said discussion.] [if you have not requested a schedulable conversation, request an email back with a term that has an appropriate level of urgency. ‘as soon as possible’, ‘at your earliest convenience’, ‘before the term / semester begins’] so that we can ensure that everyone is on the same page. Thank you for your time, [your name again]

Who would you send this to?

Your school’s additional needs program or disability support program.

relevant resources:

[haveacupofjohanny]

Selena Quintanilla: Beyond the Public Persona

Unveiling the Selena You Never Knew: A Look Beyond the Stardom Selena Quintanilla remains an icon, a woman who painted her dreams not only in the rhythm of Tejano music but also in the hearts of those she touched. #fridayfeature

Few names shine as brightly in the sweeping landscape of Latin music as Selena Quintanilla’s. Known mononymously as Selena, she left an indelible mark on Tejano music and the hearts of millions. In this Friday feature, I want to venture beyond the glitz of her public persona to uncover lesser-known life stories and weave together a more holistic picture of her life and what she left behind. The…

[thebookewyrme]

Conference Report: OpenEd 2024

Finally finished writing my usual conference report for OpenEd 2024 Conference. Some important conversations happened this year! #OER #OpenEducation

As is usual for me these days, I’m way behind on my conference report since OpenEd 2024 was uh…quite a while ago now. But I’m getting there now! I attended virtually along with my entire department, so that was fun. I was able to go to more panels than I would in person because while I prefer in-person conferences, I simply don’t have much stamina for them and end up having to miss quite a few…

[chicpeekfashion]

Shari Ann Chinnis Indianapolis: Leadership, Philanthropy, and Civic Engagement

Shari Ann Chinnis Indianapolis is known for her leadership, philanthropy, and commitment to community engagement. Her work spans multiple sectors, including education, healthcare, and social justice, where she has made a lasting impact through scholarships, mentorship, and advocacy. Chinnis is a successful businesswoman who leverages her influence to promote ethical corporate practices and environmental sustainability. Thanks to a viral TikTok video, her recent rise as a digital influencer underscores her role as a modern leader committed to making Indianapolis a better place for all. From empowering the next generation through education to driving political change, Chinnis is shaping the future of her city through action and service.

Read More: https://chicpeekfashion.com/shari-ann-chinnis-indianapolis

[enlightenedadvocacy]

Discover the essential role of special education Advocates helping students with special needs thrive in Texas schools. Learn about available services, how to find the right support, and the importance of collaboration between families, schools, and professionals.

[mapecl-stories]

BILD Urheber: AdiJapan

[transsexualfiend]

Repeat after me: kink is not a "gateway" to committing a crime.

[booksandbrainsandsoftthings]

Officially forming the theory that the reason more service dog handlers don't use protective gear like boots, goggles, and ear protection on their dog is because the public becomes 3000% more unbearable when they try.

We're all used to "aaaaawwww look the the doggo" when we go out with our working animals, but getting

1. Accosted for pictures (whether folks ask or just invade your space and distract your dog)

2. Pointed at like an exhibit

3. Shouted at (OMG DOGGLES, "why is it wearing that" etc)

4. Actively followed around by strangers

Is downright fucking awful.

I know it looks cool. I know some of our gear is specialized. I know pet dogs don't usually wear/tolerate what SDs learn the wear. But for the love of whatever you deem holy, BE KIND ABOUT IT. All of the actions listed above are just fucking rude. Leave people alone. Leave service dogs alone.

Disabled people can exist without being spectacles

[vivianseda]

Thank you to Our Sensory Life

“I spent to many years thinking it was normal to be trapped like this and I was just 'lazy'.

If you relate to this, please hear me, you're not lazy. I know how bad it feels.”

Photo credit: Dani Donovan

[prototypesteve]

You are your visibility. I know that’s unfair.

Representation matters but representation isn't the end or the beginning.

You can't just post 1,000 Alastor memes and expect banks to make fair mortgages for single people, or expect care professionals to stop trying to cure asexuality.

Representation takes time to execute.

TV seasons take longer to develop than they used to. Books take time to write. Character arcs can take years to play out.

Representation can be deliberately or accidentally misinterpreted.

“So asexuality is when you're bi or gay, but sex-averse? That's what I think I saw in that Heartstopper episode you sent me when Isaac kissed the guy.”

Representation can be deliberately ignored.

“I've never heard of that. I've never seen that in real life.”

Representation can be maliciously dismissed.

“This is a thousand people on the internet telling themselves they're a real thing.”

Representation is a right-place-right-time-right-platform lottery.

“I don't have Netflix or Prime. Never heard of this Has Been Hotel or Heart Starter. I did get that copy of Loveless you sent me, but I've got 17 books ahead of it in my queue.”

Representation can't be exhaustive.

The demisexuals and the aro-allos, and the GenX aces who took decades to discover asexuality was even an option, and the hundred other nuanced expressions of aspec identity that I deliberately didn’t represent here are all sifting through the catalog of ace representation and implied aro representation, looking for something… any evidence they exist.

Representation matters but representation isn't the end or the beginning.

We also need boring old education, advocacy, and presence. You have to keep talking. You have to keep explaining. You have to keep being there in front of real people, with your real life that erodes their bullshit-takes on aromanticism and asexuality.

You are your visibility. I know that’s unfair.

It was unfair for every misrepresented equity-seeking community. The good news is many of those equity-seeking communities have paved the way for us. They taught advocates how to listen, and how to lend their advocacy as long as we’re out there to be listened to, and not waiting around for a critical mass of representation.

[edenfenixblogs]

New Pinned Post: How This Blog Approaches The Conflict

I am not normally a politically-focused blog. I am normally a personal blog that enjoys fandom and occasionally processes my own past trauma. As this war goes on, I am finding that it is against my personal ethics and morals to stay silent when I have the ability to educate and remain more patient than most. (My patience is not endless. I’m still human). So, while disinformation/misinformation, and propaganda abound on all sides. I feel like the best way I can help lower the temperature is to put my skills to use.

Primary Political Goals:

1. Emphasize humanity above all and use verifiable information and good faith education and discourse to reduce tension.

2. Do my absolute best to move the conversation away from polarizing, accusatory discourse that forces Jews, Muslims, Arabs, Israelis, and Palestinians to play a desperate game of defense and toward a shared mutually beneficial peace that honors each grouped indigeneity culture, and connection to their ancestral homeland.

3. Demonstrate and emphasize both Jewish-Muslim solidarity and Israeli-Palestinian solidarity.

Primary Blogging Goals:

As a diaspora Jew, my primary goal is threefold

1. Educate about antisemitism and Islamophobia—including calling it out and explaining it to the best of my ability.

2. Elevate responsible, verifiable voices—regardless of religion or nationality—and information to the best of my ability.

3. Demonstrate effective activism and provide insight and encouragement for other to find their most effective way to contribute to fostering peace.

Elaboration:

1. I have the most experience with an understanding of antisemitism. I am more of an expert in antisemitism and have more ability to identify and educate about it. That said: I will not tolerate any Islamophobia or racism and if I don’t have the ability to educate about it, you will be blocked. If I have the ability to educate about it, I will do so and give you the chance to read about it and adjust your behavior. If you do not do so, I will block you.

2. This does not mean equal representation of all nationalities and religions. It means the best informed and most reliable voices AND the voices I personally have the best ability to vet, verify, and substantiate. This will often mean Jewish voices and Israeli voices. This is me staying in my lane, not choosing to suppress any voice. I will not elevate purposefully divisive, tokenized, or uninformed voices. This does not mean that I won’t elevate Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab voices as well. I will. But my primary goal here is responsibility. To do that, I have to stay in my lane.

3. I am most effective as an educator on this matter, a guide to finding reliable peace-oriented voices, and an example of patience. There’s a great desire among many to protest or create videos detailing their opinions and stances. Not only is this primarily performative—especially among non-Muslim/non-Palestinian goyim—it has the potential to be extraordinarily damaging to Jews both in Israel and in Diaspora as well as to Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians, and South East Asians worldwide. If you truly desire to help and not just feel like you’re helping, the best thing you can do is follow the lead of much more experienced activists with a demonstrated track record of effectiveness and good faith in their areas of expertise. As I stated: mine is primarily education and greater than average (though not limitless) amounts of patience. If you want to donate money or engage in more direct action and aid, I suggest finding pro-Palestinian Israeli voices and peace oriented Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian voices as well as organizations with experience in this conflict that do not rely on eliminating any population or erasing anyone’s connection to the Levant. Follow their lead on that matter. If you are only just engaging in this conflict for the first time due to current events, you likely do not know nearly as much as you think you do about any of this. Being uninformed and spouting disinformation has actual dire consequences that can get Jews, Muslims, Palestinians, Israelis, and Arabs killed. It is vital that you’re responsible in your engagement on this matter. Learning dogwhistles and how to spot bad faith arguments is a must. And to be effective, you should spend more of your time learning than you’re doing protesting or arguing. This is a 2000+ year old conflict. There is a lot to know and understand. And there are a lot of people willing to prey on your newcomer status and manipulate your existing beliefs to use you as a pawn to further their bad faith aims. The only consistent, trustworthy principal is to trust those who repeatedly affirm their goal as peace and shared prosperity and who reject any form of demonization based on ethnicity or religion. This is not a game. This is not the west’s fight. This is a conflict between two horribly oppressed, traumatized, and nearly exterminated ethnoreligous groups.

I am begging you to think, listen, and learn before joining the fray.

Note: I also don’t claim to be perfect. If I mess up or reblog something that causes unintended harm (which is very easy to do when engaging in discussions and activism about this conflict), I will say so and issue a correction. There’s no need to be hostile in informing me about this. Just message with your concern and I’ll evaluate from there.

Additionally, I will not interact with Hamas apologists. Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Anyone trying to make me feel like this is an Us vs. Them situation will be blocked.

[respect-the-locals]

🐢Daily Sea Turtle Fact:🐢

Olive Ridley Sea Turtle: The olive ridley gets its name from the olive green color of its heart-shaped shell. The species is among the smallest of the world’s sea turtles and is found primarily in the tropical regions of the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans. Similar to Kemp's Ridleys, large groups of turtles gather offshore of nesting beaches. Then, all at once, vast numbers of turtles come ashore and nest in what is known as an "arribada" which means "arrival" in Spanish. During these arribadas, hundreds to thousands of females come ashore to lay their eggs.

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

Nobody:

Mental health influencers: Todays topic is c-ptsd :) common causes include a narcissist abused you and definitely didn’t feel bad about it because that’s what they do aren’t they sooo evil!!! beware!!!! and I guess there could be other less common causes too idk

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

It’s International Men’s Day 2024.

And I know, if there’s one place we don’t need to be validated, it’s by a faceless, nauseatingly-“woke” trillion dollar global tech company like Google.

But still, it’s a great opportunity to ask; what might such an acknowledgment look like, if it were to exist?

Would Google nod its head to men’s mental or physical health?

Would it salute dads, who continue their renaissance into modern fatherhood?

Might it send up a flair for the deteriorating rates of boys in education?

Or could it acknowledge the sacrifice men around the world make, even with their own life, to keep our lights on, water running, and kitchen stocked?

Well, we won’t be finding out this year.

So let’s design our own Doodles…

To be frank, I don’t care what Google big wigs say.

But as the front page of the Internet, this lack of visibility is a good barometer for a world that still looks the other way when it comes to men and boys advocacy, and this is what I see when Google leaves its iconic search bar unchanged.

A world not ready to accept that we all face hardships, regardless of sex, and all deserve visibility, if even just for one day a year.

So, what does International Mens Day look like to you?

And how would you like to see it celebrated?

(Also to be clear, Google designed none of these IMD artworks, I did, so please don’t sue me for doing your job)