October 17 Disabilities Awareness Item

Friends

My last multimedia contribution was so popular, here are a couple other items. I have looked at the first but not the second which I definitely mean to do. I have not thought about these items enough to pull out something obviously relevant to Meeting life—beyond the fact that I promised you all daily dispatches and I have other things I need to focus on today!

Assistant Secretary of Labor Kathleen Martinez on National Disabilities Employment Awareness Month.
http://www.dol.gov/dol/media/webcast/20110916-ndeams/

Last year about this time, there was some kind of event in observance of this occasion out at Microsoft. I got an invitation to go for free and told the coordinator of the (Friendly Neighborhood Center for Extreme Computing) that I was sure we needed to be there. I did not particularly ask permission; I just said we needed to be there. I prepared some topical materials and spiffed up the “This is my name and here is my elevator speech” routine I trot out about quarterly for trips to Microsoft. Alas, I forgot to invite any colleagues. The forgot to invite is telling: colleagues at the Friendly Neighborhood Center ... can be a mixed blessing. Just coordinating the logistical and cognitive aspects of getting from A to B is sometimes non-trivial for people who don’t drive, use wheelchairs, typically have variable coping strategies. My punishment for this oversight: I had to stay with our exhibits and did not get to hear Sec. Martinez speak except on a giant screen in a noisy exhibitor hall. Then I returned home and realized from a happenstance conversation that I frequently see her sister at a nearby bus stop. Her sister said they did not get to get together at all the last time she was in town.

On a different topic, the National Girls’ Collaborative Project Webinar on making events more accessible for Youth with Disabilities. Emphasis on computer science and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields.
http://www.ngcproject.org/events/events.cfm?eventid=202


In the Light

(RantWoman)