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Universal Design. This phrase is something that took a whole new meaning for me throughout our readings and discussions in unit 4. When we think of design we think of efficiency, modernity, usability, and design aesthetic. We think about making the function of something easy for users. But what is almost never taken into consideration within design is disability. This can mean for our architecture, our vehicles, and even objects we use on a daily basis. In this unit we read about universal design as it relates to architecture but we also read and discussed how public transportation can affect disabled people and prohibit them from just generally getting from point A to point B. How our infrastructure is designed as a whole segregates able bodied people from those who are disabled.  As a design major, I always thought I saw the world through a different lens and took into account things like usability and functionality. Having taken this class, I now see the world through a new lens and am painfully aware of the injustices disabled people face in their daily lives. The world is designed for able bodied people while one third of our population is made up of people that face huge issues with these very designs. It shuts them out, and makes it impossible to do things as simple as going to work or eating at a certain restaurant. This takes away their freedom and their right to all of the things an able bodied person has access to.

Prison as it relates to disability. This is a topic that I never really thought about or discussed about in length. After having a few readings relating to this topic, as well as watching videos about the prison system in class, I have learned a few very important things and began to consider more deeply the implications that schools and prisons are having on people with disabilities. In the reading entitled Annamma Pedagogy of Path the author draws parallels between school systems and imprisonment as it relates to kids with disability. They share about their brother, and how school systems shaped him. He had problems with authority, trouble focusing, and was constantly suspended and punished for this behavior. The author then goes on to explain the similarities between our school systems and our prison systems, concluding many things about their own experience. In the video we watched in class, we learned about the prison system and how those with disabilities are taken care of. There is an obvious cycle of men and women living in poverty, self medicating because they can’t afford their necessary medication, and then falling back into the prison system. Many of them have no home, no way to get their meds, and even admit to not necessarily wanting to get out of prison in fear of where their next meal or roof over their head will come from. There is an obvious problem with this system if people are being imprisoned because of access, or lack thereof, to medications. And there is an obvious issue with the school system and how it treats children with mental and physical disabilities. As I have learned how these two things can be linked, I have become more aware of the ways in which disabilities and how they are treated shape our society and the systems that are in place. 

#gws300

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/munroe-bergdorf-women-of-the-world-cisgender-safe-threat-transgender-a8817366.html

The first GWS class I took at the University of Kentucky shed light on the overwhelming impact of poverty on the world's female population. I first learned about things like the second shift and pay disparity upon taking my first class and this article I recently read reiterated many issues with world poverty, specifically on how it is gendered. The burden of working, and caring for children most often falls on women and “leaves less time for paid work as well as possible exhaustion causing a lack of quality in work as compared to male colleagues who have fewer outside-of-work responsibilities.” This article brings up important points such as women feeling overwhelmed with the responsibilities of motherhood, being forced to forego their education, disease and death due to lack of healthcare, and more. If women are losing opportunity or not even being presented with it in the first place, we lose active members of society and people who could actually help to make a difference in the world. Adair brings up the bodily effects of poverty, criminal effects of poverty, and legal discrimination of homelessness. She makes the point that it is designed to keep people within a certain class. Those who suffer often won’t be able to break the cycle. They have no resources, no privacy, and no one to advocate for them. Their invasion of privacy is justified because they are poor and struggling, and it is seen as lazy or indecent. Poverty is intertwined with race and class, and Crenshaw brings up oppression and discrimination in the article we recently read for this course. The growing and staggering issue of poverty is intersectional and should be treated as such when learning about, discussing, and coming up with new solutions to issues we can one day hopefully resolve.  #gws350

I recently started watching the netflix original series “Sex Education”, and have come across an article that points out many strong themes within the series that I didn’t necessarily think about or pick up on while watching it. While reading this article, I realized that many of these themes relate back to our Butler and Fausto readings. The series follows several high school students navigating relationships, family issues, friendships, and sex. In the article, Aimee Lou Wood, who plays Aimee Gibbs, speaks about her character. Aimee Gibbs is seen as a very sexually liberated character, but when analyzing her character further the actress concludes that sex to her is more about her partners. The article reads, “She references one scene in particular when the male protagonist, Otis, asks Aimee what she wants when she’s with her partner Steve, to which she earnestly responds: “No one’s ever asked me that before”. Thinking back to Judith Butler’s article about gender performativity, I think this is a message girls get often and they feel the need to “perform” this in a sense. Growing up, women are never told that sex is supposed to be good for them as well, so we perform in the way we think we are supposed to. Which usually means focusing on pleasing the male. If we can’t do that, there is a sense of failure and embarrassment that comes along with it. A lot of what Wood’s character does and how she acts is performative, and in this interview she recognizes it and hopes that she can teach young women not to grow with a distorted perspective on sex. The show also follows a homosexual student named Eric who struggles with his identity and gender roles. Fausto’s discussion on sex versus gender comes to mind when reflecting on Eric as a character in this series. He struggles to please his father, who is traditional and does not agree with his lifestyle, and himself at the same time. This brings up questions referring to sex vs gender, and how others see it biologically. I think Eric’s character also makes viewers think about gender as a performance, as he acts differently around his family than he does with his best friend. This show sheds light on important topics, and can relate back to many of the things we’ve been discussing in class regarding performativity, sex, and gender. #gws350

https://www.thoughtco.com/transcript-of-emma-watsons-speech-on-gender-equality-3026200