This semester I taught Person Centered Planning. I changed the curriculum to teach intersectionality, implicit bias, &disability rights, as all are critical for true person centered planning. As their last assignment I asked students what they learned. Here's some highlights:

"Something that i think is really important is that disabled people can be happy. Sometimes I feel like society thinks disabled people can’t be truly happy. Most disabled people are content and happy with their life.They don’t see their disabilities as a hindrance."

"As an individual i think that the most important part of this course was learning more about the voices of the disabled community and what they wanted, how they wanted to be treated and heard."

"Through taking implicit bias tests, i realized more about what bias is, how it effects us , and how we can unknowingly harm others while having it."

"İ loved the ted talk called i am not your inspiration & i agreed with her statements i loved the quote she added at the end about how disabilities should be viewed normal&a kid at a school should not be suprised when they have a disabled teacher because that should be the NORM."

"As you know, the first time doing the implicit bias test, I was pissed. You and that project really made me open my eyes... Everyone has biases. The problem arises when either you do not realize your biases, or you know that you have them and do not work on it."

"The speakers and videos made everything more realistic, to see how capable people were in those videos and documents made me push to really give the individuals I work with a chance to complete tasks and fail on their own without me being so cautious."

"When it comes to what I
learned this semester about working with disabled people/people with a disability, well first off
call them by their name, if you do not know their name, ask them how they would they to be
referred to."

"I took 2 other classes that were abt people w disabilities&they kept saying use people first, however with you, I believe I learned more than I ever would, no offense to the other teachers. You pulled real pieces from people with disabilities&they told us how they actually felt"

"The most impactful learning experience from this semester abt working with disabled people/people with disabilities is that they need for other people to be aware that this is their life & that they should be the ones that have the most input into what they need for their lives"