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CUNY Unlimited 3rd Meeting (5/12/21)

CUNY Unlimited FIG No. 3 Spring 2021 minutes May 12th 2021

Sue Carpenter welcomed members to the last FIG of the semester. Those who attended included: 5 faculty, 3 staff, 2 Melissa Riggio staff, I MRHEP student and one alumnus, and 3 members of the Students Unlimited advocacy group.

1)The meeting began with brief reports back from Jason Lau re. how some MRHEP students had liked and done well learning on line. Michael Lettman however current MRHEP student expressed his frustration at not being on campus and taking classes on line.

Sue expressed again how Michael enriched her EDC3000 class by his honesty and engagement in the class. Michael also contributes to the Sheiling College UK on line music outreach.

2) Sue spoke of her long-time mentor Dr. John Diamond’s passing in April and showed a video of him speaking about altruism, and the benefits of music outreach. Sue’s first experience of including students with ID was through his work in Canberra Australia in 2003.

3) Jeremy introduced Students Unlimited members who spoke about their group and showed a colorful power point which included many photographs of their members including with President Schrader The CU FIG would like to form an ongoing partnership with the student group- a natural fit.

4) Lisa Esposito gave a presentation on UDL following her attendance at training. She explained it clearly and in a UDL friendly way through an excellent power point. Members have encouraged her to share this in the Brown Bag session in the EDC program.

5) Carol Carielli shared her Storyboard for a film to advertise the MRHEP to faculty and encourage them to included students in their courses. An excellent story line was shared! Discussion around funding made for a meeting that went over time but was much appreciated by all. Mention was also made of the of the recent Ovations feature. Thoughts and requests for next semester’s meetings were briefly mentioned by Jeremy in concluding the meeting.

CUNY Unlimited 2nd Meeting (3/22/21)

Summary of CUNY Unlimited 2nd Meeting

On 3/22/21 our FIG met for a virtual film screening of “Intelligent Lives,” directed by Dan Habib. The free screening was hosted by the Centre for Studies in Inclusive Education (http://www.csie.org.uk) in Bristol, England, and our own Sue Carpenter was one of the panelists who discussed the film after it was show. Twelve of our FIG members attended, including other KCC students who are not part of the FIG.

Below is a description of the film and here is a link to the film’s trailer:

https://intelligentlives.org/trailer

From award-winning filmmaker Dan Habib comes INTELLIGENT LIVES, a catalyst to transform the label of intellectual disability from a life sentence of isolation into a life of possibility for the most systematically segregated people in America.

INTELLIGENT LIVES stars three pioneering young American adults with intellectual disabilities – Micah, Naieer, and Naomie – who challenge perceptions of intelligence as they navigate high school, college, and the workforce. Academy Award-winning actor and narrator Chris Cooper contextualizes the lives of these central characters through the emotional personal story of his son Jesse, as the film unpacks the shameful and ongoing track record of intelligence testing in the U.S.

INTELLIGENT LIVES challenges what it means to be intelligent, and points to a future in which people of all abilities can fully participate in higher education, meaningful employment, and intimate relationships.

Film length: 70 minutes

The film took up IQ testing and showed how its development was based on racist eugenics. The film also addressed institutionalization and other forms of oppression and exclusion of people with disabilities from schools and society. Our FIG found these intersections of issues of equity, IQ, and race to be very powerful. It was a nice compliment to watching “Crip Camp” last semester and made us think we should do more film screenings and discussions and FIG.

Spring 2021, CUNY Unlimited FIG, 1st meeting (3/1/21)

CUNY Unlimited FIG

Spring 2021 meeting no. 1 (March 1st) minutes

Those in attendance:

Gabriela D., Carol C., Lisa E., Don H., Kensaku M., Anna K., Jeremy S., Sue C., Michael L., Jason L., Stella W., Nick G., Frank L., Cecelia N., Margot C.

The first FIG meeting of the semester was scheduled before the beginning of the semester to be able to give support to fellow faculty and to find out information that would be helpful ahead of classes starting.

After introductions, Gabriela gave a brief explanation of her role as the liaison between the MRHEP program and Department heads and faculty. Kensaku and Jason also added in information about their roles in registering students and reaching out to department heads. Concerns were raised about some department heads perhaps not knowing or understanding what the MRHEP program was and what faculty would be involved in, and not forwarding adequate information to faculty.

Anna K., a new member, raised questions about how to identify MRHEP students and their mentors. The mechanics of access to Blackboard and CUNY First was also raised. Out of this discussion came the idea of the FIG members making a film that explained and advocated for faculty to include students from the MRHEP in their courses that could be distributed to faculty and heads of departments. With Margot Cole’s expertise and Carol’s willingness to be involved this was and exciting idea and initiative. To be continued!

The last part of the FIG included Frank Laskowitz speaking of his role as internship coordinator for the MRHEP including finding internships, helping students with their CV etc. Michael Lettman spoke about his recent internship tutoring a young child online.

Reminders were given by Stella about the upcoming Disability Awareness week in April and the upcoming CUNY Neurodiversity conference later in the week in which Jeremy and Sue were to present on Advocating for students in higher education from CUNY to the UK, which was to highlight the work of our FIG! Members were invited to lead the presentation breakout sessions.

The next meeting was announced: March 22nd at 12.00 EST for a free screening of Intelligent Lives hosted by the Centre for Studies in Inclusion in Education UK charity.