I choose option #2 and took the buzz feed quiz and as suspected I’m not privileged at all as I checked more than 46% of quiztakers according to the site. However, I am privilaged since I'm alive! I participated in a privilege exercise when I did the DASA training required for certification and was left in the dust at the back of the room. Coming to terms with my privileges and lack thereof has been challenging. There have definitely been adversity that I have had to overcome, things I have had to unlearn and a new code and discourse that I have had to learn. Some of my disadvantages, I consider helpful now, such as seeing and helping at risk youth, because I was one. According to the quiz I grew up with an intersectional, complicated identity, and life never let me forget it. I've had your fair share of struggles, and have worked hard to overcome them. We do not live in an ideal world and I had to learn that the hard way.
By the virtue of the work I do as a special education teacher I think about my basis and privileges. I see a disproportionate disparity and reflect on my thoughts and feelings. One student faces homelessness while another has his golf cart taken away for being rude towards others. I have had many "aha" movements that have helped me to understand my own privilege in relation to the developmentally disadvantaged youth and adults that I try to help.
My profession puts me in the position of assisting individuals who are in need of resources, and who are often facing economic, educational, and environmental conditions different from my own. I hold a degree of authority over the students. Teachers are gatekeepers to resources that an individual needs - and are often unable to access without assistance, especially in Special education. It’s a complicated dynamic with a power imbalance. This imbalance is one of the main reasons why I think it’s important to consider and acknowledge privileges as an ongoing exercise.
By the virtue of the work I do as a special education teacher I think about my basis and privileges. I see a disproportionate disparity and reflect on my thoughts and feelings. One student faces homelessness while another has his golf cart taken away for being rude towards others. I have had many "aha" movements that have helped me to understand my own privilege in relation to the developmentally disadvantaged youth and adults that I try to help.
My profession puts me in the position of assisting individuals who are in need of resources, and who are often facing economic, educational, and environmental conditions different from my own. I hold a degree of authority over the students. Teachers are gatekeepers to resources that an individual needs - and are often unable to access without assistance, especially in Special education. It’s a complicated dynamic with a power imbalance. This imbalance is one of the main reasons why I think it’s important to consider and acknowledge privileges as an ongoing exercise.