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From YouTube: Combating Ableism
Description
What is ableism and how does it show up in schools? Join us for this Equity Webinar Series event hosted by Burlington School District's Office of Equity. This webinar features a moderated conversation about disability advocacy facilitated by BSD Student Alumni Zaley Deleonardis-Page and Eva Edwards-Stoll followed by Restorative Circle discussions in breakout rooms.
Learn more about our Equity Webinar Series: https://www.bsdvt.org/2020/12/08/bsd-equity-office-announces-equity-webinar-series/
The Office of Equity: https://www.bsdvt.org/district/diversity-and-equity/district-office-of-equity/
Burlington School District (BSD) is a pre-k-12 public school system of about 4,000 students in Burlington, VT. BSD’s mission is to graduate students who: value different cultures, engage with the community, communicate effectively, think creatively, skillfully solve problems, and achieve at their highest academic, intellectual, and personal potential. Join the Journey! www.bsdvt.org
A
All
right,
I'm
going
to
officially
welcome
everyone
to
our.
This
is
our
fourth
equity
webinar
and
the
theme
is
combating
ableism
and
the
office
of
equity
really
wanted
to
do
this.
To
engage
the
burlington
community
in
conversations
about
equity
topics
and
themes
throughout
the
year.
So
we
did
one
on
restorative
practices,
one
on
racial
trauma.
We
did
beyond
black
history
month,
and
this
is
the
fourth
in
the
series
we
have
what
we
have
two
more
coming
up
just
to
a
little
pr
before
we
get
started.
A
B
I
guess
I'll
go
first
hi,
I'm
eva
most
of
you
probably
have
met
me
somewhere
throughout
the
bsd
world.
I
used
to
go
to
burlington
high
school,
but
I
don't
anymore.
I
work
at
healthy
living
market
and
cafe
in
south
burlington
and
yeah.
I'm
excited
to
be
here
and
talk
about
my
disability,
which
is
williams
syndrome.
It's
a
genetic
disability
and
I'll
go
into
depth
a
little
bit
more
later,
but
thank
you
for
coming.
C
Yeah,
I'm
zaylie,
I'm
the
other
facilitator.
I
am
a
bhs
graduate
last
year,
I'm
now
a
first-year
evm
student
studying
neuroscience
and
I'm
really
looking
forward
to
talking
during
this
circle
and
stuff.
I
enjoyed
doing
the
first
one
that
we
did
on
restorative
practices
and
I
thought
it
was
really
interesting.
So
I'm
looking
forward
to
it.
D
Hi
everyone,
my
name,
is
erica
saunders
and
I
am
a
employee
at
burlington
school
district,
I'm
a
special
education
compliance
coordinator,
which
is
a
brand
new
position,
so
don't
be
concerned.
If
you
don't
know
what
it
is,
we're
sort
of
figuring
that
out
as
we
go
along
so
excited
to
be
here
and
participate
and
hear
stories
and
help
with
the
circles
thanks
everyone
for
being
here.
A
A
A
A
A
C
We're
good,
so
what
is
ableism
so
it's
a
type
of
discrimination
that
takes
many
different
forms
in
all
different
areas.
So
some
of
the
main
ones
that
we
have
put
as
examples
are
lack
of
accommodations
deficit,
thinking,
misunderstanding
or
making
and
making
assumptions
viewing
people
who
have
disabilities
with
pity
or
contempt
and
or
fear
bullying
harassment.
B
B
That's
the
thing
is
that
in
my
personal
opinion,
I
don't
think
it
does
actually
happen.
Unfortunately-
and
I
think
what's
great
about
tonight-
is
that
we're
gonna
talk
about
it
and
try
to
change
it
and
that's
all
we
can
do
about
it.
So,
for
example,
in
this
picture
here
for
a
fair
selection,
everybody
has
to
take
the
same
exam.
B
Please
climb
that
tree
okay,
so
you
see
how
there's
an
elephant
and
then
there's
all
these
different
types
of
animals.
Not
every
animal
is
going
to
be
able
to
climb
the
tree
because
of
various
reasons.
So
it's
the
same
as
saying
take
a
standardized
test
when
you
know
you're
not
going
to
score
well
on
math,
and
yet
they
still
give
you
like
high
level
math
questions,
so
yeah.
C
So
then,
these
are
some
of
the
action
steps
we
came
up
with
that.
You
know
you
can
take
in
order
to
start
combating
ableism
so
asking
before
you
help
someone
with
something
asking
people
what
terminology
they
prefer.
So
some
people
prefer
person
first
language,
whereas
other
people
prefer
identity,
first
language,
so
person
with
disability
versus
disabled
person
or
in
the
context
of
whatever
their
disability
may
be.
C
You
just
want
to
ask
each
individual
person
thinking
twice
before
using
an
accessibility
resource
such
as
a
stall,
a
ramp,
a
parking
spot,
creating
accommodations
in
a
school
or
work
environment.
Obviously
that's
the
main
focus
here
and
it's
so
important.
Prioritizing
inclusion,
stopping
bullying
just
speaking
up
in
general
and
creating
systems
of
support
for
accessibility,.
B
A
So
josh,
if
you
can
stop
sharing
the
screen,
so
we
can
see
before
we
go
into
the
breakout
rooms
yeah,
let's
give
them
some
kudos
for
all
the
information.
Thank
you
thank
you
and
zaylee.
It's
so
critically.
Important.
One
of
the
purposes
of
these
equity
webinars
is
to
actually
make
recommendations
to
the
office
of
equity,
of
how
we
can
do
better
and
within
the
school
district.
So
before
we
go
in
the
breakout
rooms,
I
just
would
love
to
my
partners
to
introduce.
F
F
There's
a
lot,
but
the
thing
I
will
say
the
office
of
equity
as
we
look
at
racism
as
we
look
at
white
supremacy
as
we
look
at
this
work,
one
of
the
things
we
are
committed
to
is
eradicating
ableism
and
really
supporting
this
work
throughout
our
system
and
making
sure
we
are
taking
the
work
seriously
and
holding
people
responsible
that
violate
the
policies
violate
the
laws
and
it
is
another
form
of
harassment.
So
I
think
that's
the
piece
that
we
really
need
to
be
clear
on.
F
It
is
harassment
and
if
any
of
you
or
any
of
the
students
that
you
work
with
or
see,
are
witnessing
any
of
this,
they
need
to
report
it
to
any
of
the
adults
in
any
of
our
schools,
so
it
can
be
thoroughly
addressed
and
or
investigated.
If
need
be.
And
again
I
want
to
just
thank
you
all
for
being
here
and
participating
in
this
webinar
and
I'm
going
to
pass
it
over
to
josh.
E
Thank
you
sparks
good
evening.
Everyone,
I'm
josh
meyer,
I'm
the
restorative
practices
and
positive
behavior
intervention
support
coordinator
for
the
district,
and
I
also
have
the
honor
of
working
with
sparks
and
autumn
in
the
office
of
equity,
and
we're
just
grateful
for
everyone
being
here
this
evening
and
for
our
awesome
facilitators
as.
A
Well,
all
right,
so
we're
going
to
move
into
breakout
spaces
and
based
on
the
numbers.
I
think
three
would
be
good
and
I'm
also
putting
in
the
chat
for
people
who
like
to
follow
a
circle
template
that's
visible
to
everybody.
Some
people
like
to
be
able
to
see
the
questions
prior
to
answering
them,
so
anyone
can
go
into
that
doc
and
view
that
while
josh
gets
us
in
our
waiting
rooms
and
then
we
will
come
back
at
6
50.
A
G
E
E
A
A
D
E
C
A
E
E
B
B
A
So
the
next
piece
of
this,
I
think
some
one
breakout
room
still
needs
to
close,
but
we
always
like
to
end
with
recommendations
for
the
school
district.
I
know
in
our
conversation
in
our
small
breakout
room,
a
lot
of
things
came
up
already,
just
in
going
through
the
rounds,
so
we
just
really
invite
people
to
either
use
the
chat
box
or
unmute
your
mics
and
to
give
some
recommendations
of
next
steps
about
combating
ableism
for
the
burlington
school
district.
A
A
D
D
We
make
sure
that
the
words
are
on
the
paper
and
that
the
papers
you
know
are
filed
well
and
but
that
we
get
into
classrooms.
And
we
start
you
know
shoveling-
that
doggone
ramp
and
understand
that
that's.
That
is
the
access
point
that
everyone
gets
to
come
into,
so
that
it's
not
just
making
sure
that
you
know
erica
has
what
she
needs
in
these
certain
circumstances.
D
But
truthfully,
if
we
thought
about
that
in
the
classroom,
we
probably
wouldn't
need
as
many
laws
as
we
have
that
it's
what's
good
for
the
goose
is
good
for
the
gander.
Don't
know
where
that
came
from.
So
if
it's
in
a
festive
offensive
expression,
I
I
do
apologize,
but
as
a
special
education
teacher,
a
person
who
I
called
myself
the
learning
maximizer,
because
I
don't
teach
special
education,
I
teach
children
how
to
maximize
their
learning.
So
I
was
the
learning
maximizer
people
would
look
and
go.
D
How
do
you
get
kids
to
do
that
and
I'm
like
because
I
taught
I
simply
taught
and
all
the
things
that
I
learned
in
my
profession
as
a
learning
maximizer-
are
truly
just
good
teaching,
really
good
teaching
meeting
kids
where
they
are
getting
the
barriers
out
of
the
way.
Adjusting
your
lessons.
Knowing
it's
me
that
needs
to
change,
not
the
kids.
If
they
didn't
do
well,
it
wasn't
their
failure.
It
was
mine,
you
know
just
shifting
that
not
to
blame
the
teachers
but
to
shift
the
perspective.
D
A
I
want
to
share
something
that
I'm
going
to
quote
eva.
She
said:
don't
pull
back
jump
in
the
lake
in
the
deepest
part?
Let's
talk
more
about
it.
This
is
just
a
start,
talk
more
about
it
in
schools
and
really
realize
you
know
what
kind
of
language
should
be
used.
How
do
we
talk
about
disabilities?
You
know
what
is
the
role
of
educators
to
not
only
meet
the
needs
of
students
with
disabilities,
but
to
also
educate
students
without
disabilities?
How
to
have
a
more
inclusive
society.
G
I
I
was
typing
something
in
the
chat:
hi
everybody,
it's
good
to
see
you
all
and
thank
you
for
being
here
and
and
for
this
important
conversation.
I
really
appreciate
it.
I
was
typing
in
the
chats,
but
I
figured
maybe
I'll
jump
in,
and
I
just
wanted
to
thank
eva
and
maria
first
for
the
for
asking
us
to
center
people
and
students
with
disabilities
in
our
development,
in
our
professional
learning
and
in
our
development
as
a
community.
I
think
it's
an
incredibly
important
point
and
I
loved
erica
I've
lost.