These are reflection questions for the end of Jonathan Sieswerda’s Presentation at the Connecting the Dots conference in Edmonton. When answering, try not to judge your answers or look for “right” or “wrong” in your reflections. Just notice what you think, and ask yourself why that is, and see where you end up.

General Questions

1: what do you think of the idea of seeing ability as a spectrum that were all on, rather than some people having disabilities and some not?

2: What if we applied this framework of difference as a spectrum to other categories of difference? what are the possible pros and cons to this approach?

Questions For Those Living With A Disability

1: How do you currently relate to your disability? Do you find yourself more on the side of hating and avoiding it, or more on the side of embracing it as part of you and something that could be positive?

2: What experiences have you had, that have shaped your current relationship to your disability?

3: How (if at all) does my story change how you see your disability? If it does, how so?

4: How would you like your relationship to your disability to be different?

Questions For Those Who Do Not Live With A Disability

1: When you think of someone with a disability (such as a visual impairment), what is your first thought or reaction? Try not to judge yourself, just notice it.

2: What do you think has shaped this perspective?

3: what (if anything) would you like to change about this?

4: who or what have you seen that challenged your ideas around disability?

Key Points

Like anything in life, disability has good sides and bad sides.

Our relationship to and perspective on our disability can change.

We all have a roll to play in inclusion. inclusion looks like lots of things, including giving them the same opportunities as anyone else, respecting them the same, letting them set their own limits instead of limiting them. At the end of the day, it means treating a person like a person, and seeing that before their disability.

We all have limits and differences, and disability is much wider then you might first think.

The people around you make a huge impact on how you will see your disability, and life in general.

At the end of the day, we are all just people. We all deserve to be included and accepted, to have opportunity and autonomy, and to be loved.