I am most passionate about building a world that provides equitable access to opportunities and services. A world that deeply understands, or even simply acknowledges, the different challenges people face; a world that centers relationships and encourages empathetic relations; a world with circles of impact that connect different communities.
I entered UW certain that I would eventually apply for medical school. This has maintained (mostly) constant, but my understandings of the potentials of medicine have shifted throughout my time here. I have come to realize that health care demands an intimate understanding of the social, economic, and political determinants of health as much as it demands an intimate understanding of the physical form. As such, I found myself gravitating towards studying the social, legal, and economic factors that impact equity broadly. I have pursued degrees in Law, Societies, and Justice and Disability Studies. In these spaces, I have come to understand systems and structures as fraught with inequalities, inconsistencies, and unintended consequences. Yet, I have also come to know the resistance, resilience, and ingenuity that communities must find in order to survive.
This page will highlight the work I have done that has pursued and examined equity.
I entered UW certain that I would eventually apply for medical school. This has maintained (mostly) constant, but my understandings of the potentials of medicine have shifted throughout my time here. I have come to realize that health care demands an intimate understanding of the social, economic, and political determinants of health as much as it demands an intimate understanding of the physical form. As such, I found myself gravitating towards studying the social, legal, and economic factors that impact equity broadly. I have pursued degrees in Law, Societies, and Justice and Disability Studies. In these spaces, I have come to understand systems and structures as fraught with inequalities, inconsistencies, and unintended consequences. Yet, I have also come to know the resistance, resilience, and ingenuity that communities must find in order to survive.
This page will highlight the work I have done that has pursued and examined equity.
accessibility FOR TRAUMATIZED PEOPLE:
bringing healing-centered focuses into homelessness services
winter-spring 2020
Homelessness is traumatic. Without shelter, people become more vulnerable to physical, emotional, and psychological harm. For unhoused people, traumatization often manifests in behaviors and vulnerabilities that are incredibly difficult, sometimes dangerous, for service providers to manage. At this time, many social services have acknowledged the importance of trauma informed care, hereafter referred to as TIC, a framework that takes into account the impact of past trauma and the resulting coping mechanisms adopted. My research, an independent study with the Law, Societies, and Justice and Disability Studies programs, aims to understand TIC’s potential to effectively manage the behaviors and address the needs of traumatized clients. TIC could prove more effective and equitable than traditional methods of consequences. Through interviews with service providers caring for young adults experiencing homelessness, I argue that young adult homeless service providers are currently unable to fully address the needs of their clients with histories of traumatization due to a combination of individual, structural, and systemic barriers.
In conjunction, I am in the process of creating a trauma-informed safety and accountability program at ROOTS Young Adult Shelter. The program will address trauma, manage behaviors, and support direct service staff in homelessness services through a combination of restorative justice meetings between conflicting parties, working groups of people who share common behavioral struggles, and more structured and supportive safety plans between staff and vulnerable clients. This research has the potential to be widely applicable within social services. It takes extensive research on the impact of trauma and TIC and applies into an expansive program that providers can use to address the behavioral needs of their clients. Further, it provides qualitative and quantitative research on the implementation of TIC in shelter spaces.
In conjunction, I am in the process of creating a trauma-informed safety and accountability program at ROOTS Young Adult Shelter. The program will address trauma, manage behaviors, and support direct service staff in homelessness services through a combination of restorative justice meetings between conflicting parties, working groups of people who share common behavioral struggles, and more structured and supportive safety plans between staff and vulnerable clients. This research has the potential to be widely applicable within social services. It takes extensive research on the impact of trauma and TIC and applies into an expansive program that providers can use to address the behavioral needs of their clients. Further, it provides qualitative and quantitative research on the implementation of TIC in shelter spaces.
HEALTH equity:
CARE FOR WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES
WINTER 2019
The right to health is an essential right, but it is routinely ignored and violated based on social identities. Social, economic, and political factors determine our health as they determine who is considered deserving of accessing health care. Often, the most marginalized and oppressed people within society are unable to or discouraged from accessing health services. Poor people are routinely unable to access health care due to its cost. Marginalized people are routinely denied equitable health care, as their identities carry stereotypes and assumptions that alter the way that health providers address and treat them. This is unacceptable given medical advancements and capacity to provide for public health.
I plan to connect my commitment to social justice and equity to my future work in the medical field. For me, I hope this will involve working as an obstetrician/gynecologist (OB/GYN). The right to reproductive and sexual health is impeded by assumptions about womanhood, inaccessibility due to economic means, and misinformation. My work in this field will entail both prioritizing overlooked communities in the medical field and working as an advocate who supports and amplifies the work always ongoing in these communities.
Attempting to understand the possibilities and barriers to equity have been central points of my academic training in Law, Societies, and Justice and Disability studies at the University. Each of the entries below addresses equity for marginalized populations in different contexts. This will be especially true for women with disabilities, who are both over-medicalized and denied appropriate medical care. The reproductive health care that women with disabilities typically receive serves to reduce autonomy. Women with disabilities are typically not presumed to be sexual, so important questions are neither asked nor answers.
The essays below address this formidable gap in the access to sexual and reproductive health care for women with disabilities through a human rights framework.
I plan to connect my commitment to social justice and equity to my future work in the medical field. For me, I hope this will involve working as an obstetrician/gynecologist (OB/GYN). The right to reproductive and sexual health is impeded by assumptions about womanhood, inaccessibility due to economic means, and misinformation. My work in this field will entail both prioritizing overlooked communities in the medical field and working as an advocate who supports and amplifies the work always ongoing in these communities.
Attempting to understand the possibilities and barriers to equity have been central points of my academic training in Law, Societies, and Justice and Disability studies at the University. Each of the entries below addresses equity for marginalized populations in different contexts. This will be especially true for women with disabilities, who are both over-medicalized and denied appropriate medical care. The reproductive health care that women with disabilities typically receive serves to reduce autonomy. Women with disabilities are typically not presumed to be sexual, so important questions are neither asked nor answers.
The essays below address this formidable gap in the access to sexual and reproductive health care for women with disabilities through a human rights framework.
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ACKEE AND SALTFISH IN JAMAICA
SUMMER 2019
Through the Law, Societies, and Justice Program, I was able to comparatively study Disability & Ageing in Jamaica. Throughout our time there, we interacted with various non-profits and governmental agencies who are focused on disability and aging in Jamaica (Deaf CAN, special olympics volleyball team, ageing persons associations, etc). This international engagement allowed me to compare and contrast disability & ageing policy in the United States and Jamaica. I am currently studying LSJ while minoring in Disability studies with focuses on poverty and inequality studies. I have a fairly robust understanding of the ways that legal systems work in the US context. I also work in nonprofits and social services, so I have a lot of experience within these social systems. This program gave me the opportunity to explore deservedness, poverty, disability, and nonprofit management.
More generally, it introduced me to a new way to imagine community, as we engaged with the folks who have created and maintained community and support for disabled and aging persons. The program asked us to engage with the disabled community in Jamaica as a means to critically engage with disability policy and disability experience. This offered us an intimate look into non-profits and organizations that give folks access to community, support, and dignity within inadequate social systems. Despite its poverty, Jamaica has robust disability policy. However, it is not reliably enforced. Jamaica is "policy rich, practice poor." This difference indicates a difference in the valuation of disabled and ageing people within this country. It speaks to an understanding of, but a failure to implement, basic deservedness.
At this point in my life, I am a fairly well seasoned traveler. I have had the immense privilege of traveling alone on multiple contents for long periods of time. But never before have I felt so closely connected to a country.
In Jamaica, I got to know a vulnerability that is not visible to the average traveler. I still got to know the sandy beaches, the ways that the ocean kisses the shoreline only to be sent away. I got to know the mountains, perhaps too intimately with one hellacious hike. I got to know the sea, the fishes that swim in it, and the jellyfish that wreaked havoc on my arm without even needing a brain. I got to know the beauty of Jamaica’s natural scenery. But I also got to know the beauty of the people.
I got to witness some of the most beautiful ways that people remain resilient in the face of dehumanizing situations. I got to know the ways that people care for and create community. We met with parents of children with disabilities, we met with their teachers and caregivers. We met with advocates and grassroots activists and politicians. We met with people whose entire lives had been defined by the barriers that faced them and still refused to stop chipping at the stones.
I traveled with beautiful people. We laughed, we cried, we tackled our cognitive dissonance. And still, we remained so very human.
Also, I learned to leave my hair curly and that has SIGNIFICANTLY improved my life.
More generally, it introduced me to a new way to imagine community, as we engaged with the folks who have created and maintained community and support for disabled and aging persons. The program asked us to engage with the disabled community in Jamaica as a means to critically engage with disability policy and disability experience. This offered us an intimate look into non-profits and organizations that give folks access to community, support, and dignity within inadequate social systems. Despite its poverty, Jamaica has robust disability policy. However, it is not reliably enforced. Jamaica is "policy rich, practice poor." This difference indicates a difference in the valuation of disabled and ageing people within this country. It speaks to an understanding of, but a failure to implement, basic deservedness.
At this point in my life, I am a fairly well seasoned traveler. I have had the immense privilege of traveling alone on multiple contents for long periods of time. But never before have I felt so closely connected to a country.
In Jamaica, I got to know a vulnerability that is not visible to the average traveler. I still got to know the sandy beaches, the ways that the ocean kisses the shoreline only to be sent away. I got to know the mountains, perhaps too intimately with one hellacious hike. I got to know the sea, the fishes that swim in it, and the jellyfish that wreaked havoc on my arm without even needing a brain. I got to know the beauty of Jamaica’s natural scenery. But I also got to know the beauty of the people.
I got to witness some of the most beautiful ways that people remain resilient in the face of dehumanizing situations. I got to know the ways that people care for and create community. We met with parents of children with disabilities, we met with their teachers and caregivers. We met with advocates and grassroots activists and politicians. We met with people whose entire lives had been defined by the barriers that faced them and still refused to stop chipping at the stones.
I traveled with beautiful people. We laughed, we cried, we tackled our cognitive dissonance. And still, we remained so very human.
Also, I learned to leave my hair curly and that has SIGNIFICANTLY improved my life.
equity moving forward
As I move into a medical career, I hope to bring equity into the ways that I treat my patients on an interpersonal level and demand health equity on a structural level. I hope to become the type of physician that has impact from the bedside to the broader community