From Lindsay Valderrama Created from College Staff Retreat | "Cones, Rods, and Other Obstacles: A Visual Person with a Visual Impairment" - Chad Parkinson
Description:
Imagine yourself in a conversation where you heard someone expressing their experiences with sexism and someone’s response is: Well, sexism happens all over the world. And then imagine a different conversation where you heard: I don’t see color, we’re all just human beings. How would you respond?
Engaging in discussions on topics such as gender, sex, race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, and language difference can be daunting. In this session, we’ll discuss the importance of creating an environment that normalizes the courage it takes to have authentic dialogue on challenging topics. After this session, you’ll take away a couple of strategies that we hope will give you just a little more confidence in having challenging conversations that can lead to communication for change.
Bios:
Dr. Carmen Henne-Ochoa is the Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the College of Arts and Sciences. She earned her Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Chicago. Her research and teaching have focused on questions of social stratification, inequality, and identity formation processes. At the core of her work and practice is interrogating disparities in the context of embodied difference and their connection to larger systems of privilege, power, and oppression. She launched the College’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory and Action Committee (DIAAC) and has served as its chair and now co-chair. She advocates for underserved and historically excluded groups also through her board membership on the IUB Latinx Faculty and Staff Council, ACE Women’s Network of Indiana, and PACE Faculty Advisory Board.
Lindsay Valderrama is the Program Management Assistant in the College Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and is also the Inbound Exchanges Coordinator for the College International Office. She is a proud Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences alumna, where she earned her B.L.S. with minors in Sociology and Anthropology. She is a Masters candidate at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where she is currently working on a degree in Social Justice and Community Action. A passionate advocate for neurodiversity and invisible disabilities, Lindsay enjoys working to develop programming, education, and understanding at the intersections of identities.
