Application: Reflective Journal

This week you have been studying culture and diversity related to the contexts of gender, sexual orientation, and abilities and disabilities. Though disparate in nature, each of these categories merits careful consideration on personal, professional, and societal levels.

Part 1:

For the first portion of your journal entry this week, read over the responses that you wrote early in the course to the question: Who Am I? Then add at least three additional responses to this question in relation to your knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about gender, sexual orientation, and abilities and disabilities.

Part 2:

For the second part of your journal entry this week, review and think about the questions below. Then select two or more from each of the sections to respond to:

The Context of Gender and Sexual Orientation

How has being a man or a woman influenced my life? How has it limited me? Sustained me? Opened up possibilities?

If I had been a man instead of a woman or vice versa, how would my life have been different?

What assumptions do I make about other people based on their gender?

What assumptions do I make about individuals whose sexual orientation is different from mine?

As you walk around your community and watch television, imagine that you are gay, lesbian, or transgendered, and ask yourself the following questions: Where and when do I feel safe? Threatened?

The Context of Abilities and Disabilities

What activities or tasks make me feel confident? Uncomfortable or incompetent?

When have I had to struggle to learn something? How did that feel? How did I feel about people who grasped it more easily than I did?

How have my strengths and limitations affected my schooling? Job choices? Social life?

How do I react when I meet and adult or child with a disability?

What assumptions about the person's capabilities do I make on the basis of the disability? Are these assumptions warranted or not?

Assignment length: 2-3 pages.