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Phase 2: Extra Credit: Tyrone Bryant

Disability has always been the salient social identity I’ve been interested in focusing on and working with. I’m comfortable working with disability because a lot of my peers growing up back home have taught me a lot about disability through an unseen lens that I would not have otherwise seen without them. I’ve worked on disability throughout my high school career – focusing my projects on disability and awareness when I could choose my topics. Choosing a project for this class that focused on disability was really important for me. Tyrone Bryant in the recording asks us to reflect on who will hold us accountable and that there are no wrong answers. But I think that in this one particular case there is a wrong answer. Anything other than yourself is selfish. To tack and force that emotional labor on someone, in the targeted SSI community or not, is selfish to presume someone else will hold you accountable for your actions. There is no one that should be keeping track of your own projects and progress other than yourself. Focusing on QuickEd I reached out to my peers around me for feedback on what they thought of the project. I sat down and really actively listened to what they were telling me and what their struggles were and how they overcame or are still trying to overcome it. One of the biggest things when working with disability, or any other social salient identity for that matter, is an extremely sensitive matter where it is not ok to presume/assume anything. How each other experiences and interprets a situation is different and that’s 100% the mindset you, as the interviewer, need to have. While I may not have been perfect in all my approaches of talking and interviewing disabilities students in my immediate community, I am constantly learning and trying to improve – and really that’s all I, or anyone, can ask of myself.

One of the major ways a student/child experiences society is in a school. In school we experience bullying, racism, classism, privilege, power plays, injustice, inequality, etc. As a kid, I was often bullied. I went to Catholic private schools throughout my entire childhood leading up to high school. It cost my parents $500 a month to continue schooling at St. Brigid’s. Already this places classism and a monetary value on education. Is it to say that those in public school are receiving a lesser education? That my $500 pays for a safer environment and equates to quality schooling? Am I to think, that because of this $500, I am better than those who are “poor” and go to public school? That aside, even though we were all attending the same school, my classmates never saw me as an equal. We all received the same education and had the same school lunch, but it was the rich kids with houses in Pacific Heights, the affluent part of town, and mansions, and lived in gated communities that had all the friends. They were the popular Caucasian kids who have benefited from years of generational wealth, a topic for another day that requires its own 1000 blog post. They leverage the fact that they have more money to garner friendships, power, and curry favor with the other students. They had the newest iPods, the coolest clothes for Free Uniform day, the best of everything. The regulars, like me, were considered poor and looked down upon. While I was never stuffed in a trash can, it was emotionally damaging to me and others who had to suffer at the hands of loneliness, fruitless labor to connect with people, and sadness during recess. On days without school lunch, I had to bring rice with leftover dishes from last night dinner, while the other kids got Lunchables from their family. It’s funny how we would get mocked before, and now the kids in present day are all trying to be exotic and eat dumplings for lunch when I/we were ridiculed for it “gross” and “peculiar” smell. While this may seem insignificant, a child’s sense of belonging while growing up is so vehemently prevalent in every action they take that it’s overpowering. It is because of these experiences that I can relate to those who are cut short by the systemic oppressions in place to keep those “in their place”.

Of course, even while I was experiencing classism, racism, and power plays, I also (now) understand that I was still privileged. While privilege does not erase any of the hardships I have overcome, it has certainly eased it. I was privileged enough to have parents financially support me throughout schooling – I still am privileged to have my parents support me financially as I write this as a student in the nation’s most expensive university. I am privileged, although some people may call this a nonprivileged, to have the model minority Asian stereotype backing me. I understand that the stereotypes and societal norms/roles that come forced with model Asian minority are problematic itself, the stereotype itself provides benefits, wanted or not. When people see Asian they automatically think good at math and hardworking. Again, while this is wanted or not, it’s human nature to judge and when a potential employer makes this judgement it works in our favor – a favor that other POC such as Latinx and African American people are not afforded. In this way, I see model Asian minority as a privilege. These are but only a few of the privileges I currently inhabit – but it is because I am aware of my privilege that I do my best – consciously – to speak up for those that do not have this luxury.

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Phase 2: FINAL Project Essay

        In the modern age of technology, it’s extremely rare to find someone that leaves the house without their phone on them at all times. That is the basis of why we as a group, consisting of Michael, Munsu, Camil, and I, decided to come together to create a learning application on the phone. We were taking into account the fact that people may not have a computer at their disposal and only have a phone. In this way, we can be all inclusive of those that only have the ability to learn on the go rather than sit down in a traditional classroom, e.g. students working 3 jobs to pay the bills. We focused on building on business on the premise of teaching business aspects. Additionally, we also planned to make two distinctive features on the app so that it is accessible to all. However, the group and I decided to go our separate ways as they wished to pursue a different route of app learning. I decided to proceed with the project because I believed it’s important that everyone has equal access to business features. I have implemented both audio and sign language features so that both the hearing and vision impaired community are able to use our application without hindrances into the prototype. While there are other applications such as Khan Academy, Udemy, Lynda, Duolingo, etc., they are not inclusive in their methods of teaching. They all have read only formats with some having audio options. QuickEd, the application I created, attempts to address and remedy all these shortcomings. Since the midterm, I’ve reached out to someone in my targeted social salient identity audience and also an expert I consider to be knowledge on the field of working with physically disabled students.

        Accessibility technology is not an advanced part of the app market. Apps generally market toward the general mass and do not offer accessibility options. Throughout the world, 5% of the population has some form of deaf/partial deafness (about 466 million people). In the United States alone, 1 in 20 Americans have some form of hearing disability. In regard to vision impairment, 285 million of the world’s population are affected. These are relatively small numbers in comparison to the global population of 7 billion+, however this does not mean that it’s to be regarded. If anything, it is because they are a minority that there should be more accommodation given – and this is where QuickEd steps in. With only every 4 out of 10 adult disabled Americans employed, it only shows a lack of ability by the able-bodied Americans to accommodate and provide working environments that are accessible to all. I hoped that in creating this app, an immersive experience was created in which both able bodied individuals and those with disabilities can be on the same level playing field – equity, rather than equality, for all. This is what we thought since the inception of the product, and I hoped that I have achieved that. One of the most important aspects of life, obtaining a job, is decided based on education. Disabled people are often not allowed the liberties that able-bodied people are. They either have to find a place that accepts and overlooks their differences or rely on government aid to get them get by – sometimes even needing to do both to sustain a working lifestyle as government funds alone do not provide much. QuickEd hopes that in the long term, it allows disabled bodies to be on the same playing field as able-bodied people by providing access to the same educational tools. I understand that I am not the first to think of this idea, however I have researched and seen the alternatives and have come to a resounding solution that the alternatives do not make the app user friendly, have too many errors and glitches, and are generally has less functionality than its regular counterpart. QuickEd App aims to be both user friendly and educational so that the difference between learning in a traditional classroom and learning via app is a seamless transition.

        The persona my partner, Shiv, created was an app based businessman. I found this to be actually quite intriguing because they way he viewed my project was like a businessman on Wall St with an app icon for the head – what I perceive as the intersectionality between entrepreneurship and technology. In a way, the figure Shiv created really is what QuickEd aims for in the long term. We want to help the disabled community, those with hearing and vision impairment, become employed. Whether that’s through a business standpoint or using business skills to apply elsewhere, the app based businessman really is a culmination and visualization of what QuickEd personified could be.

        Every disabled person’s journey to survive in an ableist world is different. While I cannot speak about their experiences and hardships to overcome the obstacles inherently placed in their path, I can discuss what I observed. Throughout my education, there were always special classes set aside for those with abilities and needing special accommodation. Though they were allowed to roam amongst the other students during recess/break times, their learning environment was always separated from the “regular” students. No matter how much integration was placed to make them feel a part of the student population, because fundamentally their classrooms and lectures were designed differently from regular coursework – they were never truly a part of the mass. As a child growing up, belonging and fitting in is universally known to be the biggest social problem, no matter the circumstances; nobody wants to stick out or be different. Drawing on our own different experiences collectively, the four of us conceived the idea to create QuickEd. Our ultimate goal of this project is to provide the disabled community the same privileges that able bodied have had for the past centuries through education.

        When reading sections of Technology Choices: Why Occupations Differ in Their Embrace of New Technology, specifically the chapter “the role of occupational factors in shaping technology choices” (p170-194), reminded me of our project. The premise of the whole book is based around their claim that “occupational factors strongly shape technology choices in the workplace” (169). With the technological revolution fully well on its way, providing an opportunity and a competitive quality to disabled youth/adults and in turn perhaps lead to an occupation in the future is long-term side effect that QuickEd wishes to have. I then asked myself, how can QuickEd be applied to make it useful for people in most if not all fields? After I was able to decipher the large number of unnecessarily big words throughout the chapters, I realized that the ideas they presented were extremely relatable. To put all of the ideas condensed into a single example, the Levy and Murnane findings show no better result. Essentially, they exposed the processes and procedures of what cardiologists do to machines/computers but found that the computers could only complement the processes, not take over. Similarly, we have to understand that while QuickEd may be creating a revolutionizing slice in the eyes of the disabled community, it is not a means to take over the educational sector. In the book Diversity and Design: Understanding Hidden Consequences Anthony discusses the height of a podium in relation to her confidence in the section gender and sexuality. She says that, “for many speakers, a highly noticeable, uncomfortable mismatch occurs where the relationship between the speaker and podium mis out of proportion” (195), which I related to in terms of how QuickEd is really trying to bridge that gap of disproportionality between education and occupation in the disabled community. QuickEd only serves to supplement and complement the existing technologies in place to make it an equally immersive learning tool/environment for the disabled community.

        With a goal in mind, our group set out to create a product and I focused on perfecting it. I had taken the prototype and elevated it to the best of the ability. Since the midterm, the project has been tweaked to add basic business information and also financial functions except now I programmed it into a working prototype that can be test driven for feedback. Having minimal experience in computer programming languages, I enlisted the help of my CS peers to help me code a working app that I could prototype to my targeted SSI contact and expert contact. I primarily used Appy Pie as it’s a free software (with ads) that allows the user to create apps on a cloud software.

I had made initial contact with Adule Dajani, a student that’s currently studying in University of San Francisco who is hearing impaired. As one of my best friends from high school, it was important for me to create this project and for her to approve of it as useful and educational – as a result I turned to her for my contact. I scheduled a FaceTime call with her on April 16th. After the initial catching up and talking, we discussed my project. I had sent her a working prototype of my app that she could test drive and give me constructive feedback. I asked about her experience learning in high school and in college and how they are in comparison to each other. She made sure that what she said in this interview was not speaking for those in the community or the community as a whole as her experiences differs from others. She proceeded to say that because she is only partially deaf, she had a relatively easier time adjusting to classes. She often how classes were ableist and would affect her studies “but only slightly.” She had to learn how to adjust herself to the classroom and either sit closer to the front of classroom or specifically ask the teacher to speak louder. While these seem like easy fixes, they show how the disabled individual has to adjust themselves and adapt to the environment already in place – a space that was created with no thought to how inclusive the space is. She told me how she never really thought about how she had to conform herself to the environment because she was so used to it – she’d been doing it since she began incrementally losing her hearing. When test driving my app, she said that she could see where I was trying to take this app and what I was trying to do with it, but there were a lot of technical errors that kept happening (which I also ran into while product testing). Technical issues aside, she found that it was actually quite useful is teaching basic business to the masses. While I had explained to her my reasoning for not including closed captioning (mistranslations and misheard words could lead to big misunderstandings versus sign language is universal and cannot be misinterpreted), she told me it would be beneficial to include the option to have that as well. She did tell me that the sign language was a good idea as it’s easy to understand and she hasn’t seen that before in an educational app. Taking into account her feedback, if I were to continue with this project I would try to fix the technical issues, implement closed captioning, maybe expand my business model and/or add lessons.

        The expert opinion I contacted was my high school health teacher who also teaches a special education class and leads a Peer Helping after school club that focuses on the student body and providing more inclusive spaces (mentally and emotionally) as well as focusing on student health. Ms. Kelly Alberta (or as we called her Ms. Lighty) was always one of those teachers on campus that you know you could go to for whatever reason and she would help in any way that she could. Teachers that show genuine care and also have the ability to make students feel safe and open are rare and hard to come by – a main reason why she resonated with so many members of the student body. I initially contacted Ms. Lighty because I knew that even after 4 years of being out of high school, I could still turn to her with any problems I had and she would help. She responded the following week with my answered questionnaire document. With my expert opinion, rather than focus primarily on receiving feedback for my app, I wanted to know what it’s like to teach these students and what kind of barriers she and they face especially amongst an able-bodied community. She did ask that while she was happy to answer my questions, she ask that her answers be not made public and I instead summarize what she said for each question if need be. Out of respect for her wishes, I won’t be showing the document but will be showing my initial contact e-mail to her. One of the main takeaways I got from her document is that her physically disabled students, whether it be inability to walk, inability to see, or inability to hear, they all just want one thing and that is to have friends. But from her perspective, she often finds herself wondering if the students that have graduated are doing well and are living mostly independent and happy lives. She worries that the outside society does not cater to them – which it does not – and how they will find jobs after graduation. In a capitalistic society, this is an extremely valid concern. In my questionnaire, I explain that my reasoning for choosing to educate people on basic business aspects and financial literacy. Ms. Lighty wrote that she sees the idea behind why I would choose business and suggested that rather only offer financial literacy (which is what I had programmed for the work-like prototype) I should also offer basic business education. I took this in stride and reorganized and reformatted the app so that it also offers basic business training and aspects.

The biggest question I ask myself and I had others ask me is why we chose business and why I chose to continue with business education and how that intersects with ableism and helping the disabled community. Business, I personally believe, can be applied anywhere. The tactics and skills learned through how to start, run, and manage a business remains relevant throughout all fields of life. More importantly the social skills that are understood and leadership qualities developed shine through in any field of work. Having studied business for four years, the different tactics used in how to approach people, conflict resolution, how to be convincing – these are all skills that are important to business yet are transferable to any other skill set. Allowing the disabled community, specifically targeting those with hearing and vision impairment, to hone in these skills gives them a competitive advantage and an edge just to have a fighting chance like everybody else.

Looking towards the future, I believe QuickEd really is on the right path to becoming, if not already, a revolutionary product that equals the playing field. What I would do next is do widespread rollout of the app. I have already incorporated what I believe at this point the very best culmination of material needed for success. What’s now needed is mass user feedback. I could add a “contact us” section or a page that allows for feedback from users. At this point, we could even do an exchange of survey results for compensation i.e. complete this survey for $5 Amazon gift card! Another idea I had was to take the app to be able to work offline. In major hubs like New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco public transportation and underground trains allow for a lot of downtime with or without internet. Allowing commuters to access the app without internet would provide a new aspect of convenience that may appeal to an untapped target market.

        Works Cited

Alberta, Kelly. Personal communication. 3 May. 2019

Bailey, Diane E., and Paul M. Leonardi. Technology Choices Why Occupations Differ in Their Embrace of New Technology. The MIT Press, 2015.

Dajani, Adule. Personal interview. 16 Apr. 2019

Tauke, Beth, et al. Diversity and Design: Understanding Hidden Consequences. Routledge, 2015.

“Deafness and Hearing Loss.” Who.intl, World Health Organization, 28 Nov. 2018, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss.

“GLOBAL DATA ON VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS 2010.” who.intl, World Health Organization, 2012, www.who.int/blindness/GLOBALDATAFINALforweb.pdf.

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Phase 2: FINAL Video Project

https://youtu.be/dFo2uL4_6SM

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Phase 2: Post 10: MLA Sources

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Phase 2: Post 9: Second Interview

I plan to contact either Ms. Kelly Alberta (Lighty) or Ms. Yvette Gonzalez from my old high school for my expert opinion. They work with special education kids and both specialize in education for special needs kids. While they work with both mentally and physically impaired students, I believe that they have the insight necessary in order to rate and discuss my project with me in relation to their area of expertise/my research problem. 

I believe rather than contacting a researcher who has done countless number of studies regarding the subject, the true experts are the ones who work with and interact with the people affected. I will most likely contact Ms. Lighty as I have had a lot of personal discussions with her and know her on a deeper level during my time in high school than I did Ms. Gonzalez. 

I will most likely be sending a questionnaire over to her to fill out as well as communicate through e-mail transactions as I know she is busy teaching both her special ed students and also her health class.

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Phase 2: Post 8: Research Problem

My research problem I’m trying to address is lack of business education for those with physical disabilities of vision or hearing. This is a problem because disabled people rarely have the chance to level the playing field with able bodied members of the community. They do not get the chance to learn the same material, have access to the same resources, or receive help that is tailored to the norm. It excludes them by not providing resources integrated into their program that allows for accessibility. By addressing this problem, I hope that this will continue to ripple into starting the conversation about, if not addressing other issues as well. 

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Phase 2: Post 7: NYU Safe Zone & Faith Zone

Again, because I’m writing this after the event happened I’ll be modifying my post to reflect on my thoughts of the speaker. The presenters both did an amazing job of detailing out the terms and making sure that everyone in the conference room was up to speed on all aspects regardless of prior knowledge. They were patient and provided a safe space that encouraged asking questions without judgement. Sometimes people are scared to ask controversial questions to better their knowledge and resort to google -- but that doesnt always provide the right answer. Conducting these trainings is really important especially in a space like NYU where a lot of nonheterosexual and nonbinary kids come to study and want a safe space. I think what they’re doing in terms of reviewing history and practices is so important.

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Phase 2: Post 6: Reflection on External Speakers

Last week Wednesday was the first time we had someone come into the classroom in person to answer our questions and we also got to see the place at which they work. One major thing I noticed across all of these speakers, whether they’re video calling in or in person, the amount of passion they have for what they’re doing doesn’t change. To do all these things that involve both diversity and technology and the intersection of that and ultimately helping others, they really showed and emphasized the basis of having a passion to help others and to love what you’re doing. I think that’s an important lesson to learn in especially an engineering school where a lot of the times work, classes, and grades often make us forget why we’re here in the first place studying what we are.

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Phase 2: Post 5: Target Audience

Contacted Adule -- my friend from back home -- who is a hearing impaired person. She cannot hear certain sounds of specific frequencies.  

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Phase 2: Post 4: Project “Expert”

placeholder -- still trying to figure out who to contact and in what way

(edited 5/13): I ended up contacting Ms. Lighty on Apr. 29 and she responded back to me May 3. I contacted her via e-mail. 

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Phase 2: Post 3: Thoughts on Midterm

I will be continuing the course of the final with my group’s midterm project idea. We plan to do user feedback and create a physical working prototype of the app. I have some friends I can contact to test drive the app that are visually and/or hearing disabled. Of course we can also reach out to organizations that specialize in helping the disabled community and providing equal opportunity/access to them. One of the aspects I am worried about is finding an expert’s opinion and feedback on this as I do not know what entails an expert or not in this subject. Can one even define themselves as an expert in this?

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Phase 2: Post 2: Vernelle Noel

Posting this after hearing Vernelle speak in class, I will instead modify the assignment to what I thought of it. I thought that she was really insightful on how technology is impacting her work and how she’s been integrating technology and her work with VAAN Design Lab. I found it interesting that she’s embracing the technology that’s revolutionizing all sectors, rather than trying to fight it (which a lot of sectors like healthcare, corporate business, and manufacturing have been rejecting). One of the more interesting topics discussed were robotics and that was particularly interesting to me because robotics is not a tech that’s considered all that often when deciding to integrate.

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Phase 2: Post 1: Kiberia News Network

I watched these two videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Y0DC2_RLg

and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdKYqvxHbHA

One of the questions I had while browsing videos is: With the fire, demolitions, and the challenge it is to supply and maintain general life necessities (transportation/water/housing), how do you or the community decide what technology is introduced and taught?

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Midterm Project: QuickEd

First picture: works like iteration map

Second - fifth picture: looks like prototype

Our project is an mobile application meant for iOS and Android software systems. It is an educational technology that caters to the disabled community, specifically the hearing and vision impaired. We are targeting the disabled community in order to level the playing learning field so that they’re able to learn in the same conditions as able bodied students. Their common salient identity is disabled, other salient identities may vary depending on gender, race, age, class, etc. Currently there are apps that accessibility friendly to the disabled community, but they are not quite exactly what we are doing. For example, one of the more well known accessibility app is P3 Mobile which allows users to sign-to-text, i.e. the software translate the user’s sign language into text. However this is impractical as users are often holding their mobile device with one hand, not to mention the errors it generates from misread movements. Our prototype takes the faults of past accessibility apps and aims to address those problems with supplement with solutions of our own.

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Midterm Project: QuickEd

In the modern age of technology, it’s extremely rare to find someone that leaves the house without their phone on them at all times. That is the basic reasoning of why we as a group, consisting of Michael, Munsu, Camil, and I, decided to do a learning app on the phone. We were taking into account the fact that people may not have a computer at their disposal and only have a phone. In this way, we can be all inclusive of those that only have the ability to learn on the go rather than sit down in a traditional classroom, e.g. students working 3 jobs to pay the bills. Additionally, we also plan to make two distinctive features on the app so that it is accessible to all. We are implementing both audio and sign language features so that both the hearing and vision impaired community are able to use our application without hindrances. Applications such as Khan Academy, Udemy, Lynda, Duolingo, etc. are not inclusive in their methods of teaching. They all have read only formats with some having audio options. QuickEd, the application we are creating, attempts to address all these problems.

        Accessibility technology is not an advanced part of the app market. Apps generally market toward the general mass and do not offer accessibility options. Throughout the world, 5% of the population has some form of deaf/partial deafness (about 466 million people). In the United States alone, 1 in 20 Americans have some form of hearing disability. In regard to vision impairment, 285 million of the world’s population are affected. These are relatively small numbers in comparison to the global population of 7 billion+, however this does not mean that it’s to be regarded. If anything, it is because they are a minority that there should be more accommodation given – and this is where QuickEd steps in. We hope that in creating this app, we create an immersive experience in which both able bodied individuals and those with disabilities can be on the same level playing field – equity, rather than equality, for all. In addition to the educational aspect, education is the basis for all things in life. One of the most important aspects of life, obtaining a job, is decided based on education. Disabled people are often not allowed the liberties that able bodied people are. They either have to find a place that accepts and overlooks their differences or rely on government aid to get them get by. QuickEd hopes that in the long term, it allows disabled bodies to be on the same playing field as able bodied people by letting them access the same educational tools. We understand that we are not the first to think of this idea, however we have researched and seen the alternatives and have come to a resounding solution that the alternatives do not make the app user friendly, have too many errors and glitches, and are generally has less functionality than its regular counterpart. QuickEd App aims to be both user friendly and educational so that the difference between learning in a traditional classroom is a seamless transition.

        Every disabled person’s journey to survive in an ableist world is different. While I cannot speak about their experiences and hardships to overcome the obstacles inherently placed in their path, I can discuss what I observed. Throughout my education, there were always special classes set aside for those with abilities and needing special accommodation. Though they were allowed to roam amongst the other students during recess/break times, their learning environment was always separated from the “regular” students. No matter how much integration was placed to make them feel a part of the student population, because fundamentally their classrooms and lectures were designed differently from regular coursework – they were never truly a part of the mass. As a child growing up, belonging and fitting in is universally known to be the biggest social problem, no matter the circumstances; nobody wants to stick out or be different. Drawing on our own different experiences collectively, the four of us conceived the idea to create QuickEd. Our ultimate goal of this project is to provide the disabled community the same privileges that able bodied have had for the past centuries through education.

        When reading sections of Technology Choices: Why Occupations Differ in Their Embrace of New Technology it reminded me of our project. How can we apply QuickEd and make it useful for people in most if not all fields? After I was able to decipher the large number of unnecessarily big words throughout the chapters, I realized that the ideas they presented were extremely relatable. To put all of the ideas condensed into a single example, the Levy and Murnane findings show no better result. Essentially, they exposed the processes and procedures of what cardiologists do to machines/computers, but found that the computers could only complement the processes, not take over. Similarly, we have to understand that while we may be creating a revolutionary product in the eyes of the disabled community, it is not a means to take over the educational sector. QuickEd only serves to supplement and complement the existing technologies in place to make it an equally immersive learning tool/environment for the disabled community.

        As I worked on the iteration and prototyping for this app, I ran into a lot of technical issues. While I have created the images of what the app would look like throughout the stages, I need to figure out how to get it working in reality. Additionally, I wish to make it look more natural and integrate the sign language and audio features more seamlessly. The next step would to be solve these problems, integrate more features, conduct more research on the problems it would be solving, what problems we missed via research of what disabled community needs. One of the biggest differences and next steps I will need to continue for is that actual run through of the app and make it a working one that we can test drive.

        Works Cited

Bailey, Diane E., and Paul M. Leonardi. Technology Choices Why Occupations Differ in Their Embrace of New Technology. The MIT Press, 2015.

“Deafness and Hearing Loss.” Who.intl, World Health Organization, 28 Nov. 2018, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss.

“GLOBAL DATA ON VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS 2010.” who.intl, World Health Organization, 2012, www.who.int/blindness/GLOBALDATAFINALforweb.pdf.

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Phase 1: Post 10: Makeup Post

I realize I skipped one of the assignments, my salient identity. My salient identity is a Californian student studying in NY. In regards to identity, I’m identifying with location and occupation. I believe this is our other perceive me since I talk a lot about home as California is a huge part of my life and since my life revolves around my studies at the moment, my peers are all students as well and this is how we see each other as respective students. 

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Phase 1: Post 9: Midterm Progress

Our group’s (consisting of Munsu, Michael, Camil, and myself) prototype is going to be online/print outs of app pages and create a signing video that we will integrate into the course. Like previously stated, the biggest strength within our group is that while we are all BTM students, we have some experience with coding and all come from different backgrounds. The diversity in location (everyone coming from a different country) allows us to see how disabilities, specifically hearing impaired people, are dealt with and what resources are given to aid them in daily life. We see the discrepancies and the shortcomings and can try to address that.