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A fifteen year-old boy is beginning high school today, the school he is attending was just renovated under a very large budget, it is now very aesthetically pleasing. His mom will drop him off and most likely embarrass him just as any parent of a freshman in high school would. There is a twist in this seemingly “typical” day, his mother will have to lift his wheelchair out of the back of the car and then lift him into it in order for him to get around for the day. She’ll wheel him into the building and he’ll get sympathetic or attempted sympathetic stares the whole way, but it’s okay right? Because he must be used to it. The entrance to the school is accessible in a very literal sense so she brings him to his first class and leaves him to his day.

A fourteen year-old girl is beginning high school today, she will attend the same school as the boy and her day will start off similarly. She will walk in nervously with her parent, most likely get embarrassed by them, then her day will begin. Her disability is not as visible as the first student but rather a constant internal battle of when she is going to tell her parents she is queer, should she have to? Will people at school know? Will she have to tell them? Her mind is a constant whirlpool of questions and doubts about herself and who she really is. Disability is not always visible or physical.

Introduction

For hundreds of years, American Sign Language (also known as ASL) has been used as the primary mode of communication in the deaf community.  Because of its use of gestures, hand shapes, and visual expression, ASL’s authenticity as a language has been challenged by many throughout its history. Despite these claims of illegitimacy and attempts to abolish its use, ASL continues to

maintain a strong hold in both deaf culture and history. In recent years, sign language’s  uniqueness and accessibility has made the language increasingly more present in the hearing community. Studies are now showing that sign language is boosting cognitive skills and performance levels in young people in addition to giving them insight into the deaf community. American Sign Language’s positive academic and cultural benefits prove that if added to the mandatory curriculum taught in American Kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) schools, not only would it accommodate intersecting identities but it would help combat audism and the stigma attached to people with disabilities.

An institution described through the eyes of its members tells a lot. Bryn Mawr College through the eyes of its students is one such institution. Consider the following terms used by Mawrters to describe Bryn Mawr: sisterhood, home, academic success, traditions, community, stress, empowered, intellect.  

These words describe the culture that is Bryn Mawr College, a culture created by the cultural identities of the student body.

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, culture is "the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization" (Merriam Webster). One's environment throughout one's life influences these sets of characteristics, to comprise of one's cultural identity. Culture is not a single factor; rather, it is the intersection of many identities. Eli Clare, a white genderqueer activist and writer with cerebral palsy attempts to verbalize the intersectionality of these multiple cultural identities "gender reaches into disability; disability wraps around class; class strains against abuse; abuse snarls into sexuality; sexuality folds on top of race...everything finally piling into a single human body" (Clare, 143). We gain and develop these characteristics of our cultural identity as we progress through life, influenced by the culture of those around us and by our own individual actions.

When we talked about silence in class many people talked about how silence was bad and the only reason Eva stayed silent, they thought, was that it was the only thing left she had power over in her life. These are all reasons why silence is bad and the idea that someone keeps silent as a last resort. Many times people talk about how powerful it it is to stand up and say exactly what you mean, or stand up against a majority. These are all important ideas and I think that sometimes it is necessary to stand up and speak. However, we also talked about how the meaning of silence for the one who is silent is important because their reasoning for staying silent can change how we view silence. Many people do not talk as much because they are thinking and deliberating. This whole idea about pondering what you are going to say and being very deliberate about what you are saying is a relevant point about silence. Sometimes I think that we move through life too fast and if we just stopped and thought about what we were going to say it would help us think about life and enjoy it more instead of just rushing from moment to moment. T

            Many people have perpetuated a certain preface for high school: it is a time for self-discovery or reinvention.  There is this build-up, a significant drumroll, which inspires middle school students to believe in change and, hopefully, acceptance.  Maybe this is a naïve perception of secondary education. Maybe this can more accurately describe the college experience.  Nonetheless, there seems to be a sense of anticipation and optimism surrounding the concept of high school.  Having been a jaded high school graduate for two years now, it has become clear just how constrictive and heteronormative my experience was.  There are ways in which a high school institution could change its curriculum to include certain courses that could expand the minds of high school students in a way that leaves them more open to intersectional identities.  Queering the high school curriculum to include gender and sexuality courses would allow for the discussion of socially ‘taboo’ topics.  If these personal opinions, theories and identities are addressed at an earlier stage in education, it would make these topics more accessible and less foreign when they are encountered later on in life.

It seems for many that silence holds power, mystery but also privilege. We hold power when we have the right to remain silent, the right to withhold information, secrets and truths. When we are silent we generate an air a mystery, we hold the unknown. Silence can push away outsiders, it can deter or mislead. But silence can also bring safety and comfort. When I think about Eva's silence though, i question whether it is really a privilege. A privilege is something that some people have and others do not. Yes she has the truth and no one else does, but this truth to why she did what she did (which she may not even fully know herself) has arisen from circumstances that she did not have the privilege to choose. It seems that people in the novel are so concerned with her silence, almost afraid of it. Why are some people so afriad of silence? is it alienating? uncomfortable? creates a disconnect? Should we be afraid of silence? or should we embrace it? I think Eva embraces her silence as a source of shelter, her voice to say no, to have her feelings understood were never embraced, so she keeps to herself, the only person she can trust.

            When most people think of issues facing the LGBT community, they think of issues such as gay marriage. Few can see a major problem that is found both inside and outside of the community. This problem ignores the needs of many people in the community. It excludes people from a community where they were told they were safe. The problem is classism, which finds its way into the queer community to better fit a capitalist structure. Classism within the queer community as a result of the commercialization of queer culture causes exclusion of LGBT people of lower socioeconomic status and ignorance of their needs.

Even though the United States has become more progressive with ideas about gender and sexuality, some people still do not feel comfortable coming out. In supposed safe communities sameness is prized and people create a false sense of comfortable equality. Living in North Carolina and going to a conservative high school I did not feel this restriction until my junior year. I began to feel this sense that nobody talked about their differences and nobody asked others about their differences. I did not learn until my junior year that a teacher at my school who taught me, mentored me, and comforted me was gay. She did not feel comfortable coming out to the students and some of the faculty also did not know.

Eastern State was an eerie place, not necessarily having the effects on its prisoners it hoped to.This doesn’t work well-most of prisoners have no ability to read and spend their time (which is what they got) in trying to communicate with their neighbors. Eastern State Penitatiary seemed more like a place to cause someone to go mad rather than teach them to reflect I see a complete disregard for the humanity of the prisoners.Communication can’t be stopped.Small sense of satisfaction that it failed because of its unrealistic goals.