In this episode CU student and Disability Justice advocate Autumn Johnson brings special guests Kristy Raymond Founder/Casting Strategist YouAreHumankind, Lizz Colon Director of Learning in Public/Instructional Faculty College Unbound, and Jabraya Tanksley CU Student, Disability Justice Advocate and Educator to the table for a discussion that explores the ripple effect of representation, disability justice, and how solidarity within and beyond the disability community is essential for true social change. If you’ve ever questioned the future of inclusive education, this episode will show you what’s possible when we stop asking “why” and start asking, “how can we help?”
De'Vonte Parson
Welcome to the We CU Unbound Stories, the College Unbound Podcast where we dive deep into the transformative work of our community, transforming self communities, justice and education. We're here to break down barriers and build up new possibilities. This is a platform for learning, a platform for healing, a platform for belonging and connection. So tune in and join us on this journey of empowerment.
Autumn Johnson
00:52
Hello everyone, and welcome back to We See Unbound Stories College Unbounds podcast. I'll be your host today. My name is Autumn Johnson. I have been at c college Unbound since 2022. And for today's episode, we will be speaking on disability, justice and representation. Let's dive in. Today I am joined by KristyRaymond, Liz Colon, and Jabraya Tank. And I would like to now bring Kristyto the table.
Kristy Raymond
01:20
Well, thank you so much, Autumn. My name is Kristy Raymond. I am the founder and chief casting strategist at Humankind. We are a casting and production company focused on inclusive casting and production practices for mainstream media.
Autumn Johnson
01:33
And now iLiz Colon.
Lizz Colion
01:35
Hi, I'm Liz Colon. I am faculty at College Unbound. And I have a daughter who has a disability.
Autumn Johnson
01:44
Jabraya.
Jabraya Tanksley
01:46
Hi Autumn. Good to be here. My name is Jabraya Tanksley. I am a, student at College. Unbound. I also am a founder of Spine and Sisters Empowerment Collective, which is a support group for women and girls of color who have spine abifida like myself.
Autumn Johnson
02:04
Thank you. And again, I am Autumn Johnson. Like I have ZI am a A CU student since 2022. Through this journey, I have found a passion for advocating for the youth and adults with disabilities or what I like to refer to as unique abilities. Through this experience, I've gotten to mentor, not only Liz k Colon's daughter Victoria, but I have found other youth that have found impact through my story and what I aim to do in life. By 2023, I became as Wheelchair Rhode Island, spreading my platform of embracing unique abilities and others' unique abilities within their disabilities to create inclusion for all. And I also, as Jabraya mentioned, there is a Spine Sisters empowerment collective that I help co-lead her in. And now I also co coordinate the Miss Wheelchair Rhode Island program. Pretty much. Also what I wanted to share today is the way that I ended up getting into CU and how that sparked everything off.
Autumn Johnson
03:14
I wanted to join College Unbound because immediately once taking learning from experienced, I, I learned I have a lot of abilities within my disability, and that was something that I didn't feel like I had when I before I joined College Unbound in, in the very beginning. But after that eight weeks, I uncovered a lot and I felt very comfortable and safe in this environment at cu. So I went ahead and I, I joined in 2022. And overall, it, it just felt like other colleges weren't representing me in the way that made me feel comfortable enough to join that college. And knowing that CU doesn't discriminate or look at disabilities in a negative way and uplifts those individuals made me want to sign up and, and learn from the instructors, and not only the instructors, but the peers also that I meet along the way. And so now I would like to lead into the work that we are all doing to reduce barriers. It's important to break down these barriers. And so fir the first question is, what are some successes and challenges that is being learned along the way of reducing barriers? I learned that reducing barriers creates equal opportunity or equitable opportunities for all. I believe that it's important to recognize barriers in how to move about them. And Kristy, would you like to add on to that?
Kristy Raymond
04:55
I would love to, I wanted to particularly hone in on your comment with regards to searching for a college and not seeing yourself represented in any of the photos on the websites or in the pamphlets that you get from colleges. And I know they create a lot of them. So to to feel and to know that you were completely dismissed, really in any sort of messaging to say, you're welcome here. And I have a feeling that the material that College Unbound shared with you, you saw people perhaps a bit more like yourself and then you. So what, what I talk about in the work that I'm in, in mainstream media is if you don't see yourself, and if people are not seeing themselves in mainstream media, they become a very dismissed community. And when we look at the disability community as a whole, that is a growing community and is the largest minority in this country.
Kristy Raymond
05:53
And yet we see it rarely, often, it looks very much like a check the box situation, that we've included someone here when really there are so many opportunities to create scenarios that are real and that look real by incorporating individuals from the disability community into the modeling and the photography and the video work. And we reduce the barriers to entry to the modeling world by offering low cost photo clinics that produce portfolio worthy images. And I use those words very importantly, because these are images that art directors and creative directors who are making the decisions about the talent are gonna be looking at. And if we wanna be seen on the same level as traditional models, then we've gotta speak the same speak, and we've gotta look the same look to a certain extent. We've gotta feed them that material in the same fashion. And that's what we try to do at humankind. And I'm hoping that with your efforts autumn and the way that you are leading it, especially amongst young people, we can work together to make those changes happen and be seen in the mainstream.
Autumn Johnson
07:03
Thank you for that. Liz, would you like to add on to the question?
Lizz Colion
07:07
I would. I think it's extremely important, especially for my 11-year-old daughter to know and to see others represented in colleges and in other places, that she's not isolated. She's not different, right? She is you know, learning to navigate and, and to, to find her way. I mean, even at 11 years old. And it, it, it can be a difficult journey for kids as they're growing up and, and, you know, they wanna have access, like other folks have access. And, and sometimes there, there are a lot of barriers that can be put up, nevermind just dealing with, you know, ramps and parking spaces and things like that. But be able to have access to certain buildings or to be able to say, like, I feel comfortable here. I'm not the only person in a wheelchair. I'm not the only person that has some unique ability that is happening with me right now.
Autumn Johnson
08:10
Thank you. I think you bring up a good point. Well, you had mentioned isolation mm-hmm
Jabraya Tanksley
08:39
Sure. barriers I don't necessarily, when I think of the word barrier, right? You think of like a blockage. And when I, growing up with spina bifida, a lot of times people would see my disability, they would see the label, somebody bifida, and they automatically would assume all the things that I could not do. So the way I was raised, my mother raised me, you, yes, you have a disability, but your disability does not have you. And so she reached, she taught me how to show them what your disability can do, what your disability, what your superpower is because of your disability. And so coming to see you, it, I felt free to be me. Like I can tell people I have, I am neurodivergent and I'm not, like, didn't all the other colleges I went to, I have like, I'm neurodivergent, I have this, I have a DHD, I have, I have a learning processing disorder.
Jabraya Tanksley
09:37
And they kind of, I don't like this term, but they made me feel stupid. And they made me feel like, oh, you would talk to me really slow, like I didn't understand. And I'm like, no, no, no, I'm extremely intelligent, but I need you to break this down. My brain works faster than I can process. And then when I came to see you, they were like, how can I help you? How can we make this? How can we make this happen? We want you to graduate. How can we make this happen? And I literally have been through four different schools, and they've never done that. They would just be like, here's the syllabus. What do you mean you don't understand it? Why don't you understand it? Did you read it? I absolutely read it. And it's just that, and then to add on the physical disability, it's more, it's even harder now because they're like, oh, no, do you, do you, do you want, do you want this?
Jabraya Tanksley
10:24
What, can I do for you? Let me tell you. And I always, even the younger girls that I mentor and I guide that are that have various disabilities, because I feel like sometimes even in the disability world, we divide ourselves. Mm-Hmm
Kristy Raymond
11:22
can I jump in for one second? Yeah. We're talking about a barrier and I think what some of the barriers are also concepts. Mm-Hmm
Jabraya Tanksley
12:23
And one more thing, and you said something, you used the term educate. And that kind of sparked it, because I am an educator, I do early child education, and one of the biggest things, one of the main reasons why I got into early child education is because I wanted children to see representation in early ed. You do not see children with disabilities in childcare centers. You do not see, you might see a child on the spectrum, which is yes, a disability, but you do not see a child in a wheelchair. You will not see a blind child. You will not see a deaf child. And, and because parents feel like they can't bring them, because childcare centers are not catered for them, they're like, oh, we can't accept them. Why not? Because childcare early ed is the foundation, so why are we not making these places accessible? So with me coming in, I'm showing you, hey, this is what's accessible and what's not. I live the life I can tell you. And so now I'm trying to change that for a bunch of children who wanna be able to come, a bunch of parents who wanna be able to give their kid an education and cannot.
Autumn Johnson
13:26
Yes. I think that's so important. I, you both brought up something that I was just gonna mention too, is that attitudinal barriers probably can be the worst set of barriers for people like us, or like me and Jabraya and others living with disabilities. Because people are very quick to, to judge based off of what they see. And I also have learned living with this disability, spina bifida is that if you're not a parent or somebody who's taking care of somebody with a disability, chances are when you have that child, that when you have a child and you go out in public, what I've noticed is a parent without that doesn't know that lifestyle is quick to tell their child don't interact with that person. Don't say hi. And I think that creates a even bigger barrier for people like us to thrive, because you're pretty much saying like, don't, don't socialize, don't, don't even look at that person.
Autumn Johnson
14:27
And that, becomes very hurtful where I think that parents could take that opportunity to say, yeah, that person looks different. Yeah, they may get around differently, but that doesn't make them any different of a person. They, they also have feelings and, and, you know, say hi, or, you know, ask that question or teach that child how to ask that question properly. And I think, I think that's a, a way that we could break down those barriers. So thank you all for that feedback. And so the next question, Kristy, you had already touched on it a little bit in the beginning, but how, how are you and humankind reducing barriers? Could you again explain that for us?
Kristy Raymond
15:11
I would love to. So because we are focused on production of advertising and photos and videos and assets that people are consuming, creative that people are consuming every day it's really important to me that as someone who's had a long history in the modeling and production world I have the context, I have the platform. So now it's time. I've built, I've built a modeling agency for before and I know that if you build it, they will come. So if we build a talent pool that accurately and authentically really represents the disability community, and this is gonna be a big pool, this is not a small pool, right? You're just saying the variations across disabilities ages, children and adults. And to do that by, we reduce the barrier to entry by these amazing low cost photo clinics where we bring in commercial lifestyle photographers, which are the photographers getting the work.
Kristy Raymond
16:07
We bring in hair and makeup artists and wardrobe stylists. We talk about poses. We really give individuals that opportunity to experience what it would be like to do a model test shoot. Some people love it, some people don't. Some believe it or not, some people don't love it. And those that do, we continue to offer an opportunity through representation because we are a licensed modeling agency. And we're in the circle of, of who's working and who's getting the work. So we're able to submit links to clients like Staples and CVS and Shark Ninja as they are considering talent. They don't identify that what they're looking for is somebody with a disability. If they call me and they're looking for African American women in their twenties, I'm gonna send them African American women in their twenties, whoever I have from that grouping, whether it's a casting or somebody from what we call humankind originals.
Kristy Raymond
17:01
So putting everybody in in front of that, those creative teams over and over and over with the traditional models, will, will change it again from being something that's an anomaly to maybe a little bit normal. I've seen changes happen over time. You guys are a little younger, but Liz, maybe you remember there were times where you didn't see an interracial couple in an ad. Never. You never saw a gay or lesbian couple in an ad. And that's changed. We see all of that now. And my hope is that, you know, as we continue with this work that we're doing in the modeling field, by building these talent pools, we will then see it more in the mainstream media,
Autumn Johnson
17:43
Liz.
Lizz Colion
17:44
So I mean, I think this is a, a incredibly important topic. And from a parent's perspective it is really hard sometimes when, you know, my daughter wants to say, oh, can I go to a friend's house? But the friend's house, you know, isn't accessible for her. And so there's always alternatives that we always have to find. And we spend a lot of time, you know, going places and researching places and making sure that wherever we end up, that there is proper access and that can, you know, and in some ways that can be a barrier in itself, right? Finding these access points that you need to have. But at the same time, I try my best to encourage my daughter to always keep her head up, to keep a positive outlook. She can be very witty and
Lizz Colion
18:39
She's very witty. But at the same time that it's okay to be who she is and she should be happy and she should be proud of being a beautiful young girl who can really has infinite potential to do whatever it is that she wants to do, and encouraging that. And so when I go places, I make sure that there's representation and I wanna see representation because I want my daughter to emulate that, to be able to, to bring that to her peers and in her school, you know, and with their friends. So that really, they have a really good understanding of what it is to just be kind.
Autumn Johnson
19:26
I think that's a important word kind. I feel like no matter what your ability is and what your backgrounds are, like, just kindness can go a long way because you never know what a person's truly dealing with mentally, emotionally, and physically Jabraya.
Jabraya Tanksley
19:44
Representation's really, really important to me. Not only as a woman who has a disability, but also as a woman of color. We don't see, you know, we're taught that, you know, we, I was always taught to love my blackness. It was, even though it was, you know, you love your skin, you love your hair, the coils are, you know, you love yourself, but then the world teaches you everything, shows you everything that's wrong with you. Oh, you're too dark. Oh, you're too loud. Oh, you're too this, you're too that. And then you add a disability, but wait, it's too much to accommodate you. What do you mean you don't need I've gone to restaurants and they have had had chairs that were high. We just had this experience and I'm like, I can't sit in that chair because it's too high and my feet can't dangle.
Jabraya Tanksley
20:32
I need a lower chair. And they kind of look at me sometimes like, why? Like, now I have to do extra work. And I'm like, no, but you can. And teaching people, and like you said, you know Liz, you mentioned having your daughter, your daughter wanting to go places and going to her friend's house, and her friends are not her, their houses are not accessible. But my thing is, if you know your friend has a disability, make your house accessible, even if it is on the second floor, figure out a way. You know what I mean? Even if it's figure out a way to make it accessible so that they can you know, they can feel like they have friends. They can, you know, we can, we can socialize. Or if they don't go to the house, like, we can go do this, we can go do that.
Jabraya Tanksley
21:17
Make them, make them feel included without first the first thing, wait, can you, before we do this, can you let, and like al, you're automatically assuming, and for me, I don't know about you Autumn or you, Liz, that automatically make, when you ask me if I can, that makes me not wanna, because I'm like you already are judging me. And I think representation, like when I am around something about being around people who understand you, being around people who see you that's one of the things that we say, right? Autumn, at spine Sisters, we love you. We see you, we honor you. And like, we always end with that because in a world that doesn't see us, they don't love us because it, they, they love us to the point where we just get you in the door, you know? But they don't really love you and we honor you.
Jabraya Tanksley
22:08
Like, I honor who you are as a human. Like you said, human, we honor the human in you. So I'm really big on representation and making it known. We are here, we're not going anywhere. And yes, I was born with spina bifida, and that's not a bad thing. That's actually a great thing. It was great that I was born with spina bifida. I love that. I have neuro divergencies. That means I can think outside the box. That means I can be super, I am super creative 'cause I have to be. So let me introduce you to my world. It maybe you'll learn. And so teaching other people how to accom, like you were saying, accommodate teaching people how to, like, even at schools, I'm like, no, they don't have a behavior issue. Say it. They, they have, they're on the autism spectrum.
Jabraya Tanksley
22:50
They don't have a behavior problem. They're on the spectrum and it's okay. And teaching the children, oh, why did she teaching them say it's okay, teach them. She's on the, she has autism. Like teach let, let give these children a vocabulary. Like, oh, there's something, she's different. Why? What is it? And so like, I will go in there and I'm like, she's autistic. It's okay. You can say it if you can say it. Say like, and I, I do that. I say like, say it autistic. Say it. There's nothing wrong with it. And like, and I'm also trying to develop a curriculum where children can learn these things and bring in books and like, so they can see it. Because a lot of parents, like you said, autumn, you know, the kids will see, they'll stare. They, because it was, it was, I was that child that got the stairs.
Jabraya Tanksley
23:35
The kids, you know, when kids are, their curiosity is going and they're like, I wanna ask. No, no, no, don't, don't be rude. That's not rude. It's not rude. They're learning. Children learn through asking questions and through experiences. So yes, expose them, expose them to what a braille book is and why, and how they work it. Expose them to, you know, children with wheelchairs and how they move around. They might find it's cool. That might be the reason why they wanna become a doctor. You, you never know. Like, I wanna become a doctor because one of my friends was in a wheelchair. And that sparked my curiosity. So I'm gonna stop there, but, 'cause I can go on forever
Autumn Johnson
24:16
That was wonderful insight. All three of you guys have brought up things that just came up in my mind. First, the Jabraya, how you were just saying some people ask you, well, can you do this? I think, yeah, in certain situations it's all about how you frame a question first with me. Because I do feel like that is an important question too. Ask I'd rather have somebody ask me, can I go up the stairs? Can I climb up the stairs? I had to bring that up to one of my friends before, like, oh, I can get in you live on the second floor. I can make that work. You know, because I wanted to hang out with them. And then later throughout that night, they learned that I, I am not just confined to this chair and that I'm more than just a, a woman in a wheelchair.
Autumn Johnson
25:03
So sometimes it is important to ask that can, can you question? Because some, some people don't know. And that's a, that's a time to educate somebody. You had also mentioned like saying the word disabled. I think that that's important too. And not to shy away from that word. Like I mentioned, my, my platform is with Miss Wheelchair Rhode Island was embrace your unique abilities within your disabilities. Me using the term unique abilities isn't shying away from the fact that I am disabled or what I have as a disability. That is more or less because I want people to view disabilities as a unique ability. Because it, it literally transforms the way you view the world, how you navigate it. So that's very important. And then Kristy, when you were talking about humankind, it brought me back to that photo clinic that I did with you.
Autumn Johnson
25:56
And how you were saying like, you never send, like when people ask for a woman of color in their twenties, you just send the photo. You don't ask, do you want that person in a wheelchair or whatever. I think what stood out to me during that time when during the photo clinic was you were telling me instances that brought up my confidence during that photo shoot. You were telling me picture yourself as a businesswoman. And, but, but you were never saying, putting my disability in that sentence or bringing awareness to that. You were just be your confident self that you see yourself being in the future. And that's really what helped me got through, through that phone clinic. So I really thank you. And the work that you're doing with the humankind, those pictures were amazing
Lizz Colion
27:04
I can start. I can say that I have seen even coming into College Unbound when I was doing recruitment or what we now have is as community ambassadors and, and enrolling students. One of the things that we were doing in very early on was taking down barriers for, you know, things. If they didn't have transportation, how are we gonna help if they don't have housing, how are we gonna help? If there's food insecurity, how are we gonna help, right? What are the things that we can do for our students to make their lives flow and really, and, and, and, you know, making sure that folks were had their own wellbeing and their own sense of self before, right? As they're coming in to see you. And then they certainly come into their own because the independence and the advocacy just really like sparks and takes off.
Lizz Colion
28:12
But in the beginning we were really much, you know, what do we need students to have to be successful? And that was our guiding question, what do we need to make sure that students can be well educated and at the same time have balance in their lives because they're probably working and they have kids and they have families. And, you know, there are issues with health and, you know, all kinds of other barriers that, that, you know, everybody faces. But I think the community in, in the CU community really hold each other up, right? It's never a, well, you can't do that. There's never a no, right? I say that all the time. There's never a no at cu it's how can we change, how can we make it better? How can we advocate? How can we help? What are the things that you need to be successful?
Lizz Colion
29:08
And then as a college, we are responsible to making sure those, that, that our students have access to those things that they need to be able to be healthful and to be able to think about what is it in their life that is gonna take them and create impact that's gonna motivate them for the next step, right? And so having that type of philosophy is really liberating in a lot of ways, right? So we, we do, we talk a lot about equity and we talk about, you know, making things equitable for folks. But at the same time, we all have very specific needs that we have to take care of for ourselves and our families and our wellbeing. And this is just another way that as a college we can support the people that are getting, you know, a college education and we don't want to you know, continue to, to put up barriers. It's hard enough in college, right?
Kristy Raymond
30:12
A lot of stuff. I just wanna jump in and say one thing. Sure. My daughter went to college for four years. I don't think any professor, I don't even know if she had a guidance counselor ever asked her what she needed. I don't think they ever asked her that question once. Right? that's pretty amazing. And I think that that, that right there is, is a different perspective for leadership that comes with leadership in your organization that comes from saying, okay, we value, you know the students coming in. We, we value what they have to say. That's what I'm hearing. Anyway. I just wanna say, because again, as a, a parent of a person who went to college, you know, not once did, was my daughter asked what she needed. Mm-Hmm. She called me crying many times, but, you know from far away. So I couldn't help. But, you know, that, that's just a, just, it sounds amazing. So I just wanted to applaud college Unbound for that.
Autumn Johnson
31:13
And even what you just brought up, Liz brought me back to, even when I thought about like, like, do I really wanna do college? I'm bound. Do I really not? My lab, who's my lab faculty now, she was the one that proposed the question to me of like, Hey, have you ever thought about furthering your education? And immediately, especially back then, I was very quick to give an excuse of why I wasn't doing what I was doing. And I was like, yeah. And, and it was true. 'cause I was going to other colleges. There's a college right down the road from me, but it was not handicap accessible from the minute you, you get on that campus. So it was like, it was gonna be physically impossible for me to do that. So I, I ran that whole thing down to her and Liz, like you were talking about, like, see, you will always find a way. Because as soon as I said that, she was like, well make it a hundred percent virtual for you. So at that moment I was like, wow. Like CU is really committed to making sure that everyone gets, gets the education that they deserve and need. So that was just one of the many reasons why I love CU today. GI Brady, do you have anything to add?
Jabraya Tanksley
32:26
One of the things that I loved when I first got to CU, 'cause a lot like Autumn, I was, I got given up honestly on my college experience. 'cause I was like, I, I could not find that one. I, it would try that. I just would lose my motivation. And like you said, nobody checked on you. Like nobody checked on your daughter. Like I lost my motivation. Nobody was like, Hmm, okay. They were like, okay, well it's on you if you lose your motivation. But one thing I can tell you about cu you can lose your motivation if you want to. They gonna make sure you get it back.
Jabraya Tanksley
33:13
What's going on? You good? And then there's been times where like, I've had really serious situations in my life and I'm like, this is going on. Well, what do you need? Let me hook you up to this organization so that you can get this, this, this. I have never had that. And to know, like, and they're like, we're gonna get you to graduate even now. Like, I'm almost like, I'm right there. It's done. And so they're like, no, we gonna get you done. You are this close. I'm not letting you, and like even my laugh back, I'm not letting you go. Like, you, you are this close. And I'm just like, I'm so tired. And like, it was just like, last year was a really, really tough year mentally. It was just a lot of things happening. And I was just like, I don't know if I can do so I might need to take a break.
Jabraya Tanksley
33:54
He was like, absolutely not. You're gonna get this together and you're gonna get it done now. And one of the things, I never full forget. My first class, I came in 20, the end of 2021, and I sat in the class, one of my classes, and it was me as a 30 something year old. And then I had looked over and it was a virtual class. And the lady, she was like, yeah, I'm 68. And I was like, wow, they don't discriminate. Like she, here she is getting her degree. She's 68 years old, and she came from another country. She's like, I really want this. And CU made me believe, and I was like, I was instantly inspired. I was like, wow. Like all different walks of life. You had people who work, people who have children, people who are have disabilities, people who tried college, people who are incarcerated.
Jabraya Tanksley
34:52
It does not matter your background. They're gonna make sure that you're seen and you're worth a degree and an accredited degree. You're worth that. And so that was like, I'm, I'm gonna go for it this time. I'm not gonna give up. That made me want to like, fight this a little harder, push a little stronger because I'm like, they care about me. So because they care about me, I'm gonna care about me too. Mm-Hmm
Lizz Colion
36:03
Cu is a really incredible place. And I, and I truly believe it's also because of not only the leadership that CU has, but they really believe in people and the power of people. And, you know there are all walks of life within College Unbound. If someone doesn't show up to class, we're giving 'em a phone call. Mm-Hmm
Jabraya Tanksley
37:01
Power of educated
Lizz Colion
37:02
People. Educated people,
Kristy Raymond
37:04
Yes. Educated people. We, when you're educated that you, you're a, you're able to widen that lens, right? You're able to look at people differently. You're not in a narrow focus, right? You're, and even sometimes with some college educ, you know, and I think it's still a very narrow focus and it does sound like cu really kind of that focus on the people really opens up that opportunity and widens that lens and really brings out that, you know, the power that education has not only just for people in but to propel towards wealth, right? Yeah. To, to propel towards jobs and independence and really really kicking the stereotype and becoming those active real members of like the business world and the all, all of the places. Where, where we'd get to see enough of, right, where we get to see enough of the disability community.
Autumn Johnson
37:53
Thank you all for that. I think you guys brought up amazing points. And so now we're kind of coming to the end of this podcast now. And now we wanna talk about like, call to actions and importance behind a call to action. And first I'd like to share, when I started a College Unbound, I wasn't really exactly sure like what my call to action was gonna be or like what my project or just what my passion was going to be. And through CU I found that like the, the amount of resources and community I have around me is what has gotten me to where I am today. And all I've ever wanted to do since beginning this advocacy of mine is to make sure that the next generation gets uplifted like I did and gets the resources that they have. And that's what made me create, create my project life beyond limits.
Autumn Johnson
38:57
Because I feel like I have now, I have the the correct resources to now hand down to the next generation when they're having struggles with certain aspects of life, whether it's education, job, employment or just needing somebody to say like, I know what you've been through, I know what it's like to go through this. I've made it through and here's how I did it. And so I'm just very grateful that throughout my project I've been able to, to bring in communities like the Miss Wheelchair, Rhode Island and Miss Wheelchair America programs, bring in Jabraya's Project Spine A sisters and, just make sure that people know that there's communities out here that will support you and help you get to the goals that you set for yourself. Speaking of Jabraya as project, would you like to share some more about your project here at cu?
Jabraya Tanksley
39:52
So I have like a two for kind of project. So I have my Spine and Sisters Empowerment Collective Project. But I also, because I love education, I love teaching, it's who I am. I, I'm developing this system called the Cultivate as well. And I, it came to me actually in the dream. And what it is, it's almost like a hub for parents and teachers where I can teach them how to advocate and educate and what it looks like. And also for aspiring teachers especially in the ECE world, a lot of times when you come into, I'm not sure if anyone's familiar with early education, but when you come, they call it daycare. I don't like that derm. If you, when you come into early education setting, you go and you do the interview, they do, they give you like a working interview where you spend like an hour with the kids and they say, okay, they talk to the teacher, okay, did she do a good job?
Jabraya Tanksley
40:54
Yeah, she did a good job. I like her. You have the job. You don't necessarily know who. Then you say, okay, now write a curriculum. You don't know what that means. Oh, we're gonna base it off of the Rhode Island Early Learning standards. You don't know what those are. And so if they come into that already knowing, not coming into the field already knowing a lot of these things, and also knowing how to advocate for their kiddos. They know something, they see something. It's not this something's going on there, showing how to advocate, how many kids would not get put, who would slip through the cracks if teachers knew how to advocate, if parents knew how to say no, I'm not gonna accept this for my kid. I want my kid to have the best and my kid will have the best. And so that's my project.
Jabraya Tanksley
41:47
Making sure that children have the best of the best. And am I the best teacher? No, but I've done this for 15 years and I've made some mistakes and so let, and I've also had some big wins in my field. And so because I've done that work, I'm like, let me teach you what I know and what worked for me, what didn't work for me, and why it didn't work. And so let me teach you that. So now when you come into this field, you feel ready. And then I also have Spinal Sisters, which is my baby.
Jabraya Tanksley
42:42
And so because I didn't, I couldn't connect, I said, let me create something. Then I saw Autumn and she had mentioned in the post, she had spina bifida. And I was like, you have spina bifida. Me too. And I instantly, I was like, let's do this. And she said, let's do this. And so it's becoming something I never imagined, and I'm really excited to see how this goes forward this year. One of the things we're working on this year that I really was given was to work on confidence. And so I'm, I'm glad we're talking about confidence and all that.
Lizz Colion
43:17
Just one last thing on College Unbound we have this silly little pun that we say, but it's extremely meaningful. And whenever we have, you know, folks at the office or we have cohort nights or we have community, any type of, of community gatherings or even just as an individual or a one-on-one, there's always someone that says, I see you mm-hmm
Autumn Johnson
43:50
Thank you guys. I think that you guys brought up amazing points, especially Jabraya. Which is one of the things that we wanna highlight in this podcast is standing in solidarity with not only each other, but also making sure that the able bo community stands in solidarity with us Throughout my advocacy since being Miss Wheelchair, I wouldn't have gotten the beach access at North Kingstown if it was not for
Autumn Johnson
44:56
Even those that didn't even realize that those barriers even existed. I've had so many people come up to me sense and say, wow, I never, I never thought of the beach and not, and how, how a person in a wheelchair would even get from point A to point B to enjoy themselves on that beach. So yeah, just standing in solidarity with one another is really important to, to push this disability justice work and spreading the word, spreading the word is super, super important. That's how we spread awareness. And and then again, like we talked about through this podcast, representation, representation is so important. I feel like that's why humankind is important. That's why I feel like college and bound needs to continue to be promoted because we are such a diverse community. And I, I can tell you I've learned so much from my peers who aren't disabled just because we have such, such meaningful stories to share with one another that can help amplify voices that aren't being heard. So I would like to thank you all in being a part of this discussion with me.
Speaker 6
46:07