Category Archives: Advocacy

My Legs Don’t Work, but my Mind Does

yomex-owo-634531-unsplash By: Taylor Roth

I am disabled. Not “handicapable” or “differently abled,” but disabled. Don’t worry, it’s not a bad word. I use a wheelchair or walker at all times, and am not ashamed or embarrassed by this. However, I live in a world that is not friendly to the disabled which can sometimes include academia.

Don’t get me wrong: I am very fortunate to attend a school with the resources to help students like me. All I have to do is ask for elevator access or more time for an automatic door button, and my concerns are immediately addressed. My department is the same. Overall, it is very supportive of me and provides me with the resources I need to succeed. I’m able to attend class, see clients, teach, and have a relatively “normal” grad school experience (if there is such a thing). I have to work harder sometimes and consider logistics such as conference accessibility and physical needs, but I see these as necessary annoyances to deal with in order to achieve my goals. I haven’t succeeded in spite of my disability, but rather with it.

I’m really happy with where I am. I have no doubt that I’m pursuing the (wheelchair-accessible) path I’m meant to. Still, I sometimes feel that I’m alone in this intersection of disability and academia. Graduate school is difficult enough without the feeling of being alone and isolated.

As both a disabled student and aspiring clinician, I believe it’s so important to emphasize that diversity is not just about race and ethnicity, though those are valuable to discuss. True diversity is recognizing and addressing the full range of human experiences and allowing all voices to be heard.

The disabled population is often overlooked. Almost 13% of Americans identify as disabled (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). In this population there are higher rates of depression, anxiety, and victimization (NICE Clinical Guidelines, 2010; Hughes et al., 2012). Despite these statistics, fewer than 50% of social science graduate students receive disability training (Bogart, Rosa, Estill, Colton, & Bonnett, n.d.), and even fewer (10%) identify as disabled (National Science Foundation, 2017). An APA-conducted survey of disabled graduate students, the main barriers that face disabled students are stigma, lack of awareness, and accessibility concerns (APA, 2018).

I am confident the playing field can be levelled. At a practical level, institutions should provide accommodations, whether that is ensuring that a building is ADA compliant or offering a reduced course load. Second, programs can increase their recruitment of disabled students. This involves disseminating information to local organizations and ensuring websites are easily accessible. These students can later become mentors to guide a new generation. Finally, the burden of advocacy should not fall on just those with personal experience of disability. Students have the responsibility of speaking up for their needs, but mentors and departments should also be advocates.

I believe the discipline of psychology should do more in encouraging the growth and potential of students with disabilities. Often the world is dismissive of those who are disabled. It’s not up to students to prove they are more than a stereotype. Instead, those in charge should take it upon themselves to ensure that non-traditional students are given the chance to flourish. I have found my niche in psychology graduate school and want nothing more than for all students to have this opportunity. I believe that with awareness and acceptance, any talented student can survive – and thrive – in grad school.

References

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Students with Disabilities in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Retrieved October 14, 2018, from http://www.apa.org/pi/disability/dart/toolkit-one.aspx

Bogart, K. R., Rosa, N. M., Estill, M. C., Colton, C. E., & Bonnett, A. K. (n.d.). Teaching about disability in psychology: An analysis of disability curricula in U.S. undergraduate psychology programs.

Bureau, U. S. C. (2017). American FactFinder – Results. Retrieved October 14, 2018, from https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_15_1YR_S1810&prodType=table

National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. 2017. Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2017. Special Report NSF 17-310. Arlington, VA. Available at www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/

NICE Clinical Guidelines, N. C. C. for M. H. (2010). Depression in Adults with a Chronic Physical Health Problem: Treatment and Management. (Vol. 91). Leicester (UK): British Psychological Society. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK82930/

Graduate Student Voting Rights: What Do Our Presidential Candidates Think?

The APAGS Committee has proposed an APA Bylaws and Rules change that will allow for graduate student affiliate members of APA to vote in elections for the President-elect and Members of the Board of Directors, along with bylaws amendments and the distribution of seats on the APA Council of Representatives.

The APAGS Committee is bringing this proposal to Boards and Committees of APA this fall, and to the Board of Directors and the Council of Representatives next year. If the change is approved by Council, and then by the current voting members of APA, approximately 21,000 graduate student members of APA could be eligible to vote in 2020 and beyond.

We asked the five members currently running for APA President-elect the following question:

“Should APA Graduate Student members be given the privilege to vote on all association matters within APA after one year of membership?”

Here’s how they responded. You can learn more about the candidates here.

Armand R. Cerbone, PhD

“I strongly support APAGS in seeking voting privileges. Having organized graduate representation within my department, I know the importance of enfranchising graduate voices. As a faculty member introducing a course on homosexuality in 1983, I recruited at my expense a lesbian student to co-teach because we both understood I could not appropriately represent the experience of queer women. While the future affects all psychologists, it affects psychology students most. My campaign is about the future of psychology even more than our past. I will seek the critical input of APAGS in developing a 25/50-year vision plan for psychology.”

Jean Lau Chin, EdD

“Graduate students make up a significant portion of our APA membership. They should have a voice because they are the future of our profession. As APAGS, they have already demonstrated that their participation in governance has been meaningful and relevant, and that they have been responsible in providing important input on association matters. We need to view the vibrancy of our profession and association as one where we seek and value the perspectives of members along the entire spectrum of their career. Hence, I support giving graduate students the privilege to vote on association matters including elections after one year of membership.”

Steven D. Hollon, PhD

“APA is getting older and has trouble getting students to join and early career professionals to convert. The best way to excite new professionals entering the field is to give them the vote while they are still students and I would not make them wait the year. You join you vote. If we want students to invest in the discipline then we need to invest in them. We secure our future as an organization if we trust our future generations.”

Sandra L. Shullman, PhD

“Graduate students have an important voice to contribute to APA. I value their contributions and support their voting and representation. Voting is an opening invitation that can lead to greater engagement in APA, but we must couple voting with opportunities for leadership training/development; meaningful ways to give feedback to our discipline/profession; and encouragement to support/engage in advocacy, public policy and social justice initiatives. These experiences, along with the opportunity to vote, can build career-long engagement and commitment to APA’s future. As APA President, I would look forward to working with APAGS to turn this goal into successful action. www.SandyShullmanForAPAPresident.com #sandys4apaprez #sandy2020”

Susan Krauss Whitbourne, PhD

“As a long-time supporter of the work of APAGS, I am in favor of the proposal to grant voting privileges to graduate students in APA-wide elections. This step would represent an important way to ensure that APA reflects the concerns of those who are entering our discipline and also to provide graduate students with a voice in the future of the association. One of the key components of my presidential platform is that APA needs to reflect the interests of early career psychologists, and therefore this proposal is consistent with my own priorities to keep the association vital and flourishing.”

We thank all candidates for their openness to this proposed seismic shift in APA.

CARED perspectives: So what is this psychology diversity committee all about?

This blog post is a part of the series, “CARED Perspectives,” developed by the APAGS Committee for the Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Diversity. This series will discuss current events and how these events relate to graduate students in psychology. If you are interested in contributing to the CARED Perspectives series, please contact Lincoln Hill.

Engagement with diversity, cultural, and individual differences has become a core aspect of clinical training, supervision, and research in psychology (American Psychological Association, 2006). In this spirit of proactively interacting with diversity in its varied forms, many psychology departments have created dedicated “diversity committees.” While a name and general scope may be shared, diversity committees take many forms: from a student led forum to address graduate program concerns, to a faculty committee working towards recruiting diverse staff and students (Rogers & Molina, 2006). Diversity committees can be a positive vehicle of change, but also a burden on faculty and students with diverse identities who take on the invisible labor of serving on many such committees, and face greater expectations to do so than are placed on their majority group peers (Vasquez et al., 2006)

To better understand the inner-workings of diversity committees, I gathered the perspectives of four psychology graduate students who served on a diversity committee at their respective institutions. In particular, I asked these students to: reflect on the value in having a departmental diversity committee; to identify what was achieved through their committee’s work; and to share the extent to which student voices guided, were heard, or were marginalized by the fellow committee members. Below I offer a summary of their varied perspectives and some considerations for students and faculty considering developing a diversity committee within their department.

What is the value in having a diversity committee?

Dedicated space conducive to making change – a key prerequisite to undertaking any further work
Having an avenue for dialogue that doesn’t naturally occur between students, faculty, and staff
Ensuring accountability at the department level to operating in a manner consistent with principles of equity and diversity
Providing a sense of safety for students who have reservations about coming forward with their concerns
Addressing qualitative inclusion of diverse perspectives, experiences, and identities

What was achieved on the committee during your tenure?

Making faculty more aware of student concerns
Creating professional development opportunities
Developing workshops/brown bag lunches in response to current events
Inviting speakers with expertise in diversity topics
Developing events (e.g., diversity recruitment weekend) and tools (e.g., website re-design) to recruit more students from diverse backgrounds
Creating a survey to assess climate, student experiences and needs

How were student voices engaged on the committee?

Diversity committee formats varied greatly – from student led efforts to faculty committees with one designated student representative. Students on faculty committees indicated varied experiences. One reported receiving respect and useful professional guidance, while another reported not being “truly heard” by faculty. Perhaps as a result of these dynamics, some students reported that creating departmental change through the work of a diversity committee is a slow moving process, which may involve only surface level changes in the beginning. Several students commented on the value of models where they were able to hold separate meetings with their peers to amass a list of students’ perspectives and concerns, which they could report back to the faculty-led diversity committee. One student in particular indicated that this mode is effective because students often feel more comfortable bringing concerns forward to other students, as opposed to faculty.

While diversity committees are diverse in their form, tasks, operation, and membership, all students acknowledged the value in their existence and several expressed gratitude in being able to advocate for diversity at a higher level. As one student said, “diversity efforts take some trial and error to evolve for the better, but these programs are most valuable when we learn from and correct our mistakes.”

What do you think? We want to hear from you in the comments!

Have you been involved in a diversity committee? What the impetus was for establishing this committee? Was your committee initiated by students? Or staff/faculty? Has your committee filled a gap that was there prior to the committee starting up?

Have you found that individuals of color and those with other diverse identities have disproportionately taken on this work?

What’s your take on this topic?

Acknowledgments: A huge thank you to the students who shared their experiences for the purpose of this post!

References

American Psychological Association. 2006. Guidelines and Principles for Accreditation of Programs in Professional Psychology (G&P). Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/about/policies/guiding-principles.pdf

Rogers, M. R., & Molina, L. E. (2006). Exemplary efforts in psychology to recruit and retain graduate students of color. American Psychologist, 61(2), 143.

Vasquez, M. J., Lott, B., García-Vázquez, E., Grant, S. K., Iwamasa, G. Y., Molina, L. E., … & Vestal-Dowdy, E. (2006). Personal reflections: Barriers and strategies in increasing diversity in psychology. American Psychologist, 61(2), 157.

Check out previous CARED Perspective posts:

CARED Perspectives – Immigration at the Border: Separation of Children from Parents

This blog post is a part of the series, “CARED Perspectives,” developed by the APAGS Committee for the Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Diversity. Posts in this series will discuss current events and how these events relate to graduate students in psychology. If you are interested in contributing to the CARED Perspectives series, please contact Lincoln Hill.

Immigration at the Border: Separation of Children from Parents

By Jhodi-Ann Bowie

In recent weeks, the global community has been flooded with images and information related to the U.S. immigration policy that requires the separation of children from their parents/caregivers at the border. This issue has undoubtedly impacted not only those directly affected, but millions of others who are disheartened by these events. As racial/ethnic minority graduate students, we are also not immune to the personal and professional effects of these events. Many of us have experienced a variety of emotions associated with the stories of children being separated from their caregivers. These experiences most certainly impact our ability to go about our daily lives, but they can also impact our professional work.

Many of us conduct research on the effects of immigration on psychological well-being. Immigrants not only experience distress related to the hardship of being displaced from their homes, but they also experience a variety of challenges in their quest for asylum, and discrimination on many fronts while living in the US. These, and other challenges, have the potential to cause lasting mental health concerns. We can therefore anticipate that the impact of separating family members from one another is even more detrimental, particularly putting children at risk for psychological trauma.

Further, many of us work directly with these clients in our clinical practice settings. This and other issues related to social injustice particularly hit home and have a significant impact on psychology trainees, since we are often privy to our clients stories of their hardships in these experiences. Further, although many clients may not be directly impacted by these events, they may experience feelings of outrage and distress. Additionally, some of us may even identify as first, second, or third generation immigrants to the US and have personal and direct experiences with this issue.

The importance of these events inevitably blur the lines of personal and professional and highlight important considerations and questions for graduate trainees: How do I manage my feelings about current distressing events? Do I share these feelings in the clinical/work and academic space? Do I share my personal beliefs and feelings with clients? How can I advocate for these individuals from a professional standpoint?

These questions may be difficult for us to answer on our own. The role of supervisors, advisors, and professors therefore becomes paramount. Unfortunately, very few academic programs offer a safe platform for students to share their feelings and address the aforementioned questions. Additionally, students may be hesitant to request such a space for fear of seeming too politically driven/biased or unprofessional. But how can we be expected to keep such issues such completely compartmentalized from who we are and what we stand for? This plight remains ongoing since in this new age of social political polarization and social injustice, psychology professionals and graduate students must learn to navigate our own boundaries and responsibilities to the field.

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APAGS-CARED aims to provide students with a variety of platforms to discuss and benefit from resources related to this and other social justice issues. These resources include peer support groups, webinars for international students, twitter chats, disseminating information to academic programs, and other initiatives.

For more information on APAGS-CARED, as well as APA’s stance and actions related to the immigration policy, please visit the following resources:

We want to hear what you think! Please share your thoughts on this topic in the comments section below.

Other posts in the CARED PERSPECTIVES series:

CARED Perspectives – Racism on our College Campuses: What can we do about it?

Racism on our College Campuses: What can we do about it?

By Ryan C. Warner

Unfortunately, racial incidents often occur frequently in today’s higher education institutions. Just recently in April 2018, a series of racial incidents transpired on the campus of DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. A racist threat was found in a restroom on campus. A student dressed in blackface and wearing an offensive sign was seen at a local bar, and the word “nigger” was spelled out in stones at the DePauw Nature Park. During the same month, a Greek fraternity at Syracuse University in New York posted a six-minute video online showing a member saying an oath that included the statement: “I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart for Niggers, Spics, and most importantly the (expletive) Kykes.”

Similar to the rest of society, colleges and universities are not immune to racial discrimination. With “Blackface” party incidents and “noose” hangings making news at numerous universities all over the country, racially underrepresented students face challenges beyond the academic scope of tests, papers, and projects.

As a current graduate student of color who has attended various predominantly white universities, I can attest to the fact that racial discrimination can be displayed covertly (e.g., microaggressions) or overtly. These incidences have a profound impact of an individual’s well-being, and can impact their retention and life satisfaction. But the main question is, “what can we do about it?”

At the individual level, we need to all stand up to racial injustice when it occurs. Silence is compliance and only encourages and enhances racial injustice in the world. Individuals of all backgrounds and skin colors should point out bigotry when they see it, which will ultimately create social awareness and bring light to these issues.

At the institutional level, university leaders should make systemic changes to enhance inclusivity for students of color. One example may include requiring that all students, faculty, and staff attend diversity training focusing on racial equality and inclusion. Additionally, ensuring that campuses have a bias incident report system in place can offer a resource for students to document their experiences of racial microaggressions, which may assist with providing evidence that these incidences do in fact exist. This documentation may be useful with further presenting evidence for the need of diversity resources and inclusivity programming.

It is also important that resources be available at a professional organization level. For instance, the American Psychological Association (APA) and other organizations have various divisions/resources that can assist with supporting graduate students (e.g., Committee for the Advancement of Racial & Ethnic Diversity, Division 45, AAPA, SIP, AMENA-Psy, ABPsi, NLPA, etc.). Conducting webinars and disseminating information to academic programs may assist with providing students helpful coping strategies to use when experiencing racial stress in their programs.

For additional resources please visit: