You may experience moments of deep emotion during these videos. If you have concerns about encountering a specific trigger, please contact me and I will do my best to flag the requested trigger in advance. We want you to feel supported to bravely and thoughtfully engage with the material.

As you work through the content, please remember that these recordings were produced over several days during the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic. We encourage you to continue these conversations about racism and ableism together within your own communities as too often we do not speak about how these two forms of discrimination mutually influence and intersect with one another. Thank you for your efforts to reckon with racism and ableism and dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. Please contact us with any questions, comments, or if you are interested in collaborating with us on future projects.

SALLY GOULD-TAYLOR: Good morning, or afternoon, to everyone who's joining us. We'd like to welcome you to the first of two trainings that we are doing around deconstructing racism and ableism in the school-to-prison pipeline. Myself, and our three other trainers, are here joining each other through Zoom from our homes, and we're excited to talk today about really building a foundational knowledge based around racism and ableism.

This training and the module 2 are brought to you by a funded project through the Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council that was worked on in partnership through the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University and The Racial Empowerment Collaborative at the University of Pennsylvania. This project, which we call Project PLAAY-Inclusive, really is about an intervention and understanding the school-to-prison pipeline through the lens of ableism and racism. And it was a two-pronged project that we've done over the last 2 and 1/2 years.

And it included an intervention and community trainings that address the intersection of racism and ableism. And, also, it was really about raising awareness about racial stress and disability stress and how the use of both racism an ableism act as a justification for the harsh or disproportionate treatment of students of color in schools in southeast Pennsylvania, but also in Pennsylvania as a whole, and in the country as a whole.

So we're going to go with introductions of the trainers. I can start first. My name is Sally Gould-Taylor, and I am the interim executive director at the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University. My pronouns are she and her. I'm an anthropologist by training who's done a lot of work that looks at the intersection of disability and race.

And what brings me to this work is really a social justice orientation that helps me think about the fact that any isms, right, any way that people are being treated for issues that have to do with racism or ableism, should really be acknowledged in systems. And we really wanted to understand how the systems of the schools and the juvenile justice systems were disproportionately affecting people of color with disabilities. Shawn?

SHAWN ALEONG: Yes. Thank you, Sally. Hi. My name is Shawn Aleong. I am a legal studies major. My pronouns is he, him, his. I am a sophomore at Temple University, and I am studying law with a minor in real estate and finance.

And what bring me to this project is that I am an African-American man that has a disability. I am also a disability advocate and a human rights advocate. Stormy?

STORMY KELSEY: Hi, everyone. Thank you, Shawn. Hi, everyone. My name is Stormy Kelsey. My pronouns are she, her and they, them. So I am the media and communications coordinator at the University Community Collaborative, which is based at Temple University. I also am the coordinator of a program called POPPYN, which is a youth journalism program.

And I've been brought to this project because of my work in helping young people create media through a social justice lens, and, also, I'm drawn to this project because I understand the importance of thinking about intersectionality and the folks who are most vulnerable or are on the intersection. So we really need to be investigating and interrogating how we can make change within these intersections. And I understand that no one is free until we're all free, so we need to be uplifting all the communities. Mazzii?

MAZZII: Hello, everybody. My name is Mazzii. My pronouns are she, her. I'm a rising senior at Franklin Learning Center. Post high school, I plan to go to college to study environmental racism. What brings me onto this project is I'm African-American female, so racism strongly affects my life. And the school-to-prison pipeline directly connects with my education, so I hope to share some insight of my experiences and experiences that people like me would have.

SALLY GOULD-TAYLOR: Great. Thank you, Shawn, Stormy, and Mazzii. We're excited to be here together, the four of us, to create this conversation in this team. So we just wanted to start by going over the learning objectives of this training. The learning objectives really are to, one, understand the historical relationship between race and disability or between racism and ableism, two, to understand how disability and ableism fit into the school-to-prison pipeline, three, to overview tools to combat racists and ableist tensions.

STORMY KELSEY: So four, challenge yourself to be uncomfortable and to grow. So uncomfortable conversations initiate growth. We have to push ourselves to sit in that uncomfortable feeling or discomfort, and then five will be to learn about ways to take action against race and disability based discrimination, so not just learning about it, then taking the next step to actually do something.

SALLY GOULD-TAYLOR: Great.

SHAWN ALEONG: So a lot of the strategies are go at your pace, take your time. This is not a race. You can pause to get what you need to regroup and stay focused. You can revisit sessions to regroup or to study.

Give yourself process and time. Some of this stuff is very heavy stuff, so you want to be able to take a breather and give yourself time to process this information. Access an accessible [INAUDIBLE] resources. If you want to print stuff out, you can. Reach out to tech support. Or for any of my co-facilitators, you can reach out to me, Stormy, Sally, or Mazzii for any other information. Thank you.

STORMY KELSEY: I also want to make a point to say, or we want to make a point to say, that you have to remember to breathe throughout this presentation. So throughout this training, you will review material that will be sensitive and triggering. You will also learn about topics that are challenging or could be uncomfortable, as I mentioned before.

So while we want you to sit in that discomfort. We also want you to be aware that we understand that it can be quite triggering. Please, remember to take time as needed to pause, breathe, and reflect throughout the training.

We have placed purple flowers throughout the training, which is the image down below, as a reminder. So, please, take note of that. If you see these purple flowers, really give yourself space to take a deep breath and step away or do whatever you need to do to take care of you.

SALLY GOULD-TAYLOR: So I'm going to go over the topics that we're going to look at today. Topic 1 is what do race and disability have to do with each other. We're going to define race, racism, disability, and ableism, and we're going to review the historical connections.

Topic 2 is the history of racism, ableism, eugenics, and marginalization. We're going to define and review eugenics. Discuss contemporary forms or modern-day forms of marginalization that build off the history of eugenics. Topic 3, we're going to look at racism, ableism, and the school-to-prison pipeline. How do racism and ableism contribute to the mass incarceration of youth in school today?

Topic 4, we're going to look at dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, as in Philadelphia, as a example or case study of how we're looking at and what actions we're doing to deal with how this is happening in Philadelphia, and, maybe, how we can use some of those lessons to think about dismantling it throughout the state of Pennsylvania or the nation as a whole. And topic 5 is how you can take action. So we'll review resources and strategies for action, and talk about the continued education that you can get, not just from the links that we're providing, but also from our module too, which will really address personal action and how storytelling can be part of your action items.

So we want to also acknowledge that a lot of the training will cover current events conversation and movements that are happening in history but also that are happening right now. Right? We're at a really interesting and honest and open place in history right now where we're dealing with not just the pandemic of COVID-19, but with also dealing with an uprising of a social-justice movement based in anti-racism work that has allowed us to think about how this topic is not only affecting youth and students of color with disabilities in the school-to-prison pipeline, but also in larger systemic places.

So many of the topics covered in the training will have a deep history that we'll become familiar with. Every topic also has relevance to current events, conversation, and movements that are happening right now. And for each topic in the training, we've included content related to the current movement that's happening right now along with the protesters and conversations that are happening around the Black Lives Matter movement.

SALLY GOULD-TAYLOR: Hello all, and welcome to training number two in our Deconstructing Racism and Ableism in the School-to-Prison Pipeline series. Training two is moving from awareness to action. This training has been brought to you guys by the Institute on Disabilities, which is Pennsylvania's University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at Temple University.

We've been working in collaboration with the Racial Empowerment Collaborative at the University of Pennsylvania. And it's funded by the Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council. If you guys saw training number one, that would have helped create a framework of the knowledge that we're going to talk about as we move towards action today. And if you haven't seen it, you'll be able to kind of pick up. And we're going to go over kind of some of the groundwork first, before we move into the action pieces. So, welcome.
 
Before we introduce our trainers, I just wanted to house the fact that this is part of a larger project called Project PLAAY-Inclusive and the School-to-Prison Pipeline. This project included an intervention that was in the community and also community training that addresses the intersection of racism and ableism in the school-to-prison pipeline. And on this side, you'll see an infographic that shows kids walking on a dotted line towards a prison-like structure. And it reads, kids with disabilities are entering the juvenile justice system at a rate five times higher than youth in the general population.
 
The other large piece of this project was about raising awareness about racial stress and the use of disability as a justification for the harsh treatment of students of color in schools. So you'll hear us talk a lot today about both racial stress and disability stress, and how those things impact people's behaviors, experiences, the way in which people in power treat them.
 
This slide has an infographic on it with three people. And it says black students are suspended and expelled three times more than white students.
 
Let's start with introductions of our trainers. Shawn, you want to start?
 
SHAWN ALEONG: Hi. yes, thank you, Sally. Hi, my name is Shawn Aleong. I am a Legal Studies major at the Fox School of Business. I'm also a disability advocate and a civil rights advocate. And yeah. Stormy? Oh, sorry. Sally.
 
SALLY GOULD-TAYLOR: Sure. I'm Sally Gould-Taylor, and I am the Interim Executive Director at the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, and I am happy to be here.
 
STORMY KELSEY: Good morning, or afternoon, or evening, wherever you're watching from. My name is Stormy Kelsey, and I am the Media and Communications Coordinator for the Temple University. In addition to that, I also coordinate a program within the University Community Collaborative called POPPYN. And I am involved in this work because I understand, or I realize the significance of working between the intersections, and thinking through how we can bring solidarity amongst marginalized groups.
 
MAZZII: Hi, everybody. My name is MAZZII. My pronouns are she/her. I'm a rising senior at Franklin Learning Center and a senior producer for POPPYN. My role in this, I am a student, so, naturally, I amplify student voice as to do with racism, ableism, colorism, et cetera.
 
SALLY GOULD-TAYLOR: Great. I realize from Mazzii, your lead, that I forgot to add my pronouns. They're she/her as well. Shawn and Stormy, do you guys want to add yours as well?
 
SHAWN ALEONG: Yes, um, he, him, his.
 
STORMY KELSEY: And my pronouns are she/her and they/them. Thank you for reminding us.

SALLY GOULD-TAYLOR: Great. So here, we're going to look at what our learning objectives are for this module. So our first learning objective is to understand the historical relationship between race and disability, or racism and ableism. The second learning objective is to understand how disability and ableism fit into the school-to-prison pipeline. Third is to overview tools to combat racist and ableist tensions.

STORMY KELSEY: And fourth is to challenge yourself to be uncomfortable and to grow. Change initiates growth within us. So if you feel uncomfortable, interrogate that, and try and think about ways to challenge yourself. Of course, that's not to say if you're feeling triggered-- you know, do what you need to do to take care of yourself if you're triggered. But more so, this is to just challenge yourself to sit in discomfort and question why you might be uncomfortable about these conversations.
 
And then the fifth is to learn about ways to take action against race and disability-based discrimination. We can talk about it all we want. We can write books about it, but if we aren't doing the action, then change isn't happening.

SHAWN ALEONG: Oh, OK. So here is some Learning Strategies. Go at your pace. Once again, this is not a race. You take pause. You can revisit the section. Give your time process-- to process this info, because some of this stuff is heavy and triggering.
 
Assess the printable resources. Reach out to tech support and facilitators for more information.
 
STORMY KELSEY: And the next slide is a reminder to breathe. Throughout this training, you will review material that may be sensitive and triggering. You will also learn about topics that are challenging or can uncomfortable, as we mentioned before.

So while we're asking you to sit in discomfort, we're also asking you to, again, take care of yourself, if need be. Please remember to take time as needed to pause, breathe, and reflect throughout the training. We have placed these purple flowers throughout the training as a reminder.

So when you see these purple flowers at the end of a presentation or a slide, rather, that's just our invitation to help you remember to breathe. But, of course, you should be doing that throughout-- whenever needed for yourself.

MAZZII: OK. So here's an overview of today's topics. So topic one, we're going to do a brief review of training one, where we'll define race, racism, disability, and ableism. We'll take a look at current events in [INAUDIBLE]. OK. We'll take a look at current events at the intersection of racism and ableism. And we'll also take a look at the school-to-prison pipeline.

In topic two, we'll go over race and disability stress in everyday life, where we'll take a look at a Ted Talk by Dr. Howard Stevenson. And we'll talk about some ways to resolve racial stress. In topic three, we'll go into storytelling for change, where you'll hear some stories from me, Stormy, and Sally. And we'll also get into the value of storytelling and the danger of single stories.

And in topic four, that's where, again, you'll hear our stories. In topic five, we'll get into how you can take action yourself. So you'll have a chance to review some resources and strategies for action and continued education.