What have you learned about yourself as a reader, writer and scholar this semester?

– I learned about myself as a reader, writer, and scholar this semester is that the tasks were so hard and I was, still am unmotivated. I don’t know what to blame it on; is it my lack of understanding? Poor writing skills? Maybe procrastination as a whole. Firstly I’d like to quote a piece of work from the first unit that is, “Let’s paint a picture, shall we? I don’t know what “normal” means or what it’s like to feel that way. Maybe I’m confused? Lost? I don’t know, but what I do know is that it’s okay to not be normal. A dictionary definition of normal is “customary, boring, and typical.” If I was this way I would be a part of any discourse community possible. I couldn’t be anymore wrong because that’s not true. I am not normal no matter how hard I try to be, but if the opposite word is “abnormal” then the qualities of a normal person are the opposite, kind of like the yin and yang to each other. The unfortunate truth about being normal is that it’s the highest tier of social construct that I want to be, but I am not.” Looking back on this I can say this introduction is weak and doesn’t grab the attention of the reader at all. I felt really tense and lost, to say the least. As a matter of fact this paper does not have a grade at all! If anything at all I deserved an F on it solely for how unacceptable and self-deprecating it is. My second paper wasn’t god-awful but I wouldn’t put on the top tier of “improvement” either, it’s a pitiful B-minus. However, it was something that I was graded on! I did an adequate amount of research and it was a topic I was interested in exploring. I believe the strongest part of my Unit 2 paper is, “However, Neurodivergency is complicated which shows limitations. As stated in the hbr.org article, “Especially in large companies, HR processes are developed with an eye toward wide application across the organization. But there is a conflict between scalability and the goal of acquiring neurodiverse talent. “SAP focuses on having scalable HR processes; however, if we were to use the same processes for everyone, we would miss people with autism,” says Anka Wittenberg, the company’s chief diversity and inclusion officer. In addition, the behaviors of many neurodiverse people run counter to common notions of what makes a good employee—solid communication skills, being a team player, emotional intelligence, persuasiveness, salesperson-type personalities, the ability to network, the ability to conform to standard practices without special accommodations, and so on. These criteria systematically screen out neurodiverse people.” This is very harmful and neglatory because it shows me that Neurodiverse people can be excluded. Being talented can happen to anyone whether it you’re Neurodivergent or Neurotypical, but media implies that ND’s are outcasts. An example of exclusion was the artist Sia, she made a movie called ‘Music’ and it was about the a girl named Music who’s navigating through life as well as being on the autism spectrum. Then again, many people who are Neurodivergent expressed their thoughts especially on Twitter targeting Sia for being exclusive with the casting, because she casted Maddie Ziegler who is able-bodied and Neurotypical as star of the lead role. Neurodivergent folks were infuriated on how many ticks or simulations were stereotypical portrayals of autism. All the more, Neurodivergent people deserve a chance to shine as many Neurotypicals and shouldn’t be limited despite being talented.” It was an idea of some sort and very controversial to discuss, but I am glad I did because that movie was very dehumanizing and traumatic not only for the actress but for the Neurodivergents.

How will you be able to use what you have learned this semester and transfer that knowledge to other writing situations—either in college or in your community?

I will able to used what I have learned this semester and transfer that knowledge to other writing situations-either in college or in my community is to not slack as much and start by deciphering situations little by little to so I can process the knowledge.