This lecture was a conversation about Judy’s life with a current Davidson student Sarah Todd Hammer. She is an international disabilities rights activist and was a special advisor for Obama and Clinton. She talked about how disables people had less laws that protected them before than now and how she helped improve laws for disabled people. She talked about how her parents had to learn how to navigate the system and that it took a while and that school wasn’t accessible for her. So, this made her have to speak up at a young age for herself and advocate for herself. She even forced herself on a bus she was waiting for a long time because there was no accessible feature. She talked about small changes that Davidson could have to make it more accessible such as the bathroom door being too heavy and maybe some doors just taking them off completely. She also thinks that disabled students need to be a part of more universities and that it should be a bigger part of DEI. This made me think about how DEI is so focused on race and gender and everything else that is a part is left out with one being disabilities. I do work in DEI for some areas on campus and will have to do that in my job teaching next year that it helped open my eyes for more things to focus on and simple fixes that could happen. She talked a lot about how the laws are discriminatory and ways to advocate for oneself or others. I think it’s horrible that people don’t respect the laws that is there to protect disabled people and how it’s overlooked and unlawful, but it’s so common for people to do. These aren’t things I normally think about. One thing I think about is how I normally would think people who double park to be rude, but a friend of mine is disabled and did this because someone was sitting in their car in the handicap parking stall and there was no other place, so they had to double park for that reason. Accommodations help all and are there for a good reason.

When deciding to consciously take part in the no product day challenge, I thought it would be easier than it seemed to be. There are days that I forget to put on deodorant or perfume, so it wouldn’t be that bad I thought, but people’s comments surprised me that day. I told my partner that I was doing this challenge, explaining about what we learned in class at the time with the history of deodorant and how I didn’t really need it. Immediately he said that no wonder people in GSS stink. I never expected that comment and didn’t think my friends who are taking GSS classes stink at all. I think it was a joke, but it still struck me as surprising that he said that. Then, I met up with a friend who I told that I was doing this challenge, he was like you’re gross! This also confused me. There are times I haven’t used deodorant before because I forgot, but how is not using it for one day gross? It was surprising to me how ingrained it was in people’s mind that no deodorant = stink and gross. If I didn’t tell my friends and partner that I was doing this challenge, I believe no one would’ve made these comment. But why is it that the thought of it grosses people out?

Now, I don’t use deodorant or perfume unless I’m going to an event. I think of products I used to buy that now I don’t such as shaving cream. My family used to constantly tell me that not shaving as a girl is gross which took a long time to get over, but now when people tell me that, it only stings a little bit. So I actually enjoy not using makeup, shaving products, perfume, deodorant, etc because it saves me time and money as well as doesn’t take up too much space and my space is less cluttered.