Isat in the first lecture of Cy Plan 120, Community Planning and Public Policy, not knowing quite what to expect. This class was one of a kind in its subject matter, but what I was even more curious about was the instructor, Dr. Victor Pineda. I had never been taught by a disabled instructor before. The idea both intrigued and excited me.
As a nonverbal autistic, I know quite a number of students with varying disabilities. Growing up, the conversation around me was always about students with disabilities and how to make education and services more accessible for us. But, with our aspiration to higher education lies the implicit hope of employment after college ends. After all, most of us, disabled or not, want to lead a productive and meaningful life wherein we are contributing members of society.
Thus the idea of witnessing individuals with disabilities like Pineda at work opened up possibilities in my own mind. After all, UC Berkeley is where the disability rights movement began.