Name: Alison Adams 
How did I get involved in IMPACT?

• During my freshman year, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do for spring break, but one of my best friends suggested that I apply to go on an IMPACT trip. So, without much information, I applied to be on a trip to Philadelphia, PA, focused on Ability & Disability Awareness. What followed was without a doubt one of the best weeks of my life. I made so many new and lasting friends, we laughed, we cried, and we learned so much about the disabled community and their lives, it was a truly eye-opening experience. The impact that my trip left on me fueled my desire to impart a similar experience on other participants and people throughout UGA.

Why am I interested in my trip focus? 

• I am interested in Disability/Ability Awareness because I went on the trip to Philly, PA and it really opened my eyes to a lot of new things. One of them being how ableist our world is and how that can play such a big role in our everyday lives. You do not realize how challenging things that others take for granted can be until you experience a physical disability. I believe it is also important to have conversations about both visible and invisible disabilities. In this time of COVID-19 I am really interested in learning about how those with different disabilities are adversely affected and what we can do to make a difference.  

Favorite IMPACT memory?

• My first trip as a site leader I was in Nashville, TN on the Community Health and Wellbeing trip. One of the service sites we went to was Project Cure. This was an organization that actually went to different countries in need of medical supplies, surveyed what exactly they needed, and then found a way to get them those supplies. This organization blew me away with their intentionality in their work. Often people will just send bulk aid packages full of things that may not work in the country, but this organization actually went to the country to see what their infrastructure could handle and listen to what they really needed. We also got to fill a shipping container that was actually going to another country and our picture was taken for the queen of that country. 

Contact info
4th Year
International Affairs and Anthropology major
she/her/hers
Contact me: Ama84624@uga.edu

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Contact Info: 
she/her/hers
Contact me:
(864) 315-9475 | sv03628@uga.edu

Name: Manasa Vemeraju
How did I get involved in IMPACT?​

• IMPACT seemed to be too good to be true on all fronts. It was a way for me to get out of my house and travel alone for Winter Break, something I had never been able to do before with my strict parents. Furthermore, it was a way for me to travel during Winter Break with a purpose. My first trip had been “Community Health and Wellbeing” in Nashville, Tennessee. Being Pre-Health, I was able to learn more about the social justice and activism aspect of a career in the medical field while exploring a place I had never been to before. That is how IMPACT works. You find an environment to explore new aspects of social justice, regardless of whether you knew your trip focus going into it. I thought I knew everything there was to know about Community Health and Intersectionality but the beauty of IMPACT is that there’s always a takeaway. There’s always something new to learn. I first got involved with the program to spend my break learning something new, and through the program I realized that the learning never really has a stopping point. IMPACT taught me how to make a learning experience out of everything I do in everyday life, which is why I chose to keep staying involved.

Why am I interested in my trip focus?

• What drew me to the topic was the diverse identities, and even cultures, that make up the LGBTQ+ community. The intersectionality of issues within the topic is very underrepresented in mass media. There are layers of privilege even within this community, and I believe that is what’s important to address when raising awareness. Black transgendered womxn face different obstacles than white cisgendered men. I believe that advocacy often fails to acknowledge these disparities and generalizes the community. Even other movements, such as feminism, often excludes transgendered and nonbinary communities. On this trip, I hope to help deconstruct these barriers and help celebrate the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community while opening up avenues to truly understand the important role that intersectionality plays in LGBTQ+ awareness. 

Favorite IMPACT memory?

• IMPACT was actually the first time I had even bothered to look at a TikTok. Before then, I had been vehemently opposed to the app and had vowed never to download it, but before I knew it, half my group had convinced each other to learn “the Renegade”. It took me three days to learn the dance, and needless to say, I have not attempted to do many other TikTok dances since. It was definitely a bonding moment, though. My body is just simply not equipped to move like that.

ABOUT OUR TOPICS 

TERMS TO KNOW:

Disability Awareness Key Terms 
Ableism: Discrimination in favor of able-bodied people
 
Accessible: Able to be accessed (in terms of buildings and spaces) or able to be used (in terms of things). Also, under thins definition we include the idea that people are able to participate (when talking about activities or events)

Access barriers: Any obstruction that prevents people with disabilities from using standard facilities, equipment and resources.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): A civil rights law put into place in 1990, the ADA “prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.” This law works to ensure that people with disabilities have and enjoy the same rights as others.

Assistance Device: Any item or equipment, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.

Barriers (Architectural): Some common building standards under both the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS) and the Americans with Disabilities Act Architectural Guidelines (ADAAG) that eliminate common physical and architectural barriers. Examples of some architectural barriers may include:

• Walkways – 4 feet minimum width
• Doorways – 32 inches minimum clear opening
• Telephones – highest operable part not more than 48 inches from floor
• Bathroom Stalls – not less than 60 inches clear floor space to accommodate a wheelchair turning radius
• Slopes and inclines – for every one-inch drop between level surfaces, a one-foot ramped incline

Chronic diseases: are defined broadly as conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both.

Disability: Physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; a record of such impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment.
Equal Opportunity: An opportunity for people with disabilities to participate and benefit from programs and services that is equal to and as effective as the opportunity provided to others
Intersectionality: The interconnection of social categories such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and independent systems of discrimination or disadvantage
People First Language: A linguistic effort to put emphasis on the person over their disability

• EX: “a person with autism” instead of “an autistic person”

Physical or mental impairment: Any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: neurological; musculoskeletal; special sense organs; respiratory, including speech organs; cardiovascular; reproductive; digestive; genitourinary; hemic and lymphatic; skin; and endocrine; or any mental or psychological disorder, such as mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities. (Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990)
Sources:
https://adata.org/learn-about-ada
 
LGBTQ+ Awareness and Advocacy Key Terms 
Asexual: Someone who does not experience sexual desire.
Biphobia: Irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against bisexuality and bisexual individuals
Bisexual: Sexual or romantic attraction to people of more than one sex/gender identity
Cisgender: someone whose gender identity corresponds with the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth
Gay: sexual or romantic attraction to people of one's same sex
Gender Binarism: the classification of gender into two distinct, opposite forms of masculine and feminine, whether by social system or cultural belief.
Gender dysphoria: significant emotional distress and impairment in life functioning caused by a lack of congruence between gender identity and sex assigned at birth
Gender identity: a person's internal sense of being male, female, some combination of male and female, or neither male nor female
Gender Non Conforming: having a gender expression that does not conform to gender norms
Homophobia: irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality 
Intersectionality: the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups
Intersex: A group of conditions/biological sexes that are neither entirely male nor entirely female
Lesbian: sexual or romantic attraction to other women or between women
LGBTQ+: An acronym standing for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered Queer and a (+) plus denoting other sexualities and gender identities.
Nonbinary: a person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that is neither entirely male nor entirely female
Passing (gender):In the context of gender, passing or blending is when someone, typically a transgender person, is perceived as cisgender instead of the sex they were assigned at birth.
Pronouns/neo pronouns: Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. Common ones are he/she/they. Neopronouns are any set of singular third person pronouns that are created with the intent of being a gender neutral pronoun set. 
Sex: a male, female, or intersex label assigned to a person at birth.
Spectrum: a continuous sequence or range, often used to describe sexualities and genders to highlight that there are no binaries.
Transgender: a person whose gender identity differs from the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth
Transphobia: irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against transgendered people. 

MORE ABOUT OUR TOPICS 

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