Think of a specific time in your life when you have experienced or witnessed oppression in this target area.

Focus on a kind of oppression that has happened within the ranking system in the United States.

Your memory should be of a specific incident, that took place at a specific time and place, with specific people. Avoid general statements!

Spend five minutes writing out the details of this incident.

Tell us as much detail as possible so that we can get a good idea of what happened. Please focus on giving us information, rather than assessing, analyzing, or judging the situation or the people in it. Describing the emotions that came up for you is helpful.

 **Please read the file attached for paper requirements** 

First:

Take a look at the ADRRESSING Framework, and locate a rank in the framework where you personally are a target, or someone who you care about is a target.

· This could be in the rank of

Age

,

Disability

,

Race

,

Religious Culture

,

Ethnicity

,

Sexual Orientation

,

Social Class Culture

, Indigenous heritage,

National Origin

, or

Gender

.

· Tell us specifically which rank area you are focusing on.

Next:

Think of a specific time in your life when you have experienced or witnessed oppression in this target area.

· Focus on a kind of oppression that has happened within the ranking system in the United States.

· Your memory should be of a specific incident, that took place at a specific time and place, with specific people. Avoid general statements!

· Spend five minutes writing out the details of this incident.

· Tell us as much detail as possible so that we can get a good idea of what happened. Please focus on giving us information, rather than assessing, analyzing, or judging the situation or the people in it. Describing the emotions that came up for you is helpful.

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The book, Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment, by Leticia Nieto and his associates, documents how societies have social rank systems, which consist of 9 distinct categories. The categories enable people to be aware of who they are as individuals, as well as the privilege that they may or may not possess. However, Nieto’s rank category that has an impact on my life as a person is disability. I experience severe latex allergies that prevent me from being like other human beings. While disability can have distinct meanings, ranging from mental, physical, and others that are invisible, a disabled person might be a target for people who may demean them, thereby making it challenging to interact with other members of society. According to Nieto et al. (49), “In the drama of human interactions, we observe Status play – a kind of performance. It can be changed by choice, can be predictable, and is central to our enjoyment of story and humor.” For that reason, loss of ability, among humans, can affect the human experience. Hence, people who have not lost an ability like hearing, eating, and sight cannot understand the experiences of people with disabilities. People with disabilities want their conditions recognized. For them to feel like part of the society, they want other members of the society, who have not experienced disability, to acknowledge their loss of able-ness and understand that they have the invisible privilege. Another rank, which I feel I like am not part of is the rank of social class culture. Individuals within the social class culture tend not to have a stable living condition and also lack access to education. As such, people found within this class have little to say when in social institutions, a state that makes them feel ignored by the upper members of the society. Nieto et al. (52) state that when a person is in that state, they “may feel like oneness with all beings; it may feel like the enduring natural world.” While I am an agent for social class culture, it does not mean that I have adequate financial resources. It only means that I can access distinct institutions and that I also have social class influence.