I offer here a list of my skills, competencies, and abilities, with parts of my experience of disability that might otherwise be labelled by institutions as impairments or barriers included. While I do not pretend to romanticize all of my symptoms as strengths, it feels important to attend to the specific ways that they transform and transfigure into competencies in other areas I would not otherwise have gained.

skills

as per the IDP skill survey (and beyond)

    • Writing for academic audience

    • Plain language

    • Presenting for academic audiences

    • Presenting to non-academic audiences

    • Knowledge mobilization

    • Ability to receive and implement constructive feedback

    • Project management

    • Working with diverse groups of individuals

    • Respecting diverse opinions and approaches

    • Demonstrating perseverance and resilience

    • Taking initiative and acting decisively

    • Understanding responsible ethical conduct in research

    • Project design

    • Locating, evaluating, and using information effectively

    • Managing, analyzing, and interpreting data

    • Qualitative analysis

    • NVIVO

    • Arts-based methods

    • Feminist narrative restorying

    • Documentary interviews

    • Identifying and understanding limitations and assumptions

    • Considering alternative views, approaches, and explanations

    • Understanding complex interactions

    • Appreciating historical context of my work

    • Critiquing arguments and interpretations

    • Identifying and challenging biases and assumptions

    • Asking meaningful questions to advance knowledge

    • Proficiency in Microsoft products

    • Proficiency with collaborative work platforms

    • Adobe Premiere and video and audio editing

    • Transcription

    • Captioning

    • Self-advocating

    • Recognizing somatic cues of overwork

    • Self-accommodating research, teaching, and learning spaces

    • Designing effective assessments

    • Developing engaging seminars and lectures

    • Providing generous and rigorous feedback

    • Writing for non-academic audiences

    • Social media communication and etiquette

    • Ability to give constructive feedback

    • Leading, training, or mentoring others

    • Ability to think of innovative solutions

    • Selling my skills to employers

    • Producing job application materials

    • Identifying career options

    • Managing time effectively

    • Managing personal stress and wellness

    • Identifying personal strengths and weaknesses

    • Having global awareness of my discipline

    • Creating podcasts and multimedia communication

    • Cross-cultural communication

    • Conflict management

    • Entrepreneurial skills

    • Networking skills

    • Quantitative analysis

    • SPSS

    • Grant writing

    • Understanding the relationship between research and policy

    • Drafting programs

    • Data visualization and analysis

    • Statistical programs

    • Saying no to new opportunities

    • Business acumen

    • How to negotiate job offers

reflections on priority skills to improve

Extending my praxis to myself (wellness and work/life balance)

I think a lot about how to ethically, gently, and relationally engage with almost every person and aspect of my life. I believe strongly in valuing different body-minds, in treating others with grace and generosity, in operating on crip time, and in valuing non-normative and non-academic forms of achievement. However, I find that sometimes I struggle to extend these practices and values to myself! And truly, how can my praxis really be holistic at all if I’m not embodying and treating myself with the values I purport to and aim to exist in the world with (and also how boring to act like I’m an exception to anything). So for me, working to model this values and actions, not just in moments where I’m being perceived, but in the smaller, daily, habitual ways (e.g., sitting in my living room and writing emails) is a skill I hope to build in order to make my life and career not just sustainable, but aligned.

Translating knowledge into alternate (non audio-visual) formats

As someone who comes from a working class background and creates work with and about queer and disabled communities, making sure that the data that is collected and knowledge formed through my research makes it back to the most impacted of those communities is something I want to strive for! Up to now, this has looked like a documentary film practice that accompanies my more formal work, but I recognize that this also isn’t the best way to reach some groups. Learning to write effective one-pagers, make infographics, create audio-only content, and dabble in other forms of knowledge mobilization is therefore a key goal of mine in this learning journey.

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approaching the work
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(dis)orienting to goals