This course felt extremely important, and honestly, I wish that disability studies were required in more curriculums. The professor was also very kind and accommodating, especially during a pandemic. As far as writing classes go, I feel like this one was definitely easier and less stressful than most others. Your grade pretty much depends on your TA, so some TA's are obviously more lenient than others.

This class is known to be one of the easier writing 2 classes. Your grade is largely dependent on essays (obviously). However I do feel like some TA were too harsh when grading. Some important disability studies concepts were not defined in class, therefore it was difficult when writing the papers. Make sure to do the extra credit assignments and go to your TA office hours to receive feedback on your drafts. I did this for the final paper and felt more confident in what I was writing.

There is a reason this class is so sought after. I think everyone at UCLA should be made to take this class! I learned so much in this class and it really opened my eyes to how inaccessible and ableist our society is. In terms of class structure, there are readings assigned every week with a couple of films assigned also. The work, in my opinion, was very manageable. The only things that were super daunting were the presentation and the final essay/project. However, if you have a good group, the presentation should not be too bad. For the final assignment, you could write an essay or submit a film project with a script. I actually found the final project to be really fun and I learned a lot while doing research for it. As for professor Solone, she is such a gem. She is so compassionate and knowledgeable! I feel that there is no one better suited to teach this class. She prioritizes inclusion and values the feedback she gets from students. At one point in the class, I remember getting emotional at just how understanding the teaching team is for this class. All the pressure from other classes to be perfect and know everything from the jump is not there in dis std 101w. The teaching team knows that you’re still learning and approach their lessons with that understanding. It makes me wish all my classes were like that. I remember talking with my TA about how stressed as was about an assignment and she was gracious enough to extend the due date for me because she could see how much pressure I was under. All this to say, this class has such amazing teachers that value your well-being and offers such important insight into the inaccessibility of our society. THIS IS A MUST-TAKE CLASS!!

I loved having Professor Solone as a professor again! She is so incredibly compassionate and truly the epitome of what an educator should be. The content of the class was incredibly eye-opening and forced me to think about issues I had never considered previously. I was able to learn about the diversity that exists within the DeafBlind community and the many ways I can become a better ally and advocate. As for the structure of the class, the biggest assignments included the book quizzes, discussion posts, and the final advocacy project. All the books we read were incredibly interesting and brought different perspectives to the topics we were discussing in class. I will say that you do have to pay for them on your own, the books are not provided. Something I would recommend is that, if you have a library card, you can use that to rent audiobooks (I know LA County library allows you to do that, you just have to get on the waiting list for the book/audiobook so you get access in time). The professor also provides links where you can buy them. The quizzes aren’t meant to be tricky, just to prove that you actually read the book. As for the discussion posts, they were manageable and not very time-consuming. Most of them were used to provide updates on how you were doing on your final advocacy project. I believe we began working on the final action project in Week 4 or Week 5. Either way, in that time we are asked to think of an issue affecting the DeafBlind community that we want to tackle and take action toward rectifying that issue. The expectation is not that you completely solve the problem but that you take tangible steps/actions towards improvement. I really enjoyed this part of the class because it integrates advocacy, which most of my classes often don’t do. Overall, this class was a 10/10 and I would highly recommend it.

Professor Solone is truly of one the most caring, genuinely passionate professors on campus. I commend her for her unending care and helpfulness to her students, her goal of full accessibility, consideration of student accommodations, and opportunities for students to grow holistically. The kind of support and striving for accessibility in this course is one unheard of in other classrooms, but should be implemented across the board to help students thrive: Zoom options, recordings, posted slides, closed captioning, and visual descriptions. As a student, it spoke volumes in understanding what an ideal, accessible classroom and educational institution should look like. The content of the course is as interesting as it is pertinent to today, and I would recommend this course to all students.