Beyond Awareness: Disability Awareness That Matters

Shannen McKinney has spent her career in the service of students, teachers, support staff and administrators. It was during her undergraduate studies when she attended a job fair and subsequently began her first position in special education working with individuals with significant behavioral needs. While working at the non-public school, she realized there was a segment of the population who had been hidden and silenced. She fell in love with her work and the students who came into her life—and finally decided on a college major! This also meant she would indeed follow in her mother’s magical footsteps and embrace teaching as a career. Over the past two decades, she has held a variety of positions in education including instructional assistant, education specialist, autism specialist, and behavior analyst, and is currently the Program Specialist on the Support for Teams in Autism and with At-Risk Students (STAARS). She enjoys spending time playing outdoors, baking yummy goodies indoors, laughing with her amazing teenage daughter and phenomenal friends, and holding her loved ones tightly, but her true passion lies in helping people develop a deeper understanding of our shared human experience through listening, learning, mentoring, and advocating.

In this episode, Shannen discusses the value of relationship with students and with colleagues as we strive to create inclusive environments in our schools.

Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion - Paul Bloom

Diana's Website

Free Resource - 5 Keys to Going Beyond Awareness 

Beyond Awareness: Bringing Disability into Diversity in K-12 Schools & Communities - Diana's Book

Ed Roberts: Champion of Disability Rights - Diana's Children's Book

"Beyond Awareness" Digital Course

Diana's TEDx Talk

Beyond Awareness Facebook Page

Diana on Instagram

Intro and outro music courtesy of Emmanuel Castro.

Podcast cover photo by Rachel Schlesinger Photography.

Podcast cover image description: Black and white photograph of Diana, a Spanish-American woman with long, wavy, brown hair. She is wearing a flowy, white blouse and smiles at camera as she leans against wooden building. Photo is colorfully framed with gold and orange rays of seeming sunshine on top half, and with solid sage green color on bottom half. Text reads "Beyond Awareness: Disability Awareness That Matters, Diana Pastora Carson, M.Ed."