The area where I grew up is much like Dahlonega and Lumpkin County. In Northwest Georgia in Chattooga County, the places and the people are very similar to here. Its a rural place and I lived in a rural area out in the country that provided a great place to grow up. My brother, my sister, and I, other than our mother, are actually the first members of our family to go to college. My family, for generations before me, all stayed close to home and usually worked some kind of labor job. The small, rural town I grew up only offers so many work options. Unless you worked a farm or on one, the only real work in Chattooga County is in either the rug mill or cotton mill. These jobs, while providing some income, did not lead to riches to say the least. This way of life, and places like Chattooga county, are a dying breed it seems. With manufacturing being outsourced, and agriculture on the brink of being completely taken over by corporations, these rural towns are drying up. Most people in Chattooga county have to either work out of town, in bigger cities, or work minimum wage jobs around home. In saying all this, growing up where I did shaped who I am. Growing up in the country, the pace of life has always seemed to suit me. My personality has always been laid back. I do love to travel and see different places, but I know where home is. My values were shaped by this place too. Right from wrong has always been instilled in me, and treating people right goes right with that. I was always taught to treat all others as my equal and help whoever I can. To me, this is the biggest reason for me to become a teacher and coach. I feel like I can take what I have, and where I come from, and by using the two, help others thrive and succeed.

People with disabilities often find it hard to navigate activities that we take for granted. Things as simple as driving a vehicle, walking the stairs to class, or finding a seat when you get there can be an everyday obstacle. Taking time to notice these things in our everyday routine gives us just an inkling of insight into what some have to go through. Just yesterday, I made a point to observe during my daily routine the everyday obstacles that someone with a disability would encounter. It started with my drive to school. My grandmother is bound to scooter to get around and I know from helping her the difficulty she has in getting in and out of a vehicle. Then once one is out of the car, the obstacles begin on campus. The amount of steps and elevation changes on this campus are plenty without having a disability. Just getting to a building where your class is held would take detours and planning ahead. All of the buildings on campus were originally built without anyone handicapped in mind, so needless to say, they have many steps and staircases. Once one finds their way into class, finding a seat can be difficult. Most of my classes either have tables with many chairs, or have many rows of tables separated slanted at an elevation. Just looking at them, it looks like it would be hard for a person with a disability to find a place to sit, especially in ones with the floor being slanted uphill. All this made me think about something I read in the book about normalization. "Normalization means making available to all persons with disabilities or other handicaps, patterns of life and conditions of everyday living which are as close as possible to or indeed the same as the regular circumstances and ways of life of society" (Gollnick, p. 189). I feel like the school has done a great deal in adapting for those with disabilities to have as "normal" a school experience as possible. However, this experience can still be difficult and in the future, more must be done to accommodate those with disabilities.

To be honest, I have never really thought too much about my own gender identity.  I am from a very small town, and was raised in a family with conservative family values, therefore I have always accepted the fact that my gender identity is normal.  This is not to say that I have been sheltered my whole life and have never saw or experienced people who think and identify differently than I do.  I have always tried to inform myself about other people's views and accept everyone for who they are.  I have just always saw myself as being rather "normal", especially when it comes to gender identity.  My father has probably had the most influence on my own gender identity.  I am the youngest of four brothers, and my father has always been a blue-collar, working class guy.  He has instilled in all of us the value of hard work, and doing things the right way, as well as a love for the outdoors and athletics.  From the time I was four years old, I was playing organized sports, usually coached by my father, and from the time I could walk, I have been on a creek bank fishing, or in a hunting blind in the woods.  To me, this has been all that I have ever known, and to me, "normal".  I never even realized that these aspects of my life, identified my gender role.  Obviously, these aspects and activities of influence have always matched my gender identity, as I have never felt an inkling of want or need to go against them.  The identity that was placed on me has always been the one that just happened to perfectly match my personality and therefore I have never even realized the influence this had on my gender identity. However, I definitely realize the negative impact that having gender forced on someone could have.  For people that take on the gender identity of the opposite sex, I respect their life and who they are. While my identity of gender was formed by what activities I was placed in by my parents, they have always taught  me to respect others and accept people for whomever they are. I have never had a problem with someone for just being who they are. I do feel that boys who take on the gender identity of females suffer more than girls do when the situation is reversed. I feel like that girls are more accepted by society, because girls are stereotyped as emotional, whereas boys are "supposed" to take on a hard, rough identity, and reinforce the stereotype of masculinity.