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Chemical
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(first remove the
asterisks I put in
my e-mail address
to cut down on spamming)
This site was first posted on April 6, 1997, and last updated November 8, 2009.
I was born in Portland, Oregon, and lived there until my early 20s. I've lived across the Pacific, on the East Coast and in the Midwest (most recently in Chicago). I returned to Portland late July 2007.
I attended and graduated from Hillsboro Senior High School ("Hilhi"), muddled around after high school while trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I had grown up with partial hearing (deaf in one ear), but it was at this time that I discovered that - contrary to what I was assured when I was younger - a positive attitude would not necessarily overcome people's prejudices about disability. I found that even when the partial deafness did not interfere with the job functions, I encountered resistance from potential employers. These experiences later influenced my activities and studies in college and grad school. I eventually ended up traveling around the world to London, Spain, Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan. After fulfulling this dream, college was the next challenge to tackle.
I attended the University of Massachusetts at Boston ("UMass/Boston") from 1986 to 1990. During these years, I discovered the commonalities between my experiences and those of other people with disabilities, learned sign language, met a lot of great Deaf and hard of hearing people, and began to explore social and political aspects of disability. I also was a copy editor for The Mass Media, UMB's weekly newspaper, tutored several courses for the Psychology Department, worked in the Wit's End Cafe — which I managed June, 1990 - August, 1991, served on the College of Arts & Sciences Senate, was involved in quite a few "diversity panels," and made enduring friendships.
When I began at UMass/Boston in 1986, I did not really believe I'd graduate. I was a returning student who felt out of touch initially with the school environment, had experienced discrimination and was leery of others' reactions toward me, and was unsure how well I could deal with college as a hard of hearing person. So, it felt like a miracle when, four years later, I stood before 5000+ people and gave the graduation speech. At the time, I joked to my family that I felt I should give them a Very Good Reason to fly 3000 miles to see me graduate!
In 1991, I began graduate studies in social psychology at the University of Minnesota (minors in statistics and political psychology). I'm a "terminal A.B.D." (All But the Doctorate). In the final year of trying to complete my dissertation I had a one-year position at the University of Illinois at Chicago teaching about disability rights and disability policy in the Department of Disability and Human Development. I loved teaching, but had so many difficulties at the time that completing the Ph.D was just not going to happen at that point.
In the past ten years I've been drawing lightly on the skills I gained during my college and grad school years, working mostly for schools and other nonprofits. Now I'm in the process of re-specializing, seeking ways to tap more fully into my skills and experience in research, analysis, and teaching/training.
My main hobbies and interests are reading (history, sociology, Judaica), involvement in activities in my local Jewish community, fitness, and seeing indie movies. I read avidly, and write, which is something I hope to develop further.
I have brushed the cobwebs off of both the Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and Women & Disability websites and will try to add more content over time.
To contact me, e-mail me at brachapdx@**gmail.com (remove the asterisks before sending (I put them there to cut down on spam mail) or sign my guestbook.
Thanks, Barbara
A list of useful Portland links
Powell's Bookstore (The best bookstore anywhere!)
Miscellaneous, Mostly Fun Sites
John Callahan's web site. A fellow Portlander, Callahan's cartoons skewer the preciousness with which disability is usually treated. Check out his autobiographical book, He Won't Get Far On Foot, and his cartoon collections (e.g., Digesting the Child Within). Not for everyone's taste, but I like it.
Finally, there's my fansite for the late great actor Ron Silver ע״ה: The Ron Silver Page.
HTML: An Interactive Tutorial for Beginners. A great site if you want to learn HTML fast!
