Becoming the Representation
By: Valerie Piro
“You can’t be what you can’t see” has become a call for representation and diversity. Essentially, the way to increase diversity in any given field is to recruit or promote the work of those from underrepresented backgrounds. Once others from such backgrounds see that it is possible to be in a field because they see someone like them, more from that background will enter that field. But what happens when you are in a profession where you feel at home, but no one looks like you in that profession?
I am a medieval-historian-in-training. I have been since the first day of my freshman year of college, when I wheeled into a lecture hall for the course “Medieval Europe” and fell head over heels for writings on old parchment, in dead languages.
Admittedly, it is a little odd that I would want to study medieval history. For starters, the region I study, Europe, is notorious for old and inaccessible architecture. Indeed, there are some libraries in England I cannot enter.
On top of that, no other medieval historian looks like me. I have met a couple of brilliant wheelchair users in academia (one of whom is a medievalist), but they’re both men, Christopher Baswell and Michael Stein come to mind. There are vast differences between how academia is experienced based on gender alone. Could you imagine how disability factors into things?
As an undergraduate, and more frequently now as a PhD candidate, I attend as many medieval history events on and off campus as I can. I’m eager to learn, but I also hope to find another woman who looks like me, who could provide guidance or at least let me know that a tenure-track job is attainable, but such a meeting has yet to occur.
The mentors I had in college were brilliant, but they couldn’t tell me whether my wheelchair might count against me in a job interview. Anyone involved in a hiring committee should base their decisions on the strength of the applicant (e.g. number of papers published, teaching experience). But my inability to find wheelchair-using female professors suggests that either no women who used wheelchairs saw medieval history as a career path, or, worse, that those who sought that path were told they did not belong.
Thankfully, no professor I’ve worked with has yet to dissuade me from seeking an academic career. It means there is some belief that I could be a scholar. I’ve come up, however, against campuses on steep hills, buildings without accessible bathrooms or elevators, tricky cobblestones and sidewalks that have resulted in more than one fall, and student housing with elevators that seemed to break down at the least opportune moments, e.g. the morning of my first final exam freshman year. Structurally speaking, academia might not be ready for me.
But as long as the medieval community judges me on my potential and my scholarship, I am hopeful that I will not need to meet a female wheelchair user with a tenured position to alleviate my fears. Perhaps, instead, I could see what my advisors see and become her.
Comments
BEST BITCOIN RECOVERY COMPANY/ CONTACT WIZARD LARRY RECOVERY EXPERTS
Watch out for cryptocurrency platforms that promise enormous profits. People are falling for their phoney programs. All we need to do is exercise more caution. 52,650 USD was stolen from me last year. After I paid the third time, I realised it was all a hoax. Wizard Larry Recovery was quite helpful, particularly in retrieving my stolen money, and was recommended by someone on the Bitcoin Abuse Forum. You can reach him at the following address.
Website..https://www.wizardlarryrecovery.com/ WhatsApp..+447 (311) 146 749 Email… support@wizardlarryrecovery. com (OR) Email… Wizardlarry(@)mail . comI want to take the opportunity to tell you about my wonderful experience working with Wizard James Recovery. I wasn’t sure at first whether I could get my stolen bitcoins back. But because of their skill and knowledge, I was able to get my money back in full. Regrettably, scams in the bitcoin space, particularly those involving fraudulent investment platforms, affect a lot of people. I do caution, though, that not all recovery services are trustworthy. Due to a dishonest site, I personally lost $65,000 worth of Bitcoin from my Binance account. Wizard James Recovery is the most experienced and successful recovery company if you have had a comparable loss and are thinking about coin recovery. After gaining access to my wallet, Wizard James Recovery Service helped me retrieve my stolen money in less than a day. Many recovery services might not be reliable, but theirs was not only a timely service, but also incredibly competent and efficient. As a result, I heartily endorse Wizard James Recovery. Contact them if you need help locating your lost cryptocurrency; they complete their work efficiently and effectively. Be cautious and watchful when dealing with cryptocurrency. You can reach them via Whatsapp/Cell: +447418367204
Testimony: "My Dad’s Lost Bitcoin Was Recovered After 12 Years – Thanks to CLOUDSTRIKE "
Earlier this year, we came across an old notebook with a partial 9-word seed phrase and a reference to a “Bitcoin wallet – Electrum.” We also found a non-working laptop from around 2013.
He had once mentioned buying Bitcoin back then, but we assumed it was a passing interest. Clearly, it wasn’t.
The problem? The laptop was unreadable, and the seed phrase was incomplete.
After failed DIY attempts, we reached to a company specializing in digital asset recovery and seed phrase reconstruction( CLOUDSTRIKE CYBERSECURITY COMPANY ) . From the beginning, they were professional, transparent, and highly responsive.
Their team recovered and decrypted data from the damaged laptop, analyzed old wallet files and metadata and also used proprietary tools to reconstruct the missing seed words
Within three weeks, they successfully recovered the wallet:
17 BTC—worth over $1,600,000 at the time.
Thanks to CLOUDSTRIKE , we recovered not just digital assets—but a part of my father’s legacy. The funds helped us pay off our family home, invest in the future, and support a cause he cared about.
If you’re locked out of a wallet or missing a seed phrase, I highly recommend CLOUDSTRIKE CYBERSECURITY COMPANY and they can be contact through their E-mall address which is ( Cloudstrikecyber@gmail.com)
WhatsApp:+1(260)408-3923
Their expertise is rare—and real.