Pac Rim 2008 Info
Thematic Keynote Speakers: Patricia Wood
Patricia Wood | Brenda Smith Myles | Manulani Aluli Meyer | Janet Cole | Jacquelyn Brand | Caroline Casey | Patricia A. Morrissey | Edward J. Kame‘enui
Monday April 14th, 2008: 9:00 am -10:00 am in the Kauai Ballroom, on topic of Empowering People with Disabilities: Independent Living
“Truth Through Fiction”
Many excellent academic papers are published based on quality research each year, but is this the only way to effect change? Practical applications of studying disability and diversity and applying it to real life to effect attitudinal change do not have to be grounded in academics.
Novelists who focus on including those with disabilities among their characters in an authentic way are in a unique position to effect change in attitudes and may expose a greater segment of the population to those who are marginalized.
The novel Lottery uses fiction to show how a man with a cognitive challenge might attempt to navigate life’s difficulties. A first person point of view coupled with circumstances that would test anyone’s resolve sets the stage. Having this character then emerge victorious and in the process change the way others look at those termed different or less abled creates a scenario that can expose the reader to numerous possibilities.
Additional ramifications to fictional settings with characters with disabilities are wide exposure to people first language. Readers find themselves looking at those differently abled in a new way. Fiction utilized in the classroom can open students’ eyes, encourage empathetic emotions, and achieve an authenticity and essential truths.
Biography
Patricia Wood is the author of the newly released book titled Lottery. She has served in the U.S. Army, worked as a Medical Technologist, been a horseback-riding instructor, and most recently taught marine science in a public high school working with high-risk students in Honolulu.
Ms. Wood is an avid SCUBA diver, has assisted with shark research, won the Hawai‘i State Jumper Championship with her horse Airborne, and crewed in a 39-foot sailboat across the Pacific Ocean from Honolulu to San Francisco.
Currently a PhD student at the University of Hawai‘i, her work is focused on education and the study of disability and diversity. Ms. Wood lives with her husband, Gordon aboard ORION, a 48-foot sailboat moored in Hawai‘i. She has one son, Andrew who lives in Everett, where Lottery takes place.
