Counseling Services is committed to serving the wide range of diversity and identity that comprise Ohio Wesleyan's student body. Please know that when you come to our office for counseling or consultation support, we will readily meet you wherever you are at and in the myriad of ways you identify on your path.
This page offers some of the essential links to places here at OWU and elsewhere that honor the strength in diversity that comes from an inclusive community.
ON-CAMPUS RESOURCES
A Walk in My Shoes
A Walk in My Shoes is a documentary created by Kansas State University's College of Education. Voices of a diverse array of first-generation college students are represented in this video series. Please browse the stories.
INSPIRING VOICES
The following is an array of talks that address, in some form or another, the wide area of diversity found in our world. Some of the stories are funny, some sad, but all are inspiring in unique ways. Feel free to enjoy and come back again as the selection is updated on a regular basis!
How to Overcome Our Biases? Walk Boldly Toward Them – Vernā Myers
Our biases can be dangerous, even deadly — as we've seen in the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, in Staten Island, New York. Diversity advocate Vernā Myers looks closely at some of the subconscious attitudes we hold toward out-groups. She makes a plea to all people: Acknowledge your biases. Then move toward, not away from, groups that make you uncomfortable. In a funny, impassioned, important talk, she shows us how.
How to Raise a Black Son in America - Clint Smith
As children, we all get advice from parents and teachers that seems strange, even confusing. This was crystallized one night for a young Clint Smith, who was playing with water guns in a dark parking lot with his white friends. In a heartfelt piece, the poet paints the scene of his father's furious and fearful response.
I Got 99 Problems… Palsy is Just One – Monsoon Zayid
"I have cerebral palsy. I shake all the time," Maysoon Zayid announces at the beginning of this exhilarating, hilarious talk. (Really, it's hilarious.) "I'm like Shakira meets Muhammad Ali." With grace and wit, the Arab-American comedian takes us on a whistle-stop tour of her adventures as an actress, stand-up comic, philanthropist, and advocate for the disabled.
Our Century's Greatest Injustice – Sheryl Wudunn
Sheryl WuDunn's book "Half the Sky" investigates the oppression of women globally. Her stories shock. Only when women in developing countries have equal access to education and economic opportunity will we be using all our human resources.
The Danger of Hiding Who You Are – Morgana Bailey
Morgana Bailey has been hiding her true self for 16 years. In a brave talk, she utters four words that might not seem like a big deal to some, but to her have been paralyzing. Why speak up? Because she's realized that her silence has personal, professional, and societal consequences. In front of an audience of her co-workers, she reflects on what it means to fear the judgment of others, and how it makes us judge ourselves.
What Does My Headscarf Mean to You? – Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Unconscious bias is a prevalent factor driving culture, causing us all to make assumptions based on our own upbringings and influences. Such implicit prejudice affects everything, and it's time for us to be more thoughtful, smarter, better. In this funny, honest talk, Yassmin Abdel-Magied uses a surprising way to challenge us all to look beyond our initial perceptions.
Why I Must Come Out – Geena Rocero
When fashion model Geena Rocero first saw a photo of herself in a bikini, "I thought ... you have arrived!" As she reveals, that's because she was born with the gender assignment "boy." In this moving talk, Rocero tells the story of becoming who she always knew she was.
The World Needs All Kinds of Minds - Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin, diagnosed with autism as a child, talks about how her mind works — sharing her ability to "think in pictures," which helps her solve problems that neurotypical brains might miss. She makes the case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds of smart geeky kids.
How We're Priming Some Kids for College — And Others for Prison – Alice Goffman
In the United States, two institutions guide teenagers on the journey to adulthood: college and prison. Sociologist Alice Goffman spent six years in a troubled Philadelphia neighborhood and saw first-hand how teenagers of African-American and Latino backgrounds are funneled down the path to prison — sometimes starting with relatively minor infractions. In an impassioned talk she asks, "Why are we offering only handcuffs and jail time?"