Melissa Marshall

Getting It: Persuading Organizations and Individuals to Be More Comfortable with People with Disabilities Melissa Marshall

Changing attitudes about disability requires equal parts art, science and magic. In Getting It, Melissa Marshall chronicles the development of her formula for presenting disability diversity training. She takes us from an inner city high school classroom to corporate training rooms as she explores various methods of having people "get it" about disability. What she wants them to get is simple: people with disabilities are the same as everyone else. Getting It, like her overall approach to training is insightful, light -hearted witty and informal. Her philosophy is that training can be fun without sacrificing discussion of the political and cultural realities of having a disability in our society. She examines issues of race and class and how they compound disability-based discrimination. Never preachy, she challenges the reader to re-examine his or her own attitudes about disability, as well as about the world in general. Whether you are a disability diversity trainer, a multi-cultural diversity trainer, a leader who wants to change attitudes in your own organization or someone who wants to increase your own understanding of disability issues, Getting It is an essential read.