Blog #1 October 11
My workplace is the Ed Robert's Campus in Berkeley. I work in a small department called DREDF, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, what they do is they promote the civil and human rights of people with disabilities through advocacy, training, and education. In the department there are about 10 people working in different groups of advocacy. Most of the people have a 4-year college degree and some people work as an attorney and advocates. My workplace serves people with disabilities and training people to overcome the trials they have on a daily basis. Some strengths of my workplace has are everything is so organized, the workplace is quiet especially when people are in meetings,  different organizations work on something different everyday, and they have something for me to do everyday.  

Blog #2 October 19
My mentor's name is Shira, she is an attorney and right now she is working on a project to sue Netflix for not having the option of subtitles for those who are deaf aren't able to watch Netflix online. Her typical day at work is not so busy yet she goes to meetings and is working on a project. She became interested in advocacy because she has siblings that have disabilities and she had to take care of them, from there she wanted to help give people with disabilities their rights that they deserve. She went to law school and took training to become an attorney and work in DREDF. 

Blog #3 October 25
My responsibility is working with the education organization but I also work in other departments in the building such as CIL, Center of Independent Living, and CforAT, Center for Accessible Technology. Not only will I be busy with these departments I am learning a lot about the history of why these departments and organizations were created and the history of the disability rights movement. Most of the time so far I was able to call parents/guardians who attended these workshops to take a survey about the workshops. I was able to organize a lot of paperwork about the people who went to those workshops to make records. I also was able to sit in a meeting listening to attorneys discuss issues about the education system and coming up with ways to contact schools who don't have special education and figuring out a way to make it available for students who have a disability to have that education in schools. A regular day for me is taking BART to Berkeley and coming in at 9:30 to check in with my mentor to see what I'll be doing till 12 and from 1 to 5 I would be working with other offices within the building instead of having to stay in the same office all day. 

Blog #4 November 4
For my project, I am thinking of making an interview of people working in DREDF and other places I've worked in about the disability rights movement. Since I've been learning a lot about the disability rights movement and the history of the building, I want to incorporate the history in my project.  I'm excited about doing this project because I want people to know about the disability rights movement especially because people don't know about it. I never knew there was such thing as the disability rights movement especially that it was during the civil rights movement which everyone knows about. For now I need to come up with questions to ask some employees and learning how to make an iMovie and incorporate that into my presentation. (CHANGED)

Blog #5 November 8
At my WLE, I called organizations to share information about DREDF so DREDF can work with those organizations which was before lunch. During lunch, I met with my mentor to talk about the project and putting together the project. We talked about some ideas to put into the project as well as figuring out what to put into the project. We were thinking of adding the history of the building and the disability rights movement as part of the base of the project. Then just giving a brief description about the different organizations and offices I worked throughout the building as well as make a collage of the artwork hung around the building as the center focus of the project. I want to try making it as simple as possible as well as adding a lot of the history of the disability rights movement and the Ed Roberts campus. So far, my project has been coming together and I just need to make a layout of how I am going to present the information. After lunch, I worked at CIL, Center for Independent Living, I worked at the receptionist desk in the front for a while till I got out.

Blog #6 November 15
The leadership skills that I am using at my WLE are communicating powerfully and collaborating productively. I use communicating productively with my mentor because everyday we talk and I'm not always around her so whenever I have a question or have something to tell her, I either email her or go into her office and talk. The most time when we are talking is when we talk about the project and planning what the project is going to be about and she helps give me ideas, in a way we are collaborating productively. I use collaborating productively with other staff in the building especially when someone is giving me directions on how to do something. These leadership skills help me throughout my day because without these leadership skills I wouldn't be as professional or would have bad communication talking to people. 

Blog #7 November 22
Being at my internship taught me a lot about the history of the disability rights movement and the Ed Roberts Campus. I never heard of it until now and that's something that I can take in as well as the people that work in DREDF, CIL, CforAT and other organizations that work in the building advocate and fight for people with disabilities rights. During this WLE experience, I was able to get to know people that I worked for and people who I met but didn't work for, and everybody was so nice and would ask me questions about what I am doing. Many of them told me about what they do as well as what I want to do when I graduate. The environment was so warm and welcoming, everywhere I would work, some were willing to have a conversation with me so I wouldn't be bored and one person would take me out to lunch to talk about her work and other topics. I worked for lawyers, attorneys, and advocates and all of them have one goal but different jobs. Some are to go in court and others stay in the office to reach out to groups in the bay area. All jobs aren't easy but they are all worth it in the end. The work that I did at the Ed Roberts Campus was helpful in every way; calling groups in the bay area about the Ed Roberts Campus and DREDF, organizing files to help a lawyer with a case, and making folders for new employees. Everything that I did at the different organizations, made an impact of those people who I worked for because some had no time to do those things and having me there helped them focus on what they're doing so they wouldn't have to stress over those things. I learned so many things while being at the Ed Roberts Campus, but one thing that stood out to me the most was the work that I am doing now will effect what will ahppen in the future, and I'll take that with me when I leave the Ed Roberts Campus and maybe not forever. 

Blog #8 November 29
In order to find my WLE and get hired, I had to call places in order to schedule an interview so I can get hired. I had to make a resume to bring to the interview so that person whose interviewing me can make the right decision to hire me. The most effective way of looking for a job and getting hired is by making your resume and keeping the conversation going when you have your interview shows a lot about the kind of person you are. It gives a sense of the person interviewing you, know who they will be working for. Just having to be your best, dress, attitude, and being on time shows a lot because that would be a way that could get you hired. As a result of my WLE, I think being professional or a responsible adult in the work world means having to be organized when you are working. At my WLE, the majority of people are advocates and attorneys and a lot of them keep everything in binders and folders. The work that they have me do is to put all the information that's in the binder on a spreadsheet so they can have that one paper instead of a whole binder. My WLE is a defense fund that deals with legal paperwork, having to be responsible is very important especially having to deal with casework and being on that federal level to present cases to the U.S. Supreme Court. Having to be responsible and organized is mainly key to being in the working world.

Blog #9 December 6
Today at my WLE, I called more organizations around the bay area to tell them about what DREDF does and sending them more information about DREDF. I did that in the morning and in the afternoon, I helped Melissa organize her binders as well as look for missing casework/documents that she needed to make a whole index for her to keep. For me the more I called organizations and keeping track of who I'm calling and writing down contact information, helped me be more organized and help the people I am working for be more organized. I like how my workplace is quiet enough for me to do my work but I don't like how it is so quiet that when I call people, I can only hear myself and I feel a little bit weird. Since now I work at DREDF and CforAT, both offices are quiet, everybody's doing their own work and the environment of the place is not too loud. 

Blog#10 December 13
Some final thoughts about my WLE is that I will miss all the people I worked with and my mentor because while being here, everyone made me feel welcome and were able to talk to me about the work that they do here. I loved getting to know everyone here and the environment is very welcoming, everyone says hi, and I got to keep myself busy for a while. I enjoy being at my internship, the building itself is very fascinating as well as the quiet environment so I can work better and quicker. Having this experience now gives me an option of what I could consider doing in college. I've always had an interest in law but I realize now that there are many different kinds of law, so that gives me more options of what i want to do when I go to college. Although I wouldn't want to work at an office when I find a job, I feel like I could do something different but under the same profession.