Civic Leadership Conference

Hosted by the University of Utah's Bennion Center and Salt Lake Community College's Thayne Center, the annual Civic Leadership Conference explores community leaders' diverse pathways towards social change.  

The Civic Leadership Conference gave me some ideas to ponder. Although the Deaf community was never mentioned specifically as a community that is marginalized or a community that could use allies, I thought all that was taught could apply to the Deaf community. There was several instances where "listening" is an important characteristic of being an ally. We cannot be saviors to the communities we want to serve. We need to go in listening to what they want. It is not up to us, as hearing people, to decide what is best for the Deaf community and decide what we think their needs are.

I thought the keynote speaker was very moving. There was some things that I did not agree with him on, but for the most part I thought his ideas were enlightening. I like that he wants people to come as they are and that everyone is perfect just the way they are. I think this approach should be taken when viewing the Deaf community, instead of the pathological view of deafness needing to be "fixed."

One thing that I learned at the conference that I had never thought about before was the concept of extraction. What goodness can we extract from each other? As we serve in communities and listen to what they want, we are extracting reciprocity from each other. Everyone benefits from being civically engaged.