Walk with me.

Photo by ÉMILE SÉGUIN on Unsplash

Hello World,

I’m so excited to be here today to share my journey in inclusive design. While this journal is part of an exercise assigned by a professor at OCAD U to learn how to design an accessible website while practicing reflexivity, I hope this exercise provides a means to get to know you. Who are you? If you are here to unlearn and learn, question the status quo, participate in research, or simply feel a social connection, then you are the reader I’m hoping to get to know. I realize that by stating this that it may exclude some people, and perhaps, as I move further into inclusive design, I’ll open up a bigger space. For now, I’ve created some value-based boundaries as my starting point. Hopefully, I will grow through this exercise and learn to expand my circle.

Before I introduce myself, I would like to begin by acknowledging the land on which I live. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinabee, the Wendat, the Chippewa, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place continues to be home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island. As a guest, I am grateful for the opportunity to live, work, and study on this land.

This week has been full of introductions as I met many new classmates and faculty who come from every corner of the world. Introductions are so nerve-racking! I have a lot to be proud of, but I don’t like to spotlight them. I am unique, but I dislike highlighting them. I push past it, and I know I do it well most of the time--to the extent that perhaps it makes others feel nervous about their own introductions? I wish I could introduce myself without making others feel nervous about themselves, but at the same time, be able to give them the information they want to know. In the end, I keep it short and simple and try sharing new tidbits with each repeated rotation of the introduction. Below are most of the tidbits:

My name is Lucy Song (she/they), and I am a second-generation North and South Korean-Canadian living a little over an hour north of tkaronto “the place in the water where the trees are standing”, known today as Toronto. I was assigned female at birth (AFAB) and identify as non-binary. I am in an intercultural marriage with a cisgender man, raising a little first grader. I was raised by devoted Catholics; however, in the last five years, I have turned to mindfulness as my wellness practice. My childhood was during the early 80s and 90s, often moving around to nearby cities, the eldest of four children and a first-generation university graduate. I’ve studied and worked in the field of art and design for over a decade—perhaps nearing two, depending on how you do the math.

If you’re curious about my educational and professional background, you can do a deep dive here: linkedin.com/in/lucysongdesign

I guess part of my reservations with introductions is that it paints a superficial portrait. There’s a deeper story behind the singular statements, and I have a hard time being comfortable with leaving it up to mass media-informed stereotypes to fill in the gaps.

I do appreciate the sharing of identities as a means to be transparent about the lens and biases we carry. An exercise to state where we are and where we’re going. I hope that you may share your identities with me in either email or the comment section below. I’m looking forward to connecting with you.