The problem with Alabama only having one majority-Black voting district

Alabama’s redistricting plan for its seven seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 has caused controversy recently. The state has a 27% Black resident population, yet only one of the seven voting districts is majority Black. Thus, one district in the state gives Black people strong voting power. Critics of the map say a second majority-Black district should have been created to reflect the demographics of Alabama voters, but it was not. The recent case of Merrill v. Milligan decided that Alabama’s voting district map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. This act prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate based on race. In response, Alabama asked the Supreme Court to overturn its decision because it argued that states were prioritizing race above all other criteria when redistricting, and this would make elections overly biased. When the court was divided politically in February of 2022, the court granted Alabama’s request. This allowed Alabama to use the new map in May 2022 primary and November 2022 general elections. Since voting in Alabama is heavily polarized, Black voters can only elect Black candidates if they make up a majority in a district. As such, the court’s ruling, which allows for the map with only one majority-Black district, has diluted the impact of Black Alabamians’ votes. Justice Elena Kagan. Justice Stephen Breyer and Justice Sonia Sotomayor are challengers of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Along with the Biden administration, they are pushing back against Alabama’s new voting district map. They are urging the court to support the lower court’s ruling in which Chief Justice John Roberts agrees with Kagan, Breyer, and Sotomayor that the map will dilute minority votes in Alabama. While Alabama wishes for plaintiffs in the case to create a new map with an additional majority-minority district without prioritizing race, the challengers argue that this is unjust because the maps must take into account the racial differences of a population in some way. It seems that Alabama’s voting districts fail to align with the state’s demographics. They are subject to a political agenda, while the Supreme Court should ensure voting equality.</p

« Students as Partners » : une approche pédagogique innovante pour un curriculum queer

L’objet de cet article est de présenter la démarche innovante d’une activité pédagogique – ou tâche en référence à la terminologie du Cadre Européen Commun de Référence pour les Langues (CECRL) – qui offre une alternative queer pour renouveler des contenus de cours plus traditionnels. Mise en place dans le cadre d’une initiative de niveau universitaire dans le domaine de l’apprentissage du français langue seconde au Canada, cette activité se concentre sur l’introduction en classe de niveau débutant (niveau A1 du CECRL) d’un élément grammatical et identitaire de genre : les pronoms non binaires. Comment intégrer en toute légitimité les pronoms non binaires quand on introduit les pronoms personnels sujet de la langue française ? Le public visé par cette tâche sont les apprenant·e·s de niveau débutant – ou de niveau A1 selon l’échelle de compétences du CECRL. Afin de présenter le contenu de cette tâche, nous proposons tout d’abord de discuter de l’importance d’inclure les pronoms non binaires (iel, iels) dans une langue genrée comme le français dans le renouvellement du curriculum dès le niveau débutant. Ceci permet de reconnaître toutes les identités de genre, au même titre que les pronoms auxquels les apprenant·e·s peuvent s’identifier (je, tu, elle, il, on, nous, vous singulier/pluriel, elles, ils) et d’offrir un climat de classe (classroom climate) où existe un sentiment d’appartenance plutôt qu’un sentiment d’exclusion. Nous proposons ainsi une alternative à la règle grammaticale politiquement biaisée du masculin l’emporte sur le féminin qui est traditionnellement enseignée pour expliquer les accords de genre en français. Pour cela, nous montrons dans un deuxième temps l’importance de la queerisation des matériaux pédagogiques afin que toutes les personnes trouvent leur agentivité dans leur cours de français et comment un travail de collaboration avec des étudiant·e·s permet de répondre efficacement à ces enjeux. Enfin, nous présentons l’aboutissement de notre projet qui a consisté à créer une ressource authentique intitulée Le voyage d’Alex, pour introduire le pronom non binaire « iel » dans un cours de niveau universitaire selon une pédagogie du conflit ou de l’inconfort, avant de conclure sur l’évaluation et la portée de notre projet.The goal of this article is to present the innovative approach behind a pedagogical activity—or task in reference to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL) terminology—that offers a queer alternative to renew more traditional course content. This project is part of an innovative academic initiative that focuses on a grammatical element: the introduction of the non- binary pronouns in French. French as second language learners in a Canadian context and at the beginners’ level (A1 level in reference to the CEFRL) are the audience of this task. To present our approach, we first discuss the importance of introducing the non-binary pronouns (iel, iels) in a French as second language classroom as early as the beginners’ level at the same time as learners have their first exposure with pronouns they can identify with (je, tu, elle, il, nous, vous singular/plural, ells, ils) in order to offer a classroom climate organized around a feeling of belonging rather than a feeling of exclusion. This offers an alternative to teaching the French political biased grammatical rule of the masculine trumps the feminine traditionally taught when introducing the gender agreement rule in French. Secondly, we advocate for the importance of queering teaching resources to include all persons in order to support finding their agency when speaking in French and how collaborative work with students is an efficient way to adopt such an approach. Finally, we present the major outcome of our project which is the creation of an authentic resource titled Le voyage d’Alex, and some possible teaching applications, in alignment with the CEFRL and EDI principles in the classroom, before ending on assessing the benefits of our teaching approach

Global functional performance and caregiver assistance in children with pervasive development disorders

Background: Pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) affects motor, social and communication function of a child which may lead to affection of global function. Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) is used to assess performances, degree of functional limitations as well as the extent of caregiver assistance. Hence, the need of the study was to quantify the functionality and dependence level in children with PDD. The aim of the study was to quantify the overall functional performance and need for caregiver assistance in PDD.Methods: An observational study was carried out on 12 children (age 6 months - 7.5 years) diagnosed as PDD, taking rehabilitation at pediatric rehab department of SBB college of physiotherapy. After taking consent of primary caregiver PEDI questionnaire was administered by interview method. Demographic details were noted by physiotherapist.Results: The score of functional skills in three domains were self-care (mean 8.58±5.265), mobility (mean 15.58±15.300) and social function (mean 5.42±4.641). The score of caregiver assistance in three domains were self-care (mean 2.75±3.441), mobility (mean 8.83±11.907) and social function (mean 1.50±2.316). Among six domains 12 children had the lowest score in terms of social function for both caregiver assistance and functional skills.Conclusions: Present study concludes that social function is majorly affected in terms of caregiver assistance in children with PDD.</jats:p