13 Discussion Questions
These questions are drawn from our experience using the four scenes and are intended to help you facilitate discussion. Some questions lend themselves more to particular groups (faculty members, graduate students, mixed groups). None are mandatory. The discussions are meant to be organic in nature, led by the participants and the issues they feel to be important. Your groups may focus on some of the questions below or may raise entirely different issues. If participants are engaging with the video, rest assured that their contributions are relevant!
Warm-up Questions
- Before we start the discussion, did you find anything confusing or unclear in the scene?
- Did a particular character, or line in the dialogue, resonate for you?
Communication
Terry’s email to Daniel leaves a lot of important details unspecified and this seems to at least partially contribute to Daniel’s reaction. For instance, it is never made explicit that Terry disclosed details about Daniel’s PTSD to the other student. Likewise, while Terry discloses details of the other student’s condition to Daniel, we aren’t made aware of the details of Terry’s conversation with the other student.
- Daniel immediately assumes Terry has disclosed details of his PTSD to the other graduate student and wonders if Terry might have similarly disclosed these details to others. Why might this be Daniel’s initial interpretation of the situation?
- Would Terry’s actions have been appropriate if Terry received consent from the other student beforehand to share the details of her PTSD with Daniel?
- How could Terry have communicated to Daniel in this situation such that it might have been received more positively by Daniel?
- To what extent, if any, could a greater understanding of what it is like to have PTSD contribute to Terry’s ability to communicate better in this situation or support Daniel more generally? How could the university support supervisors develop this understanding?
Disclosure
We aren’t told why Daniel or the other graduate student disclosed details of their PTSD to Terry in the first place; however, universities will often require students to disclose extremely personal health information or intimate details of traumatic events to receive even basic “accommodations.”
- What other factors might have led Daniel or the other graduate student to make this disclosure to Terry?
- To what extent does this process of requiring disclosures to receive “accommodations” result from or contribute to an atmosphere of distrust between the university, faculty, and graduate students?
- How might you reimagine this system so as to be more equitable and supportive?
Representation
It’s often argued that a crucial component of attempts to increase equity, diversity, and inclusivity at universities involves a greater representation of individuals from minority and marginalized communities in meaningful decision or policy making roles. This is all the more important when the decisions and policies being made impact those minority and marginalized communities.
Daniel expresses that he now feels like he has to be an ambassador for the neurodivergent community.
Messaging
University messaging increasingly focuses on demonstrating visible diversity, a commitment to inclusivity, and support for marginalized people; however, neither Daniel nor Paul seem to think that the university has lived up to these commitments. Daniel comments that the dissonance between the messaging and actual reality makes him “feel crazy sometimes.” At one point, he also says: “I’m wasting your time. I’m just being weird, I’m such a baby, it shouldn’t have bothered me so much.”
- How might the dissonance between the university messaging and Daniel’s lived experience at the university be contributing to his reaction in this situation?
- How might the university messaging contribute to his feeling that these are not legitimate concerns or that he just needs to be more resilient?
- What could the university do differently to better achieve their proclaimed goals and ideals? What is it already doing that is working well?
Resolution
Daniel wants to resolve this situation with Terry, but seems more focused on preventing these situations in the future. Likewise, Paul suggests a number of ways to manage this situation, such as filing a complaint or setting up a meeting, but admits that his ability to enact broader change is limited.
- How effective do you think Paul’s suggestions will be in managing this situation?
- What advice would you offer Daniel for resolving this situation with Terry or working towards preventing these situations in the future?
- If you were to create institutional guidelines or changes to prevent this kind of situation from happening, what would they look like?
- If Paul had more institutional power and authority, what changes do you think he would make? What changes would you want him to make?
Wrap up
- If you could rewrite the ending to this scene, what would it look like and why?
