Think back over your life experiences. Where have you either been disadvantaged because of intersecting identities, or when have you treated others differently as a result of intersecting identities? What stands out most for me when I reflect on this question are my early experiences in adult literacy education. I volunteered for every opportunity offered from our State ABLE office, and participated in any initiatives because I loved this work so much. I would listen to the "experts" who were over the projects, and share my thoughts on how applicable (or impractical) some of their ideas were in the classroom context. They may as well have patted my head and and nudged me back to my seat. I had something that I thought was important to share, and I was dismissed. I honestly felt like their dismissal was because I was new to the field, but once I discovered that none of them had ever taught in an adult literacy classroom (and therefore had less experience than I did), I realized that they were probably dismissing me because I was young, Black, and female. I started paying attention to how they presenters or trainers reacted different to feedback based on who provided it. That was a true lesson on intersectionality.
Please share one of yours.
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If you feel like you have not really experienced intersectionality personally, feel free to share that as well.