In January 2020, I returned to my middle school as the keynote speaker for a Human Rights assembly hosted by Girls Learn International, celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Rather than focusing on legal definitions or historical examples, I shared stories and lessons from my friendships with people with disabilities and my experiences working in correctional facilities that challenged my own assumptions about others.

While many conversations about human rights focus on global events or historical movements, I wanted younger students to think about how human rights show up in their everyday lives. We discussed the bystander effect: the more people that are present, the less likely anyone is to act, because each person assumes someone else will. 

The organizer of the event later described it as a “moving assembly,” that challenged students to think about how rewarding it can be to reach out to people they may see as different.

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