My name is Siena Pieruccini

As a woman with a learning disability, academia is somewhere I long felt unwelcome, and it has been an uphill battle many times to fight to be seen, heard, and understood. The Scarlet letter made me a walking red flag for academic institutions, and their inability to hide their doubt at the idea that I, a dyslexic, could in fact be academically successful still sometimes haunt me. And yet, I have been successful. –I have overcome doubts others had of me.

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I have never shied away from conflict, despite my disability and the violence I endured as a woman through childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood. In a way, conflict even became a core part of my identity. I had a great deal of anger and frustration for most of my adolescence, and it wasn't until college that I realized that most of it was rooted in the fact that I was accustomed to lack of communication and rather flesh just connecting with fists. Many of the environments I have been part of, from home to school, originally created shame for me, until I decided to create safe spaces of my own as well as to join others who openly welcomed me as I am. 

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I am fortunate that I was able to be a strong advocate for myself and communicate to my professors, teachers, and peers who would listen to the tools as well as the guidance I needed in order to set myself up for success, but I recognize that not everyone is as fortunate or lucky. I wish to be a lawyer to not only be an advocate for but also to represent a demographic of successful women with disabilities that I feel I struggled to find examples of growing up, and who are too often discouraged within academia. 

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So if you are like me and are fortunate enough to have a formal diagnosis or have no diagnose at all and are searching for some resources and guidance you have found the place.

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This site is anything and everything I wish I had or utilized as a resource myself thought my academic journey.

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You can do this. Bit by bit chunk by chunk it will get done.

Crowd Source the knowledge.