The group that I will be exploring is students with disabilities.
The reason I was interested in exploring this population further was because my mother suffered from incredible joint pain in which she is unable to walk far distances and my father suffered from Multiple Sclerosis for many yesterday which left him immobile and in a wheelchair. Although neither of my parents are students at this time, my mother works on a college campus and is affected by her campus environment.
As I start to think further about how the campus climate/environment affects ME through the lens of students with disabilities (although I do not have a disability), I find that the BGSU's campus environment has affected my mother and grandparents with their lack of mobility... thus influencing the way I interact with the environment and must find different means of allowing my family to visit me on campus. I was a part of the BGSU Philharmonia for 4 years, and finding a means of getting my grandparents and mother into the music building was a trial in itself. Although they have handicap parking stickers, the music building has about 10 outside stairs that a person must climb before getting in. Although there is a place that people can get dropped off the avoid the stairs, when both my grandparents as well as my mother have a hard time walking, and I'm in an orchestra rehearsal where I cannot assist them... concerts were hard to attend. As my grandfather became weak from his chemotherapy, and my grandmother was recovering from a broken hip, they were unable to attend the concerts they so desperately wanted to attend.
Although I didn't "suffer" first hand because of the poor layout of the music building and it's parking spots, I watched my family suffer, and they often missed many of my concerts: something that truly upset them.
...how would that have been fixed?
As I delve into this project, I remember something from the time that I was an Orientation Leader. At BGSU, Disability Services is on the FOURTH floor, and the Study Skills Center was located on the SECOND floor of a building with no elevator: only stairs. ( I think this is changing over to the Library, which will be a nice change). I can't imagine being a student that has problems with mobility, and wanting to get these services, and then seeing how hard these services are to receive. It's like the reading with did this week about the message it sends when sidewalks are not made wheelchair accessible, when they are made accessibly, and when they are made accessible (BUT POORLY). I think in this case it's like the later. You have the service for me... but you make it hard to receive? That's unfair. Rude. Unjust. I'm not sure which... but I know it upsets me.
Don't think I'm forgetting about disabilities other than physical. As a psychology major, I am well aware of mental illness and the toll it plays on students... as well as the prevalence of students with learning disabilities.
I think that at this point, people are becoming more aware (it's by no means perfect) of students with physical disabilities like being in a wheelchair, being blind, deaf... etc etc as well as being aware of students with learning disabilities like dyslexia ADD/HD etc.. but fail to acknowledge that mental illness is a disability as well. I've hear so many people say that they just need to "get over it". Depression is more than something to get over it's a chemical imbalance, and hereditary. Anorexia isn't just the want to be skinny, it's the NEED. There is such a stigma placed on mental illness, and such a blame placed on the person (calling them WEAK... yet it's not different from a physical illness... it just can't always be seen)
It's going to be interesting to investigate my surroundings through a lens that I'm not always thinking about.
-How would a person in a wheelchair navigate?
-How would a deaf person perceive this environment differently from myself?
-How comfortable would a person suffering from a mental illness or learning disability feel in this environment?
-Most importantly, am I creating an environment that is conducive for people with disabilities at my internship?
-How can I improve it?
-How can I aid in improving it elsewhere?
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