DISABLED STUDENTS ORGANIZE TO SENSITIZE THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY

by Beth Ryan

Canadian University 'ress When Sam Miller be-

an classes at McGill Uni- ersity in 1978, there were o handrails to help disabled tudents manoeuvre around he campus buildings and Tiller said he had to prac- ically crawl to class.

“After. that experience,

vowed that I would do omething to help the rest f the disabled students. hat’s why I work for Access IcGill,” Miller said.

Access McGill is a cam- aimed at iaking the university com- unity aware of the needs f the disabled and providing

us organization

-rvices.to disabled students. like ccess McGill are helping

Groups

1e disabled student commu- ity to voice their concerns id work together for im- roved accessibility to post ‘condary education at the impus and. -national leyels.

While there are 3 million isabled people in Canada, ley are under- represented 1 university campuses due » the inaccessibility that is therent in le system. Many campuses ‘eate obstacles for students | wheelchairs, class lectures _ -e impossible for hearing- npaired students and_ li- raries are impractical for le visually-impaired. These ractical concerns are cou- led with the attitude that ost-secondary education is ot a necessity for the dis- bled, making education an lmost unattainable goal for he disabled.

When disabled students, duca-

ors and disabled groups met...

1 Ottawa November 1986, hey wanted to identify the sues that concern disabled

udents and form an organi- ~

ation that could voice and t on these concerns. is conference, the National ducational Association of isabled Students (NEADS) as established as “a na- Onal, consumer- controlled, *Oss-disability organization f and for students with dis- bilities, to advocate for im- Toved on college nd university campuses.”

services

At .

“NEADS operates on the premise that post- secondary education should be universally accessible for those who want it. So our job is to provide disabled students with information on how to get access and to inform service-providers how to best serve the disabled students,” said Frank Smith, NEADS coordinator.

Smith said it is impor- tant to note that NEADS is a consumer group, not a rehabilitational service. He points to a working paper on Affirmative Action prepared by Yvonne Peters of the Coalition of Provincial Orga-

nizations of the Handicapped (COPOH) which makes the

distinction between the two. “The

ment

consumer move- influence the modification of environ-

ments,

strives to whereas rehabilita- tionalists concentrate upon adapting the disabled per- son to fit the existing world,” writes Peters.

Smith said campus dis- abled student groups are part of the consumer move- ment because they strive to change the university envi- ronment and its handicaps, instead of the disabled stu- dent.

While the terms ability” and “handicap” often used as synonyms, the disabled community would call them antonyms. And it’s

**dis- are

not just a question of seman- tics.

The United Nations tries to debunk popular myths

about the disabled by defin- ing a handicap as “an en- vironmental barrier result- ing from a lack of supports and/or resources,

negative attitudes.” ability is the actual physi- cal impairment. This defini- tion attributes inaccesibility to the society and not to the

or from

‘person's impairment.

Disabled nizations try the university community to these distinctions by launch- ing public awareness cain- paigns. The Disabled Stu- dents on Campus at Univer- sity of Alberta and MOD II, the Memorial Univer- sity of Newfoundland dis- abled students group held Wheelchair Awareness days last year. Students, fessors and other members of the university commu- nity volunteered to spend one day in ‘a ‘wheelchair ‘to make themselves aware of the obstacles faced by the disabled on campus. Ac- cess McGill staged an Aware- ness Week highlighted by a

student orga-

to sensitize

pro-

wheelchair basketball game between McGill’s basketball team and a disabled team. While ing the public is important for future improvement, dis- abled student groups realize that they have to meet the

educat-

immediate needs of the stu- dents.

“Universities can create committees to look at the disabled but while they talk, the students have needs that

A dis-

have to be met,” said Sam

Miller.

“Our basic function is to help disabled students cope with life on campus. We help students get their classes and to the li- brary. Volunteers will read to blind students and take notes for them in class,” said Pam Densmore of Memo- rial’s MOD II.

Densmore calls this prac- tical approach “the buddy since a disabled stu-

to

system” dent is paired with an able- bodied student. MOD ITI has operated 1981 with the participation

successfully since of able-bodied volunteers but an attempt to start a group aimed specifically at disabled students failed in 1975.

Miller said he values the support of the able-bodied volunteers who work with him at Access McGill.

“T don’t believe that you have to be disabled to under- stand the needs of disabled students,” said Miller.

But abled groups say they suffer

some campus dis- from low participation be- cause many students would rather not join an organiza- tion that has a stigma of the

disabled associated with it. “By the time I got to the University of Calgary, dis- abled students were not in- terested in marking them- selves as a disabled group,” said Patricia Demiantschuk, the past president of the dis- abled student association. Sam Miller sees the same thing happening at McGill.

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“Disabled student groups are dying out because of the stigma associ- ated with the disabled. It’s really hard to get members because students think all they share is their disabili- ties,” said Miller.

Miller said that Access McGill would probably dis- solve if he left because few people are still inter- ested in maintaining a dis- abled group. Demiantschuk said the University of Cal- gary group has been tem- porarily folded because she could not get disabled stu- dents to attend meetings and participate in the group.

so

Demiantschuk attributes most of the apparent apathy to the disabled students’ de- sire to integrate themselves into the general university

community.

“A lot of disabled stu-

dents have been taught to want to blend into the com-

munity so now it is uncom- fortable for them stand said Demiantschuk.

to Owes.

But when disabled stu- dents are organized, they-can often lobby the administration improve accessibilty within in the uni- versity community. MOD II has worked with the Memo- rial administration to rec- ommend improvements and the two groups have just completed a guide for dis- abled students that details accessible parking areas, el- evators, lounges and study areas and services like MOD II and on-campus transportation.

Miller said Access McGill tries to make the administration aware of the needs of the disabled on campus but McGill's 30 mil- lion deficit makes it impossi- ble for it to spend money on accessibility. Although the university adopted a policy statement on the provision of disabled services in January 1986, the dire funding situa- tion means that the disabled won't get the special equip- ment they need.

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