After years of hiding her diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, Ohio University English professor Janis Butler Holm claimed her disability in the 1990s and subsequently engaged in a three-year battle to receive accommodations from the department chair.
Their immediate reaction was that they couldn't do that because it will look like I am getting special treatment
Holm said.
A committee of administrators was comprised to deal with Holm as a problem but eventually negotiated properly, and has since improved the department's responsiveness.
Holm was just one of more than a dozen people who participated in the Multicultural Center's disability awareness town hall last night, which aimed to encourage open discussion and acceptance of disabilities.
Discussion focused on the stigmatization of disabled people with both visible and invisible impairments by faculty, peers and the disabled community itself.
Those who are disabled struggle with feelings of guilt for needing special accommodations, such as extended times for exams, and consequently do not seek appropriate help, said Jesse Raney, director of disability services. Students feel they must prove to faculty and other students that they are deserving of such accommodations, she added.
Students don't want to get help because society labels it as special needs Raney said. Society often confuses fairness and equity.
A large portion of the disabled community at OU does not have visible impairments. This fact does not fit with our psychological associations toward disabilities, Raney said.
We are taught not to look
judge or scrutinize
and that results in also not understanding
said Ed Gaither, vice commissioner for Student Senate's Minority Affairs Commission.
Participants agreed that OU does not provide adequate parking for disabled employees, employees tend to be unresponsive and uneducated when handling accommodations and that there is an overwhelming demand for neuropsychological testing with not enough clinicians to do so, said Adrienne Isgrigg, a third-year graduate student studying psychology who suffers from phonetic dyslexia.
The message is to treat people equally
not provide special treatment
Isgrigg said. The university is required to meet the needs of all students so that they can succeed.
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