Emma Morehart • For The Post • em170908@ohiou.edu
Ohio University is hosting two events this week to bring attention to those coping with physical disabilities in celebration of Disability Awareness Month.
The Multicultural Center will host a town hall meeting tonight to address a variety of challenges faced by students with disabilities.
Discussion topics will vary, but there will be a focus on disability access problems, said Ed Gaither, vice commissioner for Student Senate's Minority Affairs Commission.
Both the prioritization of disability-related maintenance requests an improvement on campus travel for disabled students the ease with which students with disabilities travel on campus are important to address, he said, adding the town hall will be an opportunity for students with disabilities to voice their concerns and suggestions.
Adrienne Isgrigg, a student with the learning disability phonetic dyslexia, has been disappointed in the amount of funding given to Ohio University's Office of Disability Services since she began graduate school three years ago.
The people in the Office of Disability Services are great
but the main problem is that they are too underfunded to be able to meet the needs said Isgrigg, who is studying psychology.
The university has previously given the Office of Disability Services $13,000 a year, then reimbursed the office for any extra expenses. This year, the office received $73,000, because they were spending up to $90,000 each year, said Director of Disability Services Jesse Raney.
The office provides services like free tutoring and priority registration to its students, and works with the Residential Housing Office to provide accessible rooms to students with physical disabilities.
On Thursday, Debbie Elder will speak about people living with disabilities in Rwanda at the Baker University Center Theater. Elder works with Partners in Conservation, a humanitarian and conservation group based at the Columbus Zoo.
Gaither said the speech will revolve around how Rwandans with disabilities were perceived before and after the 1994 killing or crippling of hundreds of thousands during civil strife, and how those perceptions changed afterwards as Rwandans living with disabilities became more common.
Before you were looked down on as less of a person. Gaither said. The genocide changed how that stigma was viewed.
Elder will also speak to students about raising awareness for Rwandans living with disabilities and how they can help.
Gaither said the commission is looking to collaborate with the Columbus Zoo again in the future to potentially bring Jack Hanna, television host and director of the zoo, to OU later this year.
The purpose of the events is also to create an environment where people feel comfortable and can learn about and discuss disabilities in a nondiscriminatory way, said Raney, adding that the term disability itself can be stigmatizing.
Overall
I'd love to see a change in the climate to become more inclusive
Raney said. I think if we were more intentional about creating an environment that embraces all aspects of diversity ... we'd be a more inclusive community altogether.
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Tristan Navera
