When Ohio University graduate student Adrienne Isgrigg first inquired about technology aids for her learning disability, she never would have imagined it would launch a universitywide campaign for disability improvements.
After three years of struggling, things are finally moving forward to reconvene the Presidential Advisory Committee on Disabilities.
When I first came here
I was a student with a disability but mine isn't physical and I kind of was surprised by the inadequacy of services
said Isgrigg, the graduate student senator for the College of Arts and Sciences. I tried to kind of change it at a personal level - like what was going on at the university - (but) it got bigger and bigger.
Following the passage of two resolutions this year - one by Graduate Student Senate and a similar one by Student Senate - the President's Advisory Committee on Disabilities is reconvening.
We realized that something needed to be done
said Graduate Student Senate President Tracy Kelly. So we drafted a resolution to address the situation
and we contacted the minority affairs commissioner for undergraduate student senate to see if they would be willing to support us in this.
With the committee officially reconvening in the near future, Isgrigg is optimistic about helping students with disabilities.
The reconvening of the committee is a vehicle for more publicity for the problem at the university
but also
most importantly
it's someone to be held accountable for people with problems
Isgrigg said.
This will be the first time the committee has met since 2007.
One reason was the fact that the Office of Disability Services had yet to fill the executive director of the Office of Institutional Equity position, said Laura Myers, who now holds the position.
Myers, along with other administrators, will now make recommendations to OU President Roderick McDavis and the provost about who should sit on the committee.
We are looking for a good balance of faculty
staff
