The first time delfin bautista, the director of the LGBT center, saw American Sign Language student interpreters on campus was during Ohio University LGBT center’s annual drag show.
“(The students) came and just wanted to do it from the kindness of their hearts, but it did raise the question,” bautista, who uses the lowercase spelling of their name and they/them pronouns, said. “We talk about being inclusive (and) accessible, but are we?”
The LGBT center will be hosting a series of Dine-n-Discuss sessions throughout the semester regarding the intersections between ability, gender identity and sexual orientation, with the goal of increasing awareness of the topics on campus. The first in the series will take place Friday and will feature Lori Wood and Rob Stevens, bautista said.
When discussing intersections of identity, topics include individuals' race, religion and geographic location. This may, however, lead to neglecting discussions regarding a person’s ability, bautista said.
“Many folks have invisible disabilities that we don’t always see (and) are receiving services from the office of accessibility,” they said. “And so, we need to address that and not in a ‘shame on you, what’s wrong with you’ perspective, but what are the strengths (and) resiliencies that intersection brings?”
Barry Brady, a staff counselor at the Counseling and Psychological Services, said visible disabilities are “visually apparent,” such as individuals who utilize wheelchairs, canes or service animals. On the other hand, invisible disabilities are “thing that folks can’t see,” and can range from learning disabilities to attention deficit disorders and can include autism and chronic illnesses.
Although the topic has been talked about over the past two years, it will be the first time it will be discussed in-depth throughout a semester, Carey Busch, assistant dean of Student Accessibility Services, said.
“Historically, there’s been just a lack of discussion about sexuality in general with people who have disabilities,” Busch said. “And if you’re not talking about sexuality, you’re definitely not talking about sexual orientation (or) gender identity,”
Often, the word “disability” would be used negatively and may imply a person does not have “normal abilities,” Busch said.
“Some people use (the term ‘dis/ability’) as a way to put more of an emphasis on abilities and people with disabilities just have different talents than someone without a disability,” Busch said.
To Busch, the discussions will be a way for the conversation that “doesn’t always happen (among) people with disabilities” to move forward.
Brady will be leading the second Dine-n-Discuss session next month and will focus on how micro-aggression and privilege affect individuals with disabilities. According to Brady, a micro-aggression is an attitude that manifests through behaviors such as statements or actions that are usually degrading or offensive toward specific groups of people.
“Sometimes we may be the people perpetrating micro-aggression unintentionally,” he said. “(We may not have) the intent to be hurtful or aggressive, but that can be the impact.”
The events this semester will be a starting place to have conversations with LGBT-identifying individuals and individuals with disabilities about what needs to be done in order to keep moving forward in the future, Busch said.
“(It) would be great for us to continue to do programming and initiatives to address the issue of intersectionality including ability status, sexual orientation and gender identities,” Brady said. “It’s constantly going to be a process, … it’s something we’re always working toward and striving to improve on.”
