What are some misconceptions or assumptions you think people at Vassar make about disability? I asked students this question and here are some of the things they said.

1.  There are few students with disabilities on campus.

This is in fact not the case, but the misconception is not surprising.  After all, the majority disabilities present on campus are invisible disabilities.  If students are judging the number of disabilities based only on what they can see, they will certainly not add up to many.

2.  Disability is a nuisance.

When discussing that little phrase regarding disability that we find at the bottom of all event posters, one student said, “I think it’s a really good representation of how this campus thinks about disability- as a legal, or bureaucratic issue, and not a part of our culture.  Or it’s not that we want to make campus inclusive for people with disabilities, but that we’re required to do this or spend this minimum amount of energy or else we’ll get sued by whoever.”

3. All students with disabilities are registered with AEO.

Some students might only think of students with disabilities in the context of AEO.  But there are many disabled students who are not registered with AEO.  Some do not register because they do not want to be identified as disabled, some do not believe they need accommodations, and others may not think that AEO can assist them.

So, what can we do to eliminate misconceptions on campus?  Students said that increasing the visibility of disabled students would help.  This might be done by helping them feel comfortable with having a disability.  Just the existence of ACCESS, the campus group for students with disabilities and allies, is helping students with disabilities on campus become more visible.  One of ACCESS’ recent initiatives, acquiring a disability cultural center on campus, would also help students think of disability as a part of the campus culture.  Having more discussions about disability and disability culture in the classroom also might help, especially during class discussions about other minorities, minority culture, race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, etc.