Disability at Cornell…to begin, most people don’t realize that disability even exists at Cornell. Many assume that if you don’t see it, then it’s not there. A lack of disability awareness is a problem that extends beyond our campus community–many people in our society don’t even know about the disability rights movement in our recent history.
This Rose Cafe was an excellent opportunity to start a conversation about an issue that’s not discussed enough. It was also interesting to hear Erin’s personal experience about being a college student at a time when there wasn’t such a thing as a campus disability services office, and it helped me realize how times have changed since the ADA was passed. Furthermore, this event was a great opportunity to start a conversation about how we can be more inclusive of students with disabilities on this campus.
I also found Erin’s anecdotes about attending college as a disabled person in the recent past to be shocking. Her story about a theater professor refusing to use a microphone really made me realize that we have to look closely at the small, barely noticeable changes we can make in our routine to make another personals daily life significantly easier.