This past Wednesday, I attended the Rose Cafe on disability at Cornell. After hearing everyone talk, I feel strongly that we need to better educate others, starting from an early age, about people with disabilities, and the struggles that they go through in our society. Several people at the cafe mentioned how, at their elementary, middle, and high schools, many of the students with disabilities were kept in a separate “special education” classroom. My school district did the exact same thing. As young children, we may occasionally run into these students in the halls, but we are effectively taught that, if they cannot be in the same classes as us, then they cannot possibly be anything like us, and thus they cannot be complete members of our society. Honestly–and quite tragically–I think that last Wednesday’s Cafe might have been one of the first times where I had the opportunity to knowingly meet with people with disabilities as people like myself, not as the “special education kids.” I truly found the experience to be enlightening, and I truly wish that I had been exposed to such an opportunity earlier. By giving young students the chance to meet with those of their peers with disabilities as equals, they have the opportunity to realize that people with disabilities are not so different from them.

Furthermore, we should be teaching students about people with disabilities, just as we teach them about other marginalized groups. I was taught plenty of information about the Civil Rights movement, and the women’s rights movement, and the news is constantly covering the continued efforts of these and the LGBT+ rights movement to this day. However, I have never learned about the disability rights movement–in fact I did not even know there had been such a movement until the Rose Cafe. By teaching students about the problems that people with disabilities face, perhaps we as a society will finally recognize the need for change. That change cannot happen if nobody knows that it is needed.