Loren Leonard

By Jeremy Zhe-Heimerman, Assistant Director of Disability Resources

Feedback has been positive on the first semester of AccessCortland, the Disability Resource Office’s new online system for requesting accommodations, scheduling appointments, and releasing access plans to faculty. Students report an appreciation of the ease of disclosing their accommodations to faculty while faculty have noted the system has worked smoothly.

Students on the Disability Resources Advisory Committee like how easy it is to release their access plans. “What would normally take a week or two weeks now just takes a click of a button,” said one upper class student. Additionally, video tutorials have made learning the system quite easy.

Disclosing through AccessCortland is valuable for more than convenience. It can also help students be stronger self-advocates. Last year, DRO hosted a program with students and faculty talking about best practices during “the moment of disclosure” when students identify to faculty that they require accommodations. Students shared that they feel particularly vulnerable during such discussions. Additionally, research indicates that students often back down from asserting their rights when faculty ask relatively innocuous questions during such meetings.  On the other hand, students on the Advisory Committee indicated that AccessCortland helped them feel more comfortable identifying to faculty. They felt better prepared to discuss their accommodations with faculty face-to-face once they’ve already notified them electronically in advance.

While early anecdotal feedback on AccessCortland has been encouraging, we are surveying faculty and students to learn more about how AccessCortland is succeeding and how it can be improved. Please complete the one to three minute survey by visiting AccessCortland and going to the Surveys tab.

By Lauren Hosek, Disability Resources Student Ambassador

Students for Access and Ability in College (SFAAC) aims to address the needs and concerns of the disability community. This SGA-recognized club is finishing its first full year connecting students with disabilities and allies in a common purpose. Members mentor each other to start a conversation around the various accessibility struggles they deal with on campus, as well as everyday life as college student. SFAAC also aims to educate members of the College community about disability, accessibility challenges, and the disability climate on campus. The power of education is utilized by Devin Martinez, President of the club, as he leads each meeting to help members move in a forward direction. As a group they strive to help each other develop strategies to advocate for themselves and others. SFAAC is a welcoming, judgement-free, all-inclusive club that accepts everyone as they go all-out to help students through whatever challenges they may be facing.

 

SFAAC will be hosting a campus-wide event on Monday April 29, from 7-8:30 PM in the Corey Union Exhibition lounge. The event is called “RespectAbility”, a name meaning that above all, everyone deserves respect. At the event there will be tie-dye stations, a brief informational presentation about the club and its goals, and a free pizza dinner! The first 15 students to arrive will receive a free t-shirt to tie-dye. All other students may bring an item of clothing to tie-dye. Everyone is encouraged to come to support the club and be an ally to your peers as this will be a stress-free time of conversation, food, and fun!

 

By Christina Papaleo, Staff Assistant to the Chief Diversity Officer

Christina Papaleo, Staff Assistant to the Chief Diversity Officer, recently developed a Campus Accessibility Events Checklist for Events and Programs. This was adapted and used with permission by Cornell University’s Division of Human Resources. The goal of this resource is to provide students, faculty, and staff with guidelines to ensure that their events and programs are equitable. It is by no means a complete checklist, but rather a catalyst in supporting SUNY Cortland’s vision to be a “college of opportunity.”

“What some people misunderstand about accessibility is that it is not just for people with disabilities,” Papaleo said. “Oftentimes, accommodations are made for only a handful of people, without the acknowledgement that these actions may ultimately further marginalize someone who identifies with a disability–or even stigmatize the idea that receiving an accommodation is an extra step in a program, rather than something that can influence it.”

This checklist can become a way for campus community members to hold themselves accountable in maintaining the College’s commitment to equity and inclusion. To access the checklist, please visit the Disability Resources Office web page.

By Christina Papaleo, Staff Assistant to the Chief Diversity Officer

Drawing has always been the one thing in my life that never feels “disabling.” Despite criticism and comments I would receive for “being able to draw so well even though I had a visual impairment,” I knew that it could potentially be a place where I could find strength in my weakness. I hid in my sketchbook from preschool until high school, when I began to realize…as I shared my drawings with others…that what society calls “undesirable” (which is the short definition of “imperfection”), creativity calls remarkable. Advocacy and creativity called me out of the prison of “someday,” and that is where I found my purpose.

The more dependent we become on the words that people use to describe us based on what they see, the more uncertain we become of the truth that is inside of us that guides us into the life we are meant to live. Even as a student, I held onto that narrative of “not enough,” which led to an obsession of physically changing who I was–or punishing myself for who I was not. I thought looking perfect would be my all-access pass into acceptance and belonging. In retrospection, that insatiable hunger for perfection was nothing more than an all anxiety-inducing prison that kept me from braving what I was meant to experience.

I had a choice to make, and while I leaned on others to guide me to the “right” path, it is was ultimately something I had to do on my own: whether or not I wanted to hide from the world, or show it a new way to see.

Eventually I made peace with the idea that my greatest contribution was going to be hidden behind my greatest fear. Instead of fabricating perfection and thereby faking my identity, I had the opportunity to bring uncertain opportunities into physical realities through the same method I used to hide from a world where I felt rejected. My sketchbook.

Sometimes our most hated imperfections, which dwell in realms of uncertainty, lead us to our most desired opportunities. Drawing has always taught me that comfort isn’t courageous. The bravest place we will stand is in our own weakness. When our relationship with uncertainty is rooted in acceptance, we find it easier to make peace with change. When our relationship with uncertainty is rooted in denial, we find it difficult to see change as the path to growth. My blind side wasn’t meant to be a tool of hiding, but a teacher of healing.

My disability influences my creativity; it does not define it. I never draw out of sight (how people see who I am), but I always draw out of vision (what I believe about who I am and what I’ve been given). I do not think it is a coincidence that I returned to campus before I was able to reach one of my greatest breakthroughs… the moment where the “not enough” narrative was re-written into the “come as you are” story… receiving a prosthetic eye. It didn’t give me physical sight, but through this process, I realized that it was what I wanted my whole life. Freedom in my blind side and not from it …because it’s a creative gift that’s more life-giving and spirit-freeing than anything I could ever strive for.

The greatest prison that I could be freed from was the one that I put myself into. I learned that art is a way for us to connect and that we are all holding a part inside of us that wants to believe that vulnerability is not weakness. When we’re vulnerable, we take the risk of being criticized. But I believe that criticism is a hidden cry for connection.

I am an advocate of imperfection. I don’t want my story, or anyone else’s story to remain in silence–and now I am in a season where I don’t want it to serve as a place of resentment. We all have a blind side to brave.