The Counseling Center on the fifth floor of Miguel hall welcomes and supports students who are struggling. MANHATTAN.EDU/COURTESY
By Mary Haley, Asst. Social Media Editor
Manhattan College students are pushing for wider representation and awareness for students with disabilities after an open discussion hosted by the Women and Gender Resource Center (WGRC).
The discussion was held by MC students Emmett Ortiz and Brina Boyum, who hosted the discussion in order to bring light to the accessibility issues at the college. Both students organized this event with the intent to make a substantial change on campus in regards to learning, mental and physical accessibility in every aspect of college life.
Ortiz and Boyum’s main goal as representatives of the WGRC was to draft a petition outlining specific changes that are needed on campus to make it more accessible for students with disabilities.
Feedback from those in attendance will be taken via Google form, after which they plan to be equipped to hone in on these issues more personally. They also have planned to host another discussion event in the spring semester and continue conversations to raise awareness about these issues.
“I would love to see a real change on this campus,” Boyum said. “And I think the best way to have that change is coming together and fighting for the same thing. We don’t plan on just stopping here and letting it fizzle. We want to keep going.”
Ortiz, a graduate assistant who works at the WGRC, is passionate about these issues from dealing with his own mental and learning disabilities while in college. Ortiz discovered he had autism while completing his bachelor’s degree in psychology at Manhattan. He told The Quadrangle about why this fight resonates with him and what his experience means for the awareness the WGRC is trying to spread.
“In terms of navigating [college], it has been a weird experience because at first I didn’t even realize I had disabilities,” Ortiz said. “I was not able to get accommodations for myself in my undergraduate years, but advocating for myself and really exploring what helps me and knowing which places on campus [give access] for me to regulate really helped a lot.”
Although, the issue of accessibility does not just affect those with learning or mental disabilities. It is also an issue of physical accessibility for those who are disabled or even those who have an injury that makes them physically impaired.
Emily Derrico, a lacrosse player and student at the college, attended the event and spoke on her troubles navigating campus with a learning disability while also going to classes and healing from a knee injury this past spring.
“I had difficulties getting around campus, and it just depends on your professor, so sometimes they’re really accommodating and other times they won’t accommodate you whatsoever…It is definitely a process getting around campus and having that understanding with your professor,” Derrico said.
Rebecca Kern-Stone, Ph.D., director of the WGRC, explained to The Quadrangle that there must be a push on the college’s part to make resources such as the Specialized Resource Center (SRC) and the Counseling Center on campus more known to students. Awareness of these resources prevents roadblocks for students getting help, like there were in Ortiz’s undergraduate career.
“I think that students that struggle with these things do it very alone,” Kern-Stone said. “We have a great relationship with SRC and the Counseling Center, and there are great faculty on this campus who want nothing more than for students to thrive.”
Kern-Stone hopes that events like the campus-wide mental health day could be better executed for coming semesters so that students get the appropriate assistance and overall understanding they need.
Kern-Stone also explained the importance of understanding that not every disability is something people can see, which is why it is vital to have open discussions like this one to break the stigma of disabilities and increase accessibility for all.
“I think it is about making the invisible visible and opening up communication, learning, and making people feel seen,” Kern-Stone said. “We all bring different strengths, and that can be really powerful. But if we don’t all understand how that works, and we don’t understand what those things are as a community, we can’t come together.”