By: Sean Vayberman
Project Description:
For my final project, I decided to make a podcast and talk about everything one needs to know about disability access here at the University of Michigan. I covered nine different topics (those topics are explained in the podcast) and observed access on campus. A little spoiler, the campus does a really good job about it. I then interviewed three students, two of them are from this institute, and the other is a student in the Los Angeles district. You can compare the responses from each student and even come up with your answers to the questions I posed. I hope you enjoy it, as it is a little long, but still very informative. Thank you!
Transcript:
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Me: Hello, my name is Sean Vayberman and welcome to my podcast for Digital 357.
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So today I’m going to be going into the topic of disability accessibility, specifically at the University of Michigan.
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I’m going to be discussing nine topics in which I’ll go into that further and then in some part in between those topics,
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I’m going to actually bring students from the campus to talk about, well, you’ll find out later when I ask some questions.
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But let’s first talk about how I got into this room actually.
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So this is a study room in the South Quad dorm, Dormitory.
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And looking at the door and out, I would say to get into the room, it’s not that accessible for people
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with a disability. So right away off the bat, that’s just something I noticed.
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But yeah, it’s dove into these topics.
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So first topic being the history and evolution of disability studies.
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I got my iPad with the notes on it.
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Accessibility initiatives at the University of Michigan student perspectives, intersectionality and disability.
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Legal and policy frameworks, community engagement and advocacy.
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Disability representation in media and pop culture.
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Sorry, accessible education in the University of the design and lastly future direction and challenges.
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So all the information I got here is from the text that we looked at in class or the videos and such that are all in the files page.
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As well as a little bit of outside research that I’ve done in order to come up with these notes.
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So let’s first talk about the history and evolution of disability studies.
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So with the roots in the 1960s and 1970s, the disability rights movement,
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sorry, let me just backtrack. I just went way ahead of myself.
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So it all started in the 1960s and 1970s.
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Disabilities studies has become a thriving and economic world.
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I personally haven’t seen any class I talked about what we talked about in this class.
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And I found it very interesting and appreciative that the university holds this type of class.
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Basically the focus of disability research at the University of Michigan has shifted from like medical models to more interdisciplinary methods.
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That take into account the social, cultural and political aspects of disability.
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The field has been shaped by trailblazing academics like Tobin Cybers and sorry if I’ve bought the name but Rose Mary Garland Thompson.
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Who have pushed for disability rights and questioned accepted ideas of normalcy.
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Disability studies are still expanding today, profoundly addressing themes of social justice, representation and identity.
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Okay, now moving into our second topic, Accessibility Initiatives at the University of Michigan.
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Basically this campus is dedicated to guaranteeing equitable access to education and campus life for all members of this community.
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The institution offers a variety of accommodations and support services such as exam accommodations, assistive technology and alternative format materials to students with disabilities through the office of service for students with disabilities.
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Furthermore to promote accessibility for all students, teachers, staff and visitors.
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The institution has made investments in campus infrastructure upgrades including ramps, accessibility paths and adoptive technology and live in classrooms.
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From personal experience I agree with everything that I have researched about the campus.
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I wouldn’t say all five of my blogs that I wrote were about on campus life but I think around three to four of the blogs that I wrote had to do with observing access at the University of Michigan.
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And when I did find myself examining buildings, the institution did an amazing job.
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I have very little to no complaints except there’s a little section in Mason Hall that is only accessible by stair but for the most part the campus does a wonderful job and a competent student, both physical and what’s the word I’m looking for?
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I guess mental needs, I’m on the word but I hope you get what I’m saying.
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Anyways moving to student perspectives now.
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The University of Michigan disabled community benefits from the many viewpoints and life experiences of its students while navigating economic and physical surroundings can be difficult for some.
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Many also find chances for advocacy and growth as well as support of community.
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As well as support of community.
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These students raise awareness of disability issues among their peers and professors and help create a more inclusive campus culture by sharing their experiences and views.
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Students with disabilities actively shape policies and practice the impact their lives through programs like Council of Disability Concerns and student-led organizations and
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the student body at this campus is very inclusive either from my own eyes or stories I’ve heard before.
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The campus and the students do a wonderful job and make sure everyone’s included and make sure no one’s particularly left out although it might seem that way to the students.
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They do a wonderful job in sharing a community for together.
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Moving to intersectionality and disability. Understanding how disability interacts with many facets of identity and sociality and inequity is fundamentally based on intersectionality.
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Scholars and advocates at the University of Michigan understand how critical it is to comfort many forms of marginalization and discrimination.
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Scholars those based on social economic classes, let’s say gender and another one sexual orientation even throw them race as well.
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The University of the University of the University of the University of Michigan may be better comprehend the varied perspectives of people with disabilities and strive toward a more inclusive and equitable solution by embracing an intersectional lens.
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Scholars seek to advance intersectional approaches to disability studies and activism via multi-disciplinary research and outreach programs.
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By doing my due diligence of this research I can agree with everything that I’ve read online that this institution doesn’t have an amazing job.
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Anything you want to research is available to students and that is so wonderful.
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Moving to legal and policy framework at this campus accessibility and disability rights are greatly influenced by the legal policy frameworks.
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Important safeguards against discrimination are provided by the Americans with disability acts or ADA which basically mandates that organizations like the University of Michigan make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities and I’m not trying to be biased towards the campus.
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If anything I’m trying to go against the campus of how much they do have but it’s unremarkable the things and the extent they go to to help people that are not necessarily disabled but don’t have the same opportunity as others.
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The institution basically the institution policy and state laws in Michigan uphold accessibility programs and guarantee adherence to federal rules.
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So by taking proactive steps and maintaining a collaborative relationship with disability activists the University of Michigan basically endeavors to maintain the values of inclusivity and equal opportunity for all.
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Now moving to community engagement and advocacy. Campus efforts in disability studies and accessibility depends heavily on community involvement and advocacy.
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Disability rights and community assistance are important tasks carried out by regional groups like let’s say the Michigan disabled rights coalition
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and the NRB Center for Independent Living. Students and faculty involvement in advocacy campaigns and activities can positively affect change, create positively affected change and increase public awareness of disability issues in and off campus which alone is wonderful.
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The University of Michigan community can strive toward a more inclusive and fair society for people with disabilities by coming together and showing a sense of solidarity which is amazing.
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I’m not going to try to repeat myself but every building that I’ve examined does a wonderful job. Every teacher I’ve talked to even will give you accommodations.
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I have plenty of friends who when needed for example I have a friend who just broke his knuckle and the school provider with a lot of accommodations that I thought were amazing.
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Now we’re going to move into the student interviews where I’m going to basically ask them how aware they’re of access on campus and whether or not they should improve or get rid of, which I’m assuming they’re not going to say it, but I’m still going to pose a question of get more or get rid of more access on campus.
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Okay so with our first student interview I have Dylan from the School of Engineering. Hello Dylan.
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Dylan: Hello.
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Me: So I’m just going to ask you a few questions in regards to the campus of North. First being how aware are you of disability access there and whether or not you pay attention to it.
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Dylan: I am not actually that aware of the disability accessibility on North campus. However I have noticed that in any of the larger buildings with multiple stories there are elevators and ramps for people with wheelchairs to get to other floors.
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But most of the buildings on North campus are actually actually don’t have that many stories and are more of a spread out one story building.
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Me: Okay would you say that it’s important to have for example I’m going to give you examples like automatic door openers ramps, things that make it more accessible for people with disabilities.
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And do you think accommodations are important to have for students at this campus?
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Dylan: I do think it is important for accommodations to be present and available to every student because little things like not being able to open the door and needing an automatic door opener can be something really tough for someone that they have to deal with on an everyday basis and having options available to people.
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It is really helpful that just help someone’s day out.
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Okay thank you so much Dylan and we’re going to move into the next student right now.
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Now moving to our next student who actually goes to a school in Los Angeles.
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I’m going to move away from the University of Michigan for a second and ask my friend David. Hello David.
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David: Hello Sean.
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Me: I’m going to ask you basically a couple questions on disability access at your campus.
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So first being how aware are you of access on campus?
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David: I am very aware of the ADA accommodations that we have at my university at California University in Northridge.
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In our new building in Maple Hall we actually have a lot of buttons and automatic door openers that would allow people with disabilities to come on through.
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And especially with elevators in the building that allow easy access for those who have special needs.
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Me: Beautiful and I’m going to strive away from one question I asked my other friend.
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Do you think that they should add anything or get rid of anything and how important is it to you or just in general to have these things for access on campus?
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David: I mean nothing should be changed except for the doors they open pretty slowly.
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I would assume that in an emergency they would open a little bit faster.
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But otherwise it’s very important to have these so that is no doubt about it because a lot of people are struggling to try to even get up to stairs.
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But with these accommodations it will be very easy so I’m very glad that they put these there.
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Me: Amazing thank you so much David and we’re going to get to the next student now.
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So far last and final student I have Darin with me. Hello Darin.
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Darin: Hi Sean. How is it going?
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Me: Good good. So I just want to ask you a couple questions first being how aware of you how aware are you of disability access at the University of Michigan?
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Darin: Very aware I had a lot of experience working with like that disability center for housing and like accommodations for my disability.
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Me: Okay and to you like how well first of all do you think they should change anything about access on campus and how important is it to you and to the students at the University of Michigan?
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Darin: Yeah I think I think it’s something a big deal for everyone.
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I think I haven’t had an equitable playing field for people who are working in study and school environments and for students and non-disadfitted students.
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But I think that there’s a lot of change that you see made and there’s a big lack of transparency within the process.
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That causes students to advocate for themselves a lot more than they probably should.
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Me: Okay thank you so much Darin. I appreciate all your input and I’ll talk to you later.
100
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Darin: Great talking Sean.
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Me: Alright, thanks.
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That last student actually completely contradicted what I said during this whole podcast was interesting.
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I forgot to, I should have just asked him what needed to change because in my opinion I think everything is almost perfect here but he doesn’t see it that way.
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But it’s nice having a change of input at least because the first two students, well the second one wasn’t even from the campus with the first one.
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Completely agree with what I said was just totally fine but it was just interesting hearing a change of opinion.
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Moving to our last three topics I know it’s so sad that this podcast is ending but moving into disability representation in pop culture and media.
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Public attitudes and perceptions of people with disabilities are shaped by how people with disabilities are portrayed in media and pop culture.
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And this is a very, very big thing in today’s world.
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How easily people are swayed opinions especially with this kind of topic at hand.
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Cultural programming and media efforts.
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So, through its curriculum, basically cultural programming and media efforts, the institution can contribute to the advancement of truthful and varied representation of disabilities and now what people see on social media and stuff like that.
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Through a critical analysis of how disabilities are portrayed in movies, TV series, books and other media, educators and students may dispel myths and promote more accurate portrayals.
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The University of Michigan, basically the community can support it more inclusive and respectful representation of disability and pop culture by engaging discourse and artistic expression.
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And not the sidetrack from the topic but I’m currently in a class that analyzes basically visual culture and this is a huge, huge issue in today’s world.
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One wrong portrayal of, let’s say, a disabled person can sway millions and millions of people to think so badly about them and create a fixed opinion which basically this campus strives to do the opposite of.
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Now, moving to accessible education and universal design at this campus and its essential component of disability inclusion is accessible education which I talked about a little earlier.
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Teachers and staff can design learning spaces and course materials that are accessible to students with a range of abilities and learning preferences by let’s say utilizing universal design principles.
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This could mean implementing alternate formats, offering transcripts like the one that is currently below and captions for multimedia information and planning physical areas with consideration for those with mobility and sensory impairments.
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Remember, disability is not always physical. The institution may promote a more inclusive educational experience for all students regardless of handicaps, by adopting a universal design principles which is amazing.
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On this podcast, I just want to promote love and support for the campus and love for the topic. I was thinking about adding a negative part to this podcast but there’s no reason to spread hate and in order to grow, we must promote love.
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Sorry for any sidetrack but it’s true.
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For our last and final section of today’s podcast, future directions and the challenges that come with it.
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In the future, the University of Michigan will encounter both chances and difficulties in expanding accessibility and disability studies on campus.
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While emergency technologies present new opportunities to improve inclusion and accessibility, they also bring up concerns over digital access, privacy and, let’s say, equity.
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It is still imperative to continue working to remove structural obstacles and advance inclusion, equity and diversity in all these facets of university life. It is so important to not stop and continue to grow.
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The campus can continue to set the standard in disability studies and accessibility by being dedicated to collaboration, creativity and social justice.
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This will make the campus community more welcoming and equal for everyone.
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I actually recommended this class to a friend of mine and to the fall of ’24 and it wasn’t being offered.
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I wanted to experience what I learned in this class which is truly amazing.
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Before even coming to the university, I never once thought about disability culture, access, none of that.
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Taking this class as open to my eyes, maybe notice the little things in buildings and overall was an amazing experience to examine campus life, students, buildings, access, all the above.
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I would like to thank Dylan, David and Darin for coming on the podcast to share their opinions.
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I want to thank Professor Adelman for teaching this class. It was lovely being a student of yours.
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But without further ado, I’m signing off. Thank you so much for listening.
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I know it’s quite long, a little long, but I hope you enjoyed everything I had to share and thank you.
