Accessibility and Barriers in Education
By Jade Fehlen
It is no secret that disabilities can severely impact an individual’s life, and this extends to education. According to the Health and Human Rights Resource Guide, The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) does not provide a definition of “disability.” Instead, it casts a wide net when describing “disability,” trying to be all-encompassing and more inclusive.
The CRPD states that people with disabilities include “those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.” Instead of focusing on a person’s impairments, this description places the focus on obstacles that prevent them from participating in society fully. Essentially, it flips the narrative that it is the individual’s disability that is preventing them from participating.
Accommodations can be one way of addressing these societal barriers. However, these can fall short in the face of inadequate funding, lack of individualization and negative stereotypes.
At St. Kate’s, the accommodations process is very accessible. “This past summer, I got in contact with someone at the Accessibility and Accommodations department, and I went through everything I thought I would need as a full time student,” said KC Meredyk ‘24 (English), who is part of the effort for the new disability identity club. “It was actually really, really easy to get all the stuff, and I was told about various other resources technology-wise I could get, too. There’s a lower standard for getting accommodations here in terms of documentation than in high school.”
This is a common theme in public elementary and secondary schools, and is indicative of a broader inaccessibility of accommodations. One common result of this is that accommodations are not provided in a timely manner, are not always sufficient or are sometimes not provided at all. Lack of individualization in accommodations—such as considering intersectionality in discrimination of people with disabilities—long waiting lists for professional assessments and failure to address negative attitudes and stereotypes in staff and students also contribute to issues in the education system.
Though Meredyk understands why high schools often cannot structurally afford more accessible accommodations, she thinks that it would be a good idea. “When people talk about someone stealing accommodations they don’t need, I think that’s sort of a false statement,” Meredyk said. “If they’re putting in the effort to get those accommodations without medical documentation, it probably means there is actually something going on that would cause them to need it—it’s just that getting medical documentation can be really difficult.” Meredyk says that this difficulty means that people who are unable to get medical documentation often do not have a chance of getting accommodations in elementary and secondary education. Having accommodations be as accessible as they are at St. Kate’s makes it possible for people who are unable to get an official diagnosis to succeed.
Though post-secondary education tends to be better off than elementary and secondary school when it comes to accommodations, it is not without its share of problems. Here at St. Kate’s, Meredyk says that some buildings, like Fontbonne, do not have a clearly marked accessible entrance. Additionally, the stairs of Fontbonne can be extremely hazardous for people with disabilities in the winter. “I think there is some level of this that broadly applies to a lot of northern cities—steep steps that are even slightly icy are hazardous to those who are even fully able-bodied, and they can be really hazardous if you’re not,” Meredyk says.
As for ableism at St. Kate’s, this is complex. “I haven’t seen what I would describe as overt ableism, but there is definitely ableism presented,” Meredyk says. She adds that this is mostly surrounding the pandemic. “There have been a lot of statements like, ‘Well, it’s only the sick and elderly who are going to die.’” Meredyk argues that this says a lot about the value the sick and elderly are given in America.
“Able-bodiedness, like a lot of things, is a performance that people will eventually have to stop for one reason or another, whether that be injury or aging,” Meredyk says. “There was a lot of ‘I can’t wait to get rid of this mask,’ which, as someone [who] is immunocompromised, is a very harsh reminder that people don’t value my safety the same way they might someone else’s—they don’t consider it. I think this is indicative of the sort of eugenic based thinking that exists in our society and the value we place on lives that aren’t productive enough. It’s been a thing throughout the entirety of the COVID pandemic, it has been made very stark by it.”
As for whether or not this ableism exists on campus, Meredyk says, “It does exist on campus. A lot of people aren’t aware of it because it’s not quite overt enough for them to notice, the same way a lot more implicit things or more societally structural things aren’t always noticeable to those who aren’t experiencing them.”
However, there is hope for a better future. A new Disability Identity Club, of which Meredyk is part of the effort to push forward, is in its early phases. “My main hope is that, by making a student platform, it’ll be easier for others to seek support,” Meredyk says. “Not just socially and academically, but emotionally and with accommodations, too.”
