Instead of designing for the community members, students designed with them. The volunteers shared their daily experiences, needs and preferences, guiding the design process from start to finish. Using interviews and observations, students worked in small teams to develop clothing tailored to each person. Their projects included developing shirts with magnetic closures for a wheelchair user, and custom mittens designed for someone living with rheumatoid arthritis.
The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. It protects the rights of people with disabilities and ensures equal access to all aspects of public life, including school, jobs, and transportation. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 specifically prohibits disability based discrimination in education, including college.
As a disabled person, I don’t want to be considered an “inspiration” just for existing and navigating a world that was not built to accommodate me. I wasn’t given a choice, and I just want to exist like every other student does. I’d prefer it if I could be stressed about having too much homework and wondering how I’m going to pull off finals, not whether my wheelchair is going to fit in the bathrooms.
The anthology is organized into four sections examining the experiences of disabled writers and writer-educators while exploring ways creative writing programs, classrooms and workshops can become more inclusive. Contributors represent a wide range of disabilities and health conditions, including ADHD, autism, blindness, dyslexia, cerebral palsy, bipolar disorder, fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis.
The student, who’d expressed suicidal intent, had a wariness of police based on past experiences and said that they would run away if officers arrived on the scene. So Elizabeth called Penn’s psychiatric emergency center instead, walked the student over for an evaluation, and filed an incident report requesting no police follow-up… The next morning, police showed up at the student’s dorm anyway, escorting them out of the apartment and through Hill. Robert described the ordeal as a “perp walk,” adding that while the officers were in plain clothes, that did little to reduce the visibility of the encounter.
The campaign was successful in categorizing the R-word as taboo for years — until recently. According to a study conducted by Montclair State University, casual usage of the word has increased significantly on social media over the last few years. The number of posts containing the slur jumped from 2,000 per day in 2020 to 46,000 per day in 2026, a 2000% increase.
June 9, 2019. Ali Stroker wins Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards. An actor, singer, and wheelchair user, Ali Stroker has been a trailblazer for disability representation on the stage. She was the first wheelchair user to graduate from the Tisch School of the Arts Drama Department at New York University. In 2015, she was the first wheelchair user to appear on Broadway, starring as Anna in the musical, Spring Awakening. For her performance as Ado Annie Carnes in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma!, Stroker became the first wheelchair user to win a Tony Award in 2019.
Take the quiz: Check Your Ableism!
Being Young and Disabled
By Noah Griffth, Auburn University
I Was a "Student of Concern"
By Kate Jackson, Rutgers University
In My Moment of Distress
By Anonymous, Temple University