By Jenny Lelwica Buttaccio — 2018
Each time I share my story of living with an illness I feel stronger. I'm not embarrassed to talk about it anymore.
Read on www.realsimple.com
CLEAR ALL
For some of the 61 million Americans with disabilities, the ability to work, learn and socialize from home has been an unexpected expansion of possibility.
Most students learn that Keller, born June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Ala., was left deaf and blind after contracting a high fever at 19 months, and that her teacher Anne Sullivan taught her braille, lip-reading, finger spelling and eventually, how to speak.
I’m a tenured, deeply qualified New York City teacher, but some only see my disability. At least my students know the impact I can make in the world.
Most, if not all, colleges have resource centers devoted to helping students with all types of disabilities, but many obstacles still need removing in order to make college truly accessible to everyone.
Colleges and universities are making progress on efforts to serve disabled students, but some advocates and scholars say higher ed has been slow to recognize disability as an identity group or include it in programming around diversity and inclusion.
“It’s about going beyond compliance in terms of what the ADA really means and what it means in terms of disability and inclusivity,” one expert said.
The benefits kids reap from nature are well documented, which is part of the reason school field trips often involve excursions into the Great Outdoors. Children with disabilities, however, sometimes get left behind.
By focusing on play, schools are finding ways to bring students with and without disabilities together, to the benefit of both groups.
When developing a culture of inclusion, colleges and universities have specific responsibilities to students with disabilities to ensure they can learn and achieve their goals.
Progress has been made in providing more accessible campuses, but for too long, students with physical disabilities have had to self-advocate for their needs.