Accessible Campus Community & Equitable Student Support = ACCESS
Posted September 13, 2018
For those who may not be aware, one of SIUE's student service offices recently went through an overhaul. The former Disability Support Services has been replaced by the office for Accessible Campus Community & Equitable Student Support, or ACCESS for short. This name change is significant as the office works toward creating a shift from a culture of disability to a culture of accessibility. This new direction refuses to accept the taboo and stigma surrounding the word “disability” and instead meets students where they are with resources for support. Whether it’s a learning difference, mental health concern, medical diagnosis or mobility challenge, ACCESS is your key to success.
What does that mean? It means that ACCESS is working tirelessly to make sure equity is no longer an afterthought. Looking at the history of how individuals who identify as having a disability have been treated, a change was clearly necessary. Largely based on a medical model, the old way of doing things resulted in a series of gatekeepers who saw themselves as essential for an individuals’ ability to succeed. Under an accessibility model, the goal is to emphasize providing the tools and removing the barriers so that individuals can do for themselves and find success beyond this institution.
ACCESS has replaced physically reading materials to individuals who may need such an accommodation, with C-Pen Reader Pens. This allows students to scan and have materials read to them at their own pace. They’ve switched from paper files and hand written test scheduling, to online services which allow students to register, schedule exams and make appointments from wherever they have access to Internet.
ACCESS has also moved with intention to address the whole student. You may notice the business cards and intake application have a field for entering pronouns. Additionally, you may see the office use the phrase “diverse learner”. This term usually means one of two things: a learner who is racially, ethnically, culturally, economically, or linguistically diverse, or an individual who learns differently from the majority. ACCESS students meet both of these categories. Adopting this phrase is a concerted effort to address the intersection of student identities; while recognizing that these same individuals learn or engage the academic space differently by using accommodations, resources or auxiliary aids for support.
The intention on changing the conversation is clear. The word “disability”, (synonymous with incapacity, defect and impairment), and its root “disable” (which is another word for broken), fail to impress the responsibility of making campus environments welcoming to students of all abilities. Simply put, people aren’t broken, but environments are. So ACCESS is here to make sure that programs, curricula and physical spaces meet your needs proactively instead of reactively.
For more information on ACCESS, visit siue.edu/access.