This article is also available in: 日本語
Disabled Student Cultural Center (DSCC) is a student union at the University of Minnesota.
I heard about this center from Diane who works for Disability Cultural Center in Syracuse University.
I contacted the advisor, Mr. Jacob Colon.
When I got a reply from him, I was impressed because the way he wrote the email was very polite.
I was looking forward to meeting him.
On the interview day, I arrived at DSCC a little bit earlier than the scheduled time.
He showed up soon…with an assistant. As soon as I saw him holding a white case, I realized that he has visual impairment.
I became even more interested in knowing more about him!
Jacob was an undergraduate student who majored in child psychology and also minored in Latin American Studies.
He lives away from his family.
In class, he receives reasonable accommodations such as an access assistant, whose tasks entail describing the visual information on the board, power point slides or video clips.
He also receives “double time” which is having extra time to take tests.
Another accommodation that he uses is: he takes his exams at the many testing rooms located within the Disability Resource Center here at the University of Minnesota.
For example, One of the rooms is soundproof and this is where he uses a screen reading software to record his answers.
DSCC was founded in 1991 by students with disabilities, who fought to have their space on campus.
Jacob joined DSCC in 2012.
He was president of the organization last year, and his current role is an advisor.
DSCC has organized many activities and events to raise awareness for people with disabilities.
For example, at “movie night”, they played “Ray”, a movie about Ray Charles known as a famous musician and who is blind.
People with and without disabilities came and watched this movie together.
Also, DSCC sometimes collaborates with other organizations on campus to hold events.
They even brought deaf rappers Sean Forbes, and Sign Mark to perform. They are really cool!
1. Signmark http://www.signmark.biz/
2. Sean Forbes http://www.deafandloud.com/
DSCC also works to create a safe environment for people with disabilities.
“624 WALK” is a security escort service of University of Minnesota and it was not accessible to those who were deaf or hard of hearing because the request process was accepted only by phone.
However. DSCC and other organizations such as the Student Health Advisory Committee, or SHAC pushed “624 WALK” to implement text messaging process to allow people with hearing impairments to be able to request for the service.
Now people who are deaf and/or hard of hearing can use the service.
We talked a lot about the issues people with disabilities have faced in both the US and Japan.
Jacob shared his experiences and important message as follows,
One of the serious issues is education.
I was in special education class from kindergarten to 3rd grade.
I was with other students with intellectual disabilities and students who use wheelchairs.
Even when we were 2nd grade, we were still treated like the kindergartners.
If you become a certain age, you don’t wanna be treated as a kid anymore.
Special ed teachers must treat us as equals.
Special education is necessary but it has to change not putting different kinds of disabled students in one space.
Inclusive education is good not only for students with disabilities but also students without disabilities.
They can have experience earlier in life, then they can work alongside each other.
Another issue is high unemployment for people with disabilities.
Although the ADA is passed, I learned recently that our country is moving backward in terms of hiring students with disabilities.
I believe that unemployment of people who are blind or low vision is 70%.
I feel like some companies look at people with disabilities is a liability.
Making accommodations is a cost.
‘We need to buy this expensive tool if we hire this person with a disability. Where is the return?’
The attitude needs to be changed in order for unemployment rate to go lower.
We continue advocating for ourselves and telling people what we need and building a good support system with family, friends, and colleagues.
We say,
‘We may not be able to walk. We may not be able to see. We may have a hard time to focus, but we are still people.’