Students with Disabilities: School Year Prep 101
Preparing for the school year can often be nerve-wracking for any student to say the least. However, for students with disabilities, their worries about school starting are unique and can vary, since the disability experience is broad and dynamic in itself.
.jpg?width=260&height=326&name=Gabriella%20Faddool(2).jpg)
Navigating a disability or multiple disabilities brings many personal and social challenges, including academic ones. Every student with a disability has specific support needs in and outside of the classroom that must be accommodated to ensure success in any course and eventual career field. That being said, self-advocacy is key.
What do I mean by self-advocacy? Well, in simple terms, self-advocacy is clearly voicing your need for support at a given time in an academic setting; that could be contacting someone who works in a Disability Services office to request accommodations during testing, asking for permission to have record lectures as a form of note-taking in a class, using speech-to-text or text-to-speech devices, inquiring about alternative assignment options if the assignment format isn’t accessible, or if difficulties arise in completing the assignment in a specific way. Asking for support doesn’t always mean you’ll get it exactly as you request, but it opens the door to finding other types of support you may not have known about. For example, when I was a graduate student in the Master of Arts in Disability Studies program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies, I requested extra time to complete assignments and tests due to my physical, developmental, and psychosocial disabilities which affected my pace and the speed in which I would complete certain tasks. This was approved, and I was offered other forms of support such as access to a screen text reader, audio-based text and books, and using the diction (speech-to-text) feature in Microsoft Word to write research papers and essays when I experience chronic pain and fatigue.
It isn’t always easy to self-advocate as a disabled person, as we live in a world that doesn’t naturally accommodate diversity and differences. Self-advocacy requires forgetting about the “what if it doesn’t…?” and thinking about “what if it works?” It’s about doing something anyway, despite the fear and barriers involved. Moreover, advocating for yourself opens doors not just for you but for others who will come after you. People will always need support, one way or another.
Join Our Movement
What started as an idea has become a national movement. With your support, we can influence policy and inspire lasting change.
Become an Advocate
My journey as a disability and human rights advocate is an ever-changing one, as I learn new things about myself and others with varying disabilities. Self-advocacy came about through the full acceptance of my disabilities and finding ways to adapt to and mitigate the issues that came along with them. This led to my overall success in higher education. On the other hand, overworking without accommodations in my personal and professional life led to a decline in my physical and mental health. I had to redefine my value and know that value did not come from how productive I was or how well I did things like “everyone else”. Value came from who I was within and who I wanted to become.
Additionally, my personal experiences influenced me to want to learn and advocate for people who have disabilities and find themselves in a relatable boat. Of course, our experiences can differ, especially with other intersectional identities, but understanding one another can help us support one another collectively and in solidarity.
To students with disabilities out there, remember that you matter. Your life and who you are matter. And…keep thriving.
Author's Bio: Gabbie Fadool is a Disability and Human Rights Advocate. She advocates for the awareness of various disabilities and studies disability culture and the ideologies that inspire laws and policies, both domestically and internationally. Gabbie also has interests in women's and children's rights, international affairs, and foreign policy and a passion for bridging the gaps of various topics, through intersectionality. She has a B.A. in International Studies, along with a Spanish minor from Washington & Jefferson College and an M.A. in Disability Studies from the CUNY School of Professional Studies. Currently, Gabbie is an EmpowHer Camp Mentor for Disability EmpowHer Network.
Learn more about Becoming a Self-Advocate and Navigating and Transitioning to College with Paralysis.