To the University of Wyoming students with disabilities, it can feel as though the university can sometimes be confused about how exactly to create an inclusive environment for everyone.
Inclusivity and embracing diversity in the UW community has been considered a goal for the university in recent years, so of course, the people with disabilities at UW are no exception.
Disability at the University of Wyoming is a topic that the university is eager to accommodate, with many of the buildings on campus that have elevators as well as stairs and ramps where there are stairs up to the entrances of the building. However, there are a few buildings in which the ramps for those who are in wheelchairs do not exist, or if they do, they are harder to get to. Vice President of the Abilities RSO Shelby Kappler can attest to this.
“A few years ago, we [the Abilities RSO] did a poker run,” Kappler said. “If you’re not familiar with that, it’s where participants go from place to place collecting playing cards, and whoever has the best hand at the end wins. So, we asked players to only use accessible routes to get around campus, like we had stations in Ross Hall, in the Education building, and the Classroom Building, and so they couldn’t use steps to go up or down. That just brings awareness to different access issues and how would you get into this building if you couldn’t use stairs, and that sort of thing.”
Abilities is open to not only people with disabilities but also to people who do not have them. As well as having the RSO act as an inclusive environment, it also provides an understanding that disability affects everyone, not just the singular person who has the disability.
To Kappler, who is visually impaired, disability is simply something that can happen to everyone, whether it is from old age, or if a person was born with it.
“Disability is a part of life, is a part of the human race,” Kappler said. “It is important that we accept everybody. It’s also about not looking at disability as a problem, but as something that is just a difference. People are differently-abled.”
One thing that can also prevent an inclusive environment is not fully understanding disability. Misconceptions and stereotypes can often color the judgment of the portion of society who happen to not have disabilities, whether it is about the people with disabilities themselves, or whether it is the facets society has incorporated to accommodate for those who have disabilities.
Betsy Bress, the project coordinator for informational outreach at the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities here on campus, used the misconception surrounding accommodations for people who are disabled as an example.
“Let’s say the ramps, the ones for accessibility,” Bress said. “People think that they are just there for people who are in wheelchairs, but this is not always the case. It can be used by a father who has a stroller, or an athlete who has just torn his ACL. It can benefit people from all walks of life, not just the people who are in a wheelchair.”
Abilities has recently been working with the university to make everything more accessible, from buildings to even events.
With Abilities own events, such as the previously mentioned Poker Run, movie screenings and public talks to raise awareness for people with disabilities. They have also worked with people at the university to bring up accommodations at events to help people with disabilities and people without.
“We’ve worked close with administration, and the event planning staff, in order to create accessible events,” Kappler said. “Like when somebody like an RSO or another organization puts on an event, basically here in the Union, how to make their event accessible, like how they can access the stage, or how people could access the presentation material.”
