Recognizing disability resources at Ohio University
March is Disabilities Awareness Month and the Student Accessibility Office at Ohio University has many resources available to those living with disabilities to make their stay on campus more accessible.
“It’s important to recognize that everyone comes from diverse backgrounds and different abilities, but also to bring to light that it’s not the limitations of the person with disabilities. It’s the environment that creates the barrier, and awareness is about how we can make things more accessible,” said Christina Perez, director for student accessibility at Ohio University.
March has been recognized as Disabilities Awareness Month since 1987, by proclamation of President Ronald Reagan. The Americans with Disabilities Act followed in 1990, making it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities. It is estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that nearly six million Americans, including one-in-six children, are living with developmental disabilities.
“A lot of times we tend to think of the weaknesses or challenges that someone has, rather than the strengths and what they’ve persevered through. We should be looking at the strengths that all individuals can bring to society,” Perez said.
There are many resources available on all of Ohio University’s campus locations.
“Students that come to us who are impacted either in housing or the classroom, we can make accommodations to help alleviate the impacts that they are experiencing and help give them equal opportunity for success,” Perez said.
The Office of Student Accessibility can help connect students with tutoring services, counseling programs, transportation, peer-coaching, and more.
“We partner with Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, and they have a program called College to Careers where they provide their counselors embedded on our campus to help support students with internship placements, career readiness, job preparation, resumes building and all of those things to support them beyond the university,” Perez said.
For more information about these programs and resources, contact the Office of Student Accessibility in Alden 230 or by phone at 740-593-2620 or email disabilities@ohio.edu.