The DCC has three priorities areas; disability community, education and advocacy. Learn about how we approach our work in these areas and how disability community, education and advocacy are often intertwined.
To start, we encourage you to learn what we mean by “disability”.
Community
The DCC strives to build community across disability experiences and roles at UT. We recognize the collective wisdom that disabled people have and we want to provide spaces where that wisdom can be shared and celebrated. The DCC builds community across and within disability groups. This means that many of our programs are open to all, regardless of disability experience, while some events are designed for people who share a specific disability experience (autism, chronic illness, etc.). Many people have never met another person with a disability or their type of disability. The DCC aims to change that by creating opportunities to bring people together to connect, celebrate and share experiences. In the same way, the DCC also builds community across and within different roles at UT. Many of our events are open to all members of the UT community (students, faculty, staff and alumni) but we also recognize the unique needs and experiences of these groups and so the DCC also offers specific events just for students, alumni, faculty/staff, etc. Disability community provides a sense of belonging, validation and representation around an identity that is often overlooked or invisible on our campus. We recognize that disability is only one part of a person’s identity, and we strive to create community where the complexity of human experience is valued and respected.
Students who see disabled faculty and staff know they can succeed in those roles. Incoming students with a new diagnosis realize they are not alone in their experience after joining a disability student organization. Staff feel more comfortable seeking accommodations or talking about their access needs after hearing experiences from other staff. Alumni help students build their professional networks. The benefits of disability community are endless.
What about people who don’t have a disability/ies? They are still welcome and invited to be part of our community, as disability and accessibility touch each person in some way, now or in the future. No diagnosis or proof of diagnosis is ever required to participate in DCC programs or activities.
Education
The DCC provides education across a broad range of disability topics and frequently works in collaboration with other campus partners, academic departments and student organizations. All members of the UT community are encouraged to engage with the DCC’s education efforts, as disability and accessibility are complex and ever-evolving topics. We value the lived experiences of disabled people as sources of knowledge, well as more traditional academic and professional perspectives. Current education efforts supported by the DCC include trainings and presentations, educational events and discussions, best practices guides, accessibility consultations and a library. The DCC supports education around a range of topics including disability experience, disability identity, disability culture, accessibility best practices, disability legislation, universal design for learning, disability history and more. The DCC also maintains a list of Disability Trainings that are provided by campus partners.
Advocacy
The DCC supports individual and collective advocacy to solve problems, address barriers and improve campus life for everyone. Most of our society, including our university, was built without input from disabled people. This creates barriers across many areas of life that are often not noticed or experienced by people without disabilities but that impact disabled people’s ability to fully participate in campus life. The DCC recognizes the value of lived experiences and ideas of disabled people and strives to elevate disabled people’s ideas for improving accessibility and disabled people’s experiences on campus. The DCC does this by connecting members of the campus community to existing resources and bringing people together who have a shared interest or concern about accessibility on campus. The DCC maintains relationships with student governmental organizations and student organizations and campus partners and frequently consults and advises on accessibility-related questions and concerns. DCC staff are part of the President’s ADA Accessibility Committee and the ADA Prioritization Committee to provide a perspective and input on accessibility-related projects on campus. The DCC maintains Faculty and Student Advisory Committees (in collaboration with Disability and Access) in order to understand the experiences, questions, and concerns of these groups and to generate ideas and solutions to improve processes, services and programs. The DCC may assist with providing referrals to community organizations or government agencies for off-campus concerns.
The UT community has a strong history of disability advocacy, with disabled student organizations dating back to the 1980s. In just the past few years, members of the UT community have successfully advocated for the establishment of the Campus Testing Center, the creation of the Disability Cultural Center and the PTS Pick Up Shuttle Service. The DCC is proud to support the advocacy efforts of the UT community as we work together to improve our campus for everyone.