Editor’s note: Content in this story was redacted to protect the personal information of an individual mentioned in the story.
On Wednesday, March 9, OCU SGA hosted a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion roundtable. The roundtable focused on disability and access. The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion roundtable is a series of discussions hosted by the Student Government Association. The goal of the roundtables is to listen to student input in implementing legislation.
The roundtable was hosted by the Secretary of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the SGA, Breauna Shaw. The event featured the Assistant Director for Disability and Access Services, Kara Morrow. Shaw opened the roundtable by stating that she hoped students would continue holding these important conversations in their friend groups. Shaw mentioned having meetings with senators from the school of theatre and music regarding how the audition process can be improved. She said senators are working hard to implement the action items.
“They all went really well,” Shaw said regarding the roundtables that were hosted last semester. Action items were discussed and planned at the previous roundtables. A list of these action items was released and later retracted. “We will have more updates at the next round table, but we want to be sure that we do not skip steps and make sure that things are not just in motion, but we get things done before we present them to you all,” Shaw said.
Morrow’s office is a division of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Morrow runs the Disability and Access Services department by herself and has managed 269 requests. She says that 166 students are currently approved for this semester. “I touch every single thing that involves that,” Morrow said. She helps to accommodate a wide range of disabilities which include learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and mental health disabilities.
One of Morrow’s top concerns is that students who had access to disability services in high school have fallen through the cracks at university. She said the process of filing for disability services includes filling out an application and submitting documentation to prove a disability exists. Morrow says she sets up a Zoom meeting with each student who is approved.
“I’ve got students who are having cognitive issues from having had Covid, I’ve got students who have had long haul Covid, and seeing how that impacts people is really devastating,” Morrow said. It is bad enough for people her age to have these problems and even worse when student-aged populations have these problems. She said students are also suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. She said everybody’s disability affects them differently and that is why they are assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Morrow said she is looking at ways to improve her office. She believes transitioning the university policy to focus on access to everything we do instead of on a case-by-case basis would be more effective. “Every time we create access on our campus it is primarily to benefit people with disabilities, but it can benefit all the rest of us too. It always does,” Morrow said.
Shaw says that the next roundtable will be full of information regarding the progress of the action items. The last roundtable of the semester will be held on Wednesday, April 13 at 5:30 p.m. The roundtable will be hosted in the Great Hall.
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