Colleges are always talking about how they strive for inclusivity and diversity. From my perspective, a lot has been done to make campuses more accessible to a lot more people, but there are still many changes that could be easily implemented to make college a more attainable place for more people. Looking at UMBC specifically, ramps have been added to different parts of campus, a lot of the big buildings have elevators, there are lots of accessible doors and bathroom stalls, and there are some accessible dorms on campus. I have also seen sign language interpreters in some of my lectures, and there is the Students Disability Services to make accommodations for students or help get them notes for class. While all of this is great for many students, this still makes the parts of campus that are accessible very limited. A lot more still needs to be done in order for UMBC to be a truly inclusive place. Many classrooms or lecture halls don’t have space for wheelchairs, lots of professors do not give much or any flexibility to students who need more time to complete assignments, and much of the campus is made up of hills with no way to get around them. There are probably many more things that I have not noticed as a person without any disabilities that exclude people with disabilities around campus. For that same reason, there are probably more accommodations that are available around UMBC that I don’t even know about. Although, this does show a flaw in the school that they are not making this information known for all students. Some more things that could be done to make UMBC more inclusive would be to have a more flexible attendance policy, make technology such as talking calculators or text-to-speech systems more available to students, and making sure that things that are already implemented on campus are maintained and kept up to date. Disability justice movements, like the one shown in the documentary Crip Camp, are a great way to help get a point across about what needs to be done at an institutional level. More people need to learn about what it is like to live with a disability in a world that isolates them because of it. Although, these kinds of accommodations and services should be provided to people without them having to prove themselves to other groups of people.
Unruly Bodies 
I like how you started your blog on positive note by stating what the school is doing right then proceeded to tell your concerns and issues that still need fixing.
Great post! The campus has made an effort to qualify campus as “accessible,” but a lot of the routes and ramps are very impractical. The day in class where we walked around and noted the accessible routes, we were barely able to get down to the UC center in the 15 minutes we had. There is a lot that could be done to make traveling around campus more convenient, but I am not sure how we would convince the university to take the time and money to make these improvements.
UMBC’s campus is technically accessible but not at the same time. Yes, we have everything to make the campus accessible but somehow they didn’t do it quite right. The hills is a major problem for me personally since I have several disabilities and walking up hills is hard for me. I would rather stairs since you can walk all the way up in one go instead of it being dragged out.
Thank you for your insightful post!
I feel like schools are trying their best and good changes have been made over the years, but you’re right – so much has to be done. UMBC specifically, being built on a hill, can be inaccessible in so many ways. We need to be better as a community, instead of perpetuating these disabling features.