When talking about disability justice, we must reflect on the systems in our everyday lives. UMBC is a good place to start.
UMBC is a very diverse campus. A large portion of the student body is international students, and statistically speaking, a significant number of students at UMBC are disabled. When UMBC brags about its campus inclusivity, it makes me pause. UMBC misses the mark consistently when it comes to accessibility and inclusion of disabled people.
The accessible routes are long, often involve hills, and are mercy to whether or not a door opener has been fixed in time. There isn’t live captioning included in events, even though it would be an easy way to include Deaf and HoH people, people with auditory processing disorder, brain fog, sensory sensitivity, and those who English isn’t their first language. The campus activities include a consistent rotation of bingo and karaoke. Bingo would be very accessible for anyone to participate in if the event organizers clearly displayed the letter and numbers called on screen, but I have never seen any of the campus event organizers do so (correct me if you have). Karaoke at least has lyrics on screen most of the time, which fulfills a small portion of the live captioning need.
When it comes to simple, obvious things like these, I can’t help but feel angry. In most cases, I’ve found that what’s even more uncomfortable to nondisabled people than a disability advocate is an angry disabled advocate, so the anger doesn’t help. When I’m not angry, I’m tired, and either way, I am the one experiencing mental and emotional strain while the people in charge of whether or not all students should have access to events still do not care. It is 2025, do not bullshit me, you know you should have captions on screen. And it pisses me off to no end when an organizer says that the disabled person has to email the organizer in advance if they wanted that. Every student should have the opportunity to look on myUMBC and decide in the moment whether or not they want to spontaneously go to an event. No student should have to warn the event organizer that they’re coming just to participate. Disabled or not, UMBC takes the tuition payments all the same.
Special shoutout to the sunflower training program. It’s not that I think the training shouldn’t be there. It should, and I’m glad it is. But there are things that should obviously be made more accessible on campus that the office has not fixed, and getting accommodations from this office can be such a dehumanizing process. One of the people from this office proceeded to be ableist and all around awful while having this sticker in their email ending.
Unruly Bodies 
I completely agree with this. Nothing makes me angrier than when I go to press the accessibility button on the doors and they are delayed, or even worse, not working. Everyone is impacted by the inaccessibility of campus, but most importantly, those who need it to get to class or an event. the doors are already abnormally heavy as is, I can’t imagine someone with less leverage than me trying to open them. some days, my thighs hurt to the extent that I can’t go up too many steps, but if I were to take the accessible route, I would be late to class, costing me attendance points. we were promised accessibility, yet it is barely reaching the bar.
I really appreciate that you are writing about the ever-growing list of accessibility problems on our campus. It seems as though, just as with nearly every institution or aspect of our society, there are so many things that could be done to improve the experiences of all involved, yet such things are constantly ignored or dismissed. One would assume that there would be an understanding that the fulfillment of accessibility needs spans far beyond a too-steep ramp, unreliable elevators, and the ‘opportunity’ to request something that should automatically be in place. Many seem to think that the battle for disability rights was resolved when the ADA passed, but it is quite evident that this is untrue. I love that you bring up how spontaneity is restricted, and how one is pressured to praise such incomplete methods of increasing accessibility. To quote Judy Heumann, “If I have to feel thankful about an accessible bathroom, when am I ever gonna be equal in the community?”
While I don’t personally live with a disability, I do really feel for this community, especially since hearing the issues regarding accessibility around campus. UMBC does ‘pride’ itself on its accessibility and ‘support’ of different communities, but it’s been made clear to them time and time again that they’re lacking in many aspects. These are not complex or expensive issues to address, so there’s truly no excuse. UMBC appears to prioritize its larger projects and other initiatives, so ultimately, it’s likely all politically motivated.
I am frustrated there with you. UMBC is all about claiming accessibility, but they really miss the mark the majority of the time. I remeber one specific instance where the accessible route door was locked to the Fine Arts building so I had to go around a long way and walk a bunch of stairs. It was challenging for me, but I remember seeing a person in a wheelchair trying to get in and they couldn’t either. They didn’t have the luxury like me to take the stairs. I felt so frustrated and mad in that moment. I don’t know if they were even able to get to their class. I hope that in the future UMBC can prioritize accessibility more.
I completely agree! UMBC prides itself on inclusivity but isn’t able to recognize the basic needs for disabled students. It’s frustrating seeing the illusion of inclusivity, but not actually feeling it; accessibility isn’t an add on it’s a fundamental part of equity. Until that’s reflected in policy, infrastructure, and campus culture, “Inclusive Excellence” will remain more of a slogan than a practice.
Its so frustrating seeing some of the “accessibility routes” you mentioned in your blog! My freshmen year here I decided to time myself taking my regular route to class and the accessibility route and the difference in time was by a whole 10 minutes! This is totally unfair to all students who HAVE to use these routes to get to class.
The inaccessibility of the UMBC campus, especially considering just how much emphasis UMBC places on their inclusive principles, quite honestly feels deceptive. Although this is my first semester here, I’ve already experienced a broken “accessible” door button more times than I have fingers to count with. You would think that a college campus built on a hill would ensure the constant maintenance of elevators, but I’ve also run into a few elevators that are nonfunctional – and one was a shortcut to get to the Public Arts and Humanities building, which I’m sure the amount of stairs necessary to reach from the bottom of campus is ridiculous to anyone, able-bodied or not.