Photo by Tzav Harrel ’24.
Disability Services’ office is in Mary Lyon Hall.
By Arianna Peña ’25
Staff Writer
Content warning: This article mentions ableism.
What is the best way to serve and affirm disabled students on campus? This question has been posed by students, fellows and staff at the newly-named Disability Services office, some of whom hope that this name change alters the perspective of students across campus regarding the use of the word disability.
On Sept. 1, 2022, the Disability Services team sent an email to students across campus with updates regarding office and staff email communication, staffing, drop-in hours, making appointments, note-taking and accommodations for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year. The first part of the email announced the recent name change of the office from AccessAbility Services to Disability Services.
In the email, team members C. Ross, Emily Dean and Zemora Tevah addressed that “over the years, the office staff, students, staff and faculty raised questions about the office’s previous name, AccessAbility Services.” They continued by explaining that in Spring 2022, the office staff partnered with Dean of the College and Vice President for Student Success Amber Douglas and “engaged in conversations with students and campus partners about alternative names that reflected the work of the office and communicated [its] commitment to support students with disabilities on campus.”
As described on their website, “Disability Services works with students to provide reasonable accommodations for those that have documented disability, and/or disability-related needs.”
While the Disability Services office provides accommodations, assistive technology and support to students with documented disabilities or disability-related needs, as stated on their website, it also works to provide those who need accommodations for religious purposes.
Earl Wren ’24, a Disability Services fellow for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, was part of the name change process that began last year. “The name change was proposed by the 2021-2022 disability fellows and I believe I was actually the first fellow to mention it. We were able to fit the name change in at the second semester I believe, and focus groups were held in the same semester open to all students registered with the office … to express student opinions on what the new name should be,” Wren said.
Karis Knoll ’25 attended these focus groups. As someone who has used Disability Services since their first semester, they were very interested in the name change process. “We talked through why ‘AccessAbility’ as a phrase wasn’t a good phrase, because it insinuates … that a student who uses ‘AccessAbility’ services needed to access ability, that there was something inherently inferior about the student that they needed help accessing something,” Knoll said.
“They — wider society, not just MHC — are trying to say that disabled people can do just as much as non-disabled people, which [is] a statement that, on a surface level, sounds progressive but when you dig deep, it is rooted in ableism and disability erasure,” Wren said.
Knoll and Wren, who both identify as disabled, agree that ‘disabled’ should not be viewed as a bad word. “My many debilitating disabilities do limit what activities I can do and what kind of life I can live in, and that’s okay. Some people believe admitting disability equals admitting the disabled person is lesser, but that is not true — it only reflects the person and society’s attitude towards disability, not the inherent worth of the disabled person,” Wren said.
While some students have mentioned that the change in name may further isolate students who are disabled from students who are not, Grace MacIntyre ’25, a fellow for Disability Services, added that “words and phrases like ‘AccessAbility,’ ‘differently abled,’ ‘special,’ etc. further reinforce in people’s minds that disability is a bad word that should be avoided and, by extension, disabled people too. This is primarily for the comfort of abled people, who don’t want to actively interact with the complexity of disability,” MacIntyre said.
Wren and MacIntyre also explained that while the change to Disability Services reflects how the office staff seek to affirm disabled students, it was also changed for clarity and ease. Students seeking accommodations or support from the Disability Services will now have an easier time searching for the offices as the purposeful misspelling of “AccessAbility” often made it harder to find the office online, a sentiment shared by Wren, Knoll and MacIntyre. Wren added that when they were a newly accepted Mount Holyoke student, the title “AccessAbility Services” made them nervous and hesitant to reach out.
“I personally feel like Disability Services correctly communicates what the actual services are and helps students know where to go to get their disability needs met,” Knoll said.
Overall, Wren, Knoll and MacIntyre are happy with the name change, citing that they hope it sparks conversation among nondisabled students and the Mount Holyoke community at large about why disabled is not a negative word. MacIntyre adds that they “hope with this name change, disabled students feel more supported and understood and nondisabled students will start to learn more about the Disability Justice Movement.”
For any student who may feel like they need the services provided, Disability Services can currently be reached by email at disability-services@mtholyoke.edu or in their office on the third floor of Mary Lyon Hall, which their website states is wheelchair accessible through the entrance on the ground floor. Open hours are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 1-2 p.m. while the College is in session.