A small update on my college experience: I'm about a month from graduation, all my classes are going fine, I'm on track to have all my internship hours done on time…and I still might not get my degree this semester. Let me explain. At my university, all students are required to attend a certain number of extracurricular events before graduating. These credits are for events in fine arts (music and chorus concerts, plays, gallery exhibits, etc.) as well as academic lectures (topics have a wide range and cover just about every subject). However, I have found that the scheduling for these events leaves a lot to be desired. See, we have one specific time each week that is usually set aside for meetings and events (Tuesdays at 3:30-4:30pm), which is when many events are scheduled. Most other events are on Tuesday nights at 7 or 8pm. Just about any other event will still be that late at night no matter what day of the week it's held on.
Over the course of my 3-4 years at this school (I spent 2 semesters at a school back near my hometown), I have accrued 9 credits towards this requirement. I need 15 to graduate. It doesn't seem like it would be a lot, right? Maybe 3 or 4 every school year, and there are plenty to choose from? Sure, except…they're not accessible! On the one hand, having these events so late at night is already a preventative factor for individuals with disabilities. Many of us struggle to leave the house after a long day of class, especially considering that we would also likely have homework or household tasks to take care of as well. I'd even throw in that this is a preventative factor for people who have long commutes; why should they have to drive back home late at night when it's less safe to drive, or have to stay at school all day because it would be a waste of time and gas to go home and come back? But it's not just the scheduling that is inaccessible. They also have a tendency to forget about little things that might prevent disabled students from coming. For example, last night I went to a chorus concert. There are supposed to be student workers who have little handheld scanners to scan student IDs at each door. You have to get your ID scanned on the way in and on the way out in order to get credit for being there. But last night, my husband and I saw signs that said you had to go upstairs to that entrance in order to get your ID scanned. So we took the (only and slow) elevator upstairs and got my ID scanned. As he went to take me into the auditorium from that entrance, we realized that it put us at the top of the stairs in the aisle. There was nowhere for me to go up there in my wheelchair! So we had to go back downstairs and use that entrance, which is where the accessible seating is. Turns out, they flat out did not tell the truth about where the scanners would be! We would have been fine to go downstairs since there was another student worker down there who could have scanned me in. This isn't one single isolated incident. It seems like every time I try to go to one of these events, it's somehow inaccessible. In my freshman and sophomore years, I struggled with the anxiety of being in a loud crowd, and I would often have to leave early and lose the opportunity for credit. With my agoraphobia getting worse and my ability to leave the house after a long day beginning to dwindle, it's now more a concern about being able to physically get there and having to combat the anxiety of leaving the house, especially by myself. I would love to be able to go to these events more--I love art and music, and I've really looked forward to a lot of the lectures. But my body simply will not comply sometimes, and I feel like that has to be taken into account. It feels like an unreasonable burden on some students where it would only be a mild annoyance for others. Yes, there are some I can go to. Yes, I can get a few credits for going to the local museum or relevant events of my choosing, but the fact still stands that it is an undue burden on me and other disabled students (and long-distance commuters) to be expected and required to attend extracurricular activities simply for the sake of "well-roundedness." I have completed my degree. I have finished everything (just about) and will graduate with a decent GPA. I have worked my ass off just to manage the minimum amount of full-time hours. By having to make the choice to go to these events on a regular basis, I am taking away the time and energy I need to do my actual schoolwork or take care of myself. Having to stay out that late (not getting home until around 10pm) puts me going to bed later, and with my sensitive sleep schedule, it leaves me on my ass for the next day as well. I came home last night still needing to finish up an assignment, on top of my hips killing me from working all day and then having to go to the event that night. I didn't get to bed until around midnight, which is at least an hour later than I really need to. I'm exhausted today and in more pain than usual because of it. I have tried to get an accommodation for this. The disability services coordinator said my documentation wasn't good enough and that they'd never given an accommodation for these credits before. The registrar's office is offering me an extension of maybe a week after the deadline to maybe get a few more credits, but it still might not be enough and it doesn't fix the systemic problem. The problem is that these credits being 100% mandatory in order to graduate, and requiring 15 of them, creates an imbalance which is unfairly shifted away from disabled students. It might be a very tiny factor, but it also addresses some of the underlying issues with their events. The facilities aren't always easy to access. Most of the events happen in a building that the accessible parking isn't particularly close to. It's still a long, uphill walk to get inside, and even further to find the end of the long hallway the accessible entrance is on. Last night, we had to take the elevator upstairs and then back down just so I could get credit--the signs clearly said that scanning IDs is "upstairs only." One would assume that actually means only upstairs! I'm planning on talking to the registrar's office again today. I'm hoping I'll at least be allowed to walk (or wheel, as it might be) at graduation since I'll have met literally all the other criteria to graduate. With my family, I would never hear the end of it if I didn't at least pretend and go through the motions. On the other hand, I'm also sitting on a stack of elective fine arts classes that I didn't get any credit for doing. I have participated in at least 5-6 different chorus concerts, but you don't get credit for being a performer. Somehow that seems very backwards to me. How do students who study the fine arts as their major get enough credits if they are in a lot of the productions? How can we say that participating in a performance and dedicating hours to preparation isn't enough exposure to fine arts to warrant at least one credit? Especially compared to the audience, who are mostly bored to tears and on their phones the whole time! I understand the logic of requiring a few fine arts credits, since this is a "liberal arts" college which intends to make students "well-rounded" and exposed to culture. But I can't understand how taking classes in the fine arts or participating in a performance does not also meet that same goal. We even have to take a fine arts class as a gen ed requirement! Now, I loved my art history class, and it really gave me some great perspective on ancient art. But I don't see how an engineering student, for example, who really doesn't care about the arts that much and is bogged down with homework should be required to take time out of their schedule to sit through something they don't care about and will never think about again. The people who would benefit from this practice already would be likely to go on their own without being forced to. By forcing students to sit through these events, all it does is create a disdain for the arts in some students and a barrier to graduation for disabled students.
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