Emporia State’s Intercultural Center held its first monthly meeting for the Disability Inclusion Coalition last week. The Disability Inclusion Coalition is a new group dedicated to ensuring that ESU efficiently accommodates the needs of disabled students, staff and faculty.
Mike Torres, director of the Intercultural Center, explained that ESU partnered with the national organization Center for Disability Inclusion to assess changes and additions that need to be addressed on campus to support disability inclusion. That was when they decided to form the Disability Inclusion Coalition.
“We started the Disability Inclusion Coalition so that we could start creating, like, a strategic plan for approaching the work,” said Torres.
Members discussed what kind of work they could do on campus at their first meeting. So far, they plan on ensuring accommodation processes for students and faculty are streamlined and accessible, assisting the Associated Student Government with their annual Accessibility Walks, assessing their emergency preparedness plan, and educating others on disability inclusion. Their work will encompass both visible and invisible disabilities.
“Disability Inclusion is important, (because) if somebody needs an accommodation for work, legally, if it’s a reasonable accommodation, we have to make it,” stated Torres. “And so we want to make sure those processes are good, squared away, but we also want to be a model for disability inclusion. So like, how do we set the standard higher? ”
The Disability Inclusion Coalition will meet monthly. Torres anticipates that their next meeting will focus on feedback for the milestones they’ve created. After that, they will start planning on how to carry out their work. Any students, faculty or staff interested in joining can email Torres at [email protected] or visit the Intercultural Center in the Memorial Union.
“If people are interested in (joining the Disability Inclusion Coalition), I really would encourage them to, because this is a great way to get involved and make a really meaningful impact,” Torres said. “And so if people are interested, we want them in the door.”