University problems

Hi everyone,

Educational access is a struggle that I think any Deaf student in the mainstream will face. It was a huge fight for me in school, but when I started University I naively thought that everything would be okay.

One month ago I had a meeting with someone at my University. She oversees the Accessibility Services office, and I met with her to discuss the many access concerns I have faced. Those concerns included interpreters, professors, lack of awareness, and the incredibly limited number of TTY’s on campus. After our meeting she promised to follow up with me within the week.

A week came and went, and then two weeks - so I emailed her and told her what steps I had taken since the meeting. Another week went by without a response so I emailed her again let her know what steps I had taken in that week and to encourage her to fill me in on what she had done. Another week passed and today I sent her a forward email expressing my concern. I would like to share it! I am nervous that I may have been a little too forward. Let me know what you think!


Dear Ms. ______,

I am very disappointed that you have not followed up with me yet. I strongly value commitment. I do not take commitments lightly and I have strong respect for those who honour their commitments. In our meeting on January 23rd, you said that you would follow-up with me within the week and to see that this has not yet happened a month later is incredibly disappointing to me.

I have been putting an enormous amount of my time and energy into making sure that the environment at the University of Toronto is made as equitable and accessible for its Deaf students. I feel that it is unfortunate that the University places little value on our culture, our language, our rights, and our education.

I want to be at the University of Toronto and I plan to stay here for the remainder of my undergraduate degree, and possibly to pursue graduate work. I have the same right to be here as any other student and the way I have been treated by people in this institution is disgusting. I haven?t been in a more audist environment in a very long time - if ever.

I want to work with the University to see change. I am not interested in escalating any of this, but with the blatant disrespect and lack of commitment I have seen to this point I am starting to feel that may be my only option.

I am willing to educate, advocate, provide feedback, ideas, and support establishing change anyway I can. I genuinely want to see the University work with me on this and I do not want to feel like I am constantly fighting for recognition of the unique issues I face as a Deaf student.
_________has been an amazing support for me this past year. She is one of the few people in the University who has shown genuine concern for the inequities that myself and other Deaf students are facing. I am so appreciative that I have this support and that _____ is willing to learn from me and work with me to make sure the University is accessible to me as possible.

Even with ____ doing all she can, it is not enough. There are policies and procedures that Accessibility Services are to follow that are simply not up-to-date. There are fundamental issues that go beyond Accessibility Services and beyond _____'s control. For those, I need your help. If this is not something you are interested in helping me with please let me know and direct me to someone who you feel would be better suited to helping me address these issues.

Sincerely,

Jenny

So, I want feedback! What do you think???

Jenny