Resources for Students with Disabilities
Williams College Office of Accessible Education (OAE)
National Resources for Students with Disabilities in Higher Education from the National DREAM Organization
Educate Yourself
Disability Etiquette Handout by the Office of Accessible Education
Ableist terms to avoid, their history, and some suggestions as to what to say instead
Articles from The Williams Record
“Accessibili-tea” Column on the Williams Record written by Abby Fournier ’21
“Disabili-tea” Column on the Williams Record written by Ari Quasney ’25
“Your academic field is ableist. Are you?” Op-ed by Rebecca Dodgson ’22
Volunteer Opportunities
On 10/12, we hosted a meeting where we learned about some local Disability related outreach opportunities and discussed how DSU wants to participate. Visit this link to learn about the different community organizations and how you can get involved!
DSU Events
Who’s In Your Corner 2022
This event took place on 10/5/22. This event was for disabled students and allies to get to know disability resources and allies on campus. A number of guests were in attendance and introduced themselves and how they are working at Williams to further accessibility and support disabled students in general. The event was recorded via Zoom, and the video can be found here.
[Image description: A minimalist white room corner overlaid by text that reads “Disabled Student Union presents Who’s in your Corner? Join us for a panel discussion with faculty and staff who support disabled students on campus. In-person or via Zoom. October 5 at 6:00 pm. Bascom House – Living room; snacks for different dietary needs or Zoom link” with a QR code next to the text that says “scan me.” The DSU logo is at the top, which is the dynamic accessibility icon with a “W” for Williams on the wheel, and the acronym DSU to the left side. Logo and letters are purple over a yellow background.]
Claiming Williams 2022 – Cripping Williams: Creating Systems of Support for Disabled Students
Academia is riddled with cycles harmful to disabled students. Year after year, arriving at Williams promotes the isolation and self-sufficiency of disabled students where a new or newly disabled student is expected to find the resources they need and advocate for those resources alone. This event aims to ease the process for disabled students prior to their arrival.
This is an event for students and faculty to work towards making Williams a more welcoming place for disabled new students and newly disabled students. We will create materials to help connect disabled students to each other and any college resources that may be helpful. We will also discuss and plan how to improve the admissions and First Days experience for disabled students.
This event took place on Thursday, February 3rd, 2022 and was recorded via Zoom. The video can be found here.
[Image description: Purple background with a yellow border. Orange and pink speech bubbles and the Claiming Williams logo are at the top. The text reads: “Cripping Williams: Creating Systems of Support for Disabled Students. A part of Claiming Williams, sponsored by Williams DREAM. Thursday, February 3, 2022, 2-3:30 pm.” The zoom link is linked at the bottom. The DSU logo is also at the bottom, which is a yellow background and the dynamic accessibility icon with a “W” for Williams on the wheel, both in purple.]
(In)Accessibility Scavenger Hunt 2021
This event took place 4/24/21-5/1/21, but you can still follow the route or do the scavenger hunt remotely and access all the important information!
Instructions for the full (in)Accessibility Scavenger Hunt are at this link.
Individual links for each station:
- Mission Dorm Building and Campus Accessibility
- Chapin Hall and Event Accessibility
- Frosh Quad and Disability Etiquette
- Career Center and Sub-minimum Wage
- Paresky and “Passing“
- Greylock and Housing Discrimination
- Health Center and Access to Care
- Science Quad and Academic Ableism
- Climb High Climb Far Steps and Disability Justice
- Currier Quad and Disability Representation
- Hopkins Hall and Building Regulations
- Griffin and Disability History
Map of all locations for the scavenger hunt