DISABILITY ACCESS & INCLUSION STUDENT SERVICES (D.A.I.S.S.)

Disability Access and Inclusion Student Services (DAISS) supports and empowers students by cultivating an accessible and inclusive living and learning environment at the University at Albany. Note: Their office was formerly called the Disability Resource Center (DRC).

We take a student-centered approach while determining reasonable accommodations, teaching college skills, fostering self-advocacy and educating the UAlbany community.

Students registered with DAISS should log into Accommodate for all requests related to approved accommodations, including accessing your letters and signing up for exams.

To schedule an appointment or register with DAISS, click here

How To Begin Disability Support Services At Ualbany

1. Review the Office of Disability Access and Inclusion Student Services (DAISS) webpage for information.

2. Complete the Registration form here.

3. Students should keep a copy of all disability documents and copy of their accommodation plan. It may be useful for graduate school or professional licensure.

4. Students are encouraged to stay in touch with DAISS throughout their time at UAlbany.

WHAT IS THE AMERICAN WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA)?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities like those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. The ADA is divided into five titles (or sections) that relate to different areas of public life.

In 2008, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) was signed into law and became effective on January 1, 2009. The ADAAA made several significant changes to the definition of “disability.” The changes in the definition of disability in the ADAAA apply to all titles of the ADA, including Title I (employment practices of private employers with 15 or more employees, state and local governments, employment agencies, labor unions, agents of the employer and joint management labor committees); Title II (programs and activities of state and local government entities); and Title III (private entities that are considered places of public accommodation).

To learn more, click here

SOCIAL JUSTICE: WHAT’S DISABILITY GOT TO DO WITH IT?

Advocates from the disability community highlight why a disability lens is essential to all our social justice work and what you can do to accelerate our collective impact and build a fully inclusive world. To watch the video, click here.

Additional resources:

• Why disability rights are central to social justice work – and what we’re doing about it - https://www.fordfoundation.org/news-and-stories/stories/posts/why-disability-rights-arecentral-to-social-justice-work-and-what-we-re-doing-about-it/

• Disability and social justice - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687599.2016.1256273

• Social Justice Must Intersect with Disability Rights - https://givingcompass.org/article/social-justice-must-intersect-with-disability-rights

WHAT IS DISABILITY JUSTICE?

Disability Justice centers intersectionality and the ways diverse systems of oppression amplify and reinforce one another.

The term “disability justice” is often used interchangeably with terms such as “disability rights” and “disability inclusion.” Yet it’s important to recognize that “disability justice” refers to a very specific framework of thinking about disability.

Disability inclusion is a broad term to describe approaches to advance access and inclusion for disabled people. A disability justice approach centers the priorities and approaches of those most historically excluded groups, such as women, people of color, immigrants, and people who identify as LGBTQ+. To learn more, click here.

Additional resources:

• Moving From Disability Rights to Disability Justice - https://wid.org/moving-fromdisability-rights-to-disability-justice/

• Disability Justice Self-Study Guide - https://students.wustl.edu/disability-justice-selfstudy-guide/

• Disability Justice Strategies – an introduction - https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/1disability-justice-strategies-introduction

• The Story of One Union’s Journey Toward Disability Justice: Expanding Our Beliefs and Demands for Inclusive Education - https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/the-storyof-one-unions-journey-toward-disability-justice/

WHAT IS DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION?

Disability discrimination is when you are treated less well or put at a disadvantage for a reason that relates to your disability in one of the situations covered by the Equality Act.

The treatment could be a one-off action, the application of a rule or policy or the existence of physical or communication barriers which make accessing something difficult or impossible.

The discrimination does not have to be intentional to be unlawful.

To learn more, click here

Disability Terminology

Our words matter. How we choose to write and speak about people has the power to help or hinder efforts to create inclusive experiences and a culture respectful of all.

Many commonly used words hold negative connotations that the speaker may not even be aware of. Becoming familiar with these words and their appropriate alternatives is important for everyone.

For a list of words or phrases to avoid, what to use instead, and a short rationale for each, click here.

Additional resources:

• When talking to and about individuals with disabilities, it is important to use language that reflects dignity and respect. - https://www.freewheelchairmission.org/person-firstlanguage/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw3a2iBhCFARIsAD4jQB1znWuKBRTMT2zzmjvkxeS7MaQ cuIacdMm-pWfxL6rwQFWostPrATYaAibjEALw_wcB

JUDY HEUMANN | DISABILITY RIGHTS ADVOCATE

Judith (Judy) Heumann is a lifelong advocate for the rights of disabled people. She contracted polio in 1949 in Brooklyn, New York and began to use a wheelchair for her mobility. She was denied the right to attend school because she was considered a “fire hazard” at the age of five. Her parents played a strong role in fighting for her rights as a child, but Judy soon determined that she, working in collaboration with other disabled people, had to play an advocacy role due to continuous discrimination.

To learn more, click here.

Additional resources:

• The Life and Legacy of “The Mother” of the Disability Rights Movementhttps://judithheumann.com/project/about/

• Judy Heumann: ‘Crip Camp’ didn’t win Oscar, but it’s still a win for people with disabilities - https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2021/04/23/why-oscarnominated-crip-camp-victory-disability-rights-column/7333682002/

People With Disabilities Who Changed The World

Disabled people are often overlooked for their accomplishments. Even if you did learn about some of these people in school or elsewhere, you may not have known they were members of the disability community.

Fannie Lou Hamer, Stephen Hawking, Thomas Edison, Sojourner Truth, and many more.

Native American Concepts Of Disability

“Everything in Nature goes in curves and circles.”

Native American culture has a very different concept of reality than dominant western culture as the Iroquois Elder explained in the above quote. Native Americans as a culture are comfortable with the idea that reality is inherently chaotic and believe that true health comes from “finding balance in chaos…truth is not a fixed point, but rather an ever evolving point of balance, perpetually created and perpetually new.”[2] These beliefs are sometimes phrased as “Metaphoric Ontology,” or plainly, they deny the existence of a single perspective or interpretation. To learn more, click here.

Additional resources:

• Improving Outcomes for Native American Students with Disabilities While Respecting and Honoring Native Culture - https://sites.ed.gov/osers/2022/12/improving-outcomesfor-native-american-students-with-disabilities-while-respecting-and-honoring-nativeculture/

• Native American Disability Law Center: Empowering Native People with Disabilitieshttps://www.nativedisabilitylaw.org/

Disablity Visibilty Project

Alice Wong (she/her) is a disabled activist, writer, media maker, and consultant. She is the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing, and amplifying disability media and culture created in 2014.

Alice is also a co-partner in four projects: DisabledWriters.com, a resource to help editors connect with disabled writers and journalists, #CripLit, a series of Twitter chats for disabled writers with novelist Nicola Griffith, #CripTheVote, a nonpartisan online movement encouraging the political participation of disabled people with co-partners Andrew Pulrang and Gregg Beratan, and Access Is Love with co-partners Mia Mingus and Sandy Ho, a campaign that aims to help build a world where accessibility is understood as an act of love instead of a burden or an afterthought.

Alice’s areas of interest are popular culture, media, politics, disability representation, Medicaid policies and programs, storytelling, social media, and activism.

She has been published in the New York Times, Vox, PEN America, Catalyst, Syndicate Network, Uncanny Magazine, Curbed SF, Eater, Bitch Media, Teen Vogue, Transom, Making Contact Radio, and Rooted in Rights. To learn more, click here.

Additional Resources:

• An Evening with Alice Wonghttps://www.youtube.com/live/fBe2OSCb4EE?feature=share

• Activist Alice Wong reflects on The Year of the Tiger and her hopes for 2023https://www.npr.org/2023/02/04/1153937530/activist-alice-wong-lunar-new-year-yearof-the-tiger-rabbit