Disabled Student Alliance destroying biases

Member Photo via the Disabled Student Alliance

Among the many clubs on campus, Disabled Student Alliance (DSA) stands out for its consistent encouragement of inclusivity. DSA specializes in supporting students with disabilities and helping others become better allies. There have already been several notable advancements in the club since its founding last semester.

Founder and president of DSA, senior sociomedical sciences and communications double major, Kaitlin Anzalone stated: “With the Disabled Student Alliance, the original objective was to create a space for students who identify with disabilities or want to support students who identify with disabilities. I think honestly, we have achieved that goal in our work.” 

Since the creation of the club, it has increased by ten members, all of which are a part of the executive board. “We had an overwhelming amount of people who wanted to be involved with this organization, and they've all put their heart and soul into it,” said Anzalone. Anzalone acknowledges DSA’s current staffing along with hopes that the club will continue to expand. She continued: “It's also really nice for the people on the e-board of the Disabled Student Alliance to start connecting with each other and sharing what kinds of accessibility things they use, or like we can identify with having similar struggles.”

Anzalone says that they are currently only doing e-board meetings at this point, not open meetings. As the club gains traction, they hope to expand to more of the community sometime in October with general or social meetings. 

“I think there's also a misconception about organization that you have to identify with having some form of disability to be in the organization. And that's not true,” said Anzalone. “We would love everybody to come. We feel like it's really important to get that advocacy [and information] out there.”

While there are only e-board meetings at this point, all Geneseo students are encouraged to reach out to the DSA for more information and keep an eye out for general meetings. More interaction between the club and general campus community will not only bring the community together, but also to encourage broader understanding and respect of everyone on campus.

While still in the beginning stages of the club hosted their first event, Jeopardy, which had over 30 people in attendance. There was trivia about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This act protects people with disabilities from discrimination. They also did more common trivia, like pop culture. “I was really surprised honestly; I wasn't expecting us to get a turnout, but it was great.” Anzalone stated.  

The DSA will be hosting a game night as their first event of the semester. This event will be held in the Fireside Lounge on Oct. 17 at 8p.m. They hope to see you there.

Another upcoming DSA event is a collaboration with Pride Alliance. Pride Alliance is a club discussing many different topics involving LGBTQ+ issues along with promoting and maintaining a safe community. Anzalone stated in regard to the collaboration: “[It] will be the first collaboration and we really do want to emphasize the idea of intersectionality.” 

During the summer months when school was not in session, DSA continued to bolster disability awareness. With July being Disability Pride Month, they did social media campaigns to encourage understanding of the different aspects having disability may entail. 

There are many ways in which campus is not accessible for everyone. The most prominent one that Anzalone acknowledged at the moment is the construction; the lack of space on sidewalks and lack of sidewalks in general only increase difficulty for those who struggle with mobility. Along with that more obvious example, there are many things that people may not think about, like the print and color on posters around campus; something that may appear to be normal to the majority of students may be extremely difficult to those with vision impairments. 

Anzalone concluded: “Accessibility is always an afterthought. And if we can grow the community here, make it more prevalent, [and] announce ourselves, I feel like we can get somewhere.” 

To keep up to date, follow the DSA on Instagram for updates on their first general meeting and other activities: @disabled.student.alliance