In a 2022 op-ed in The Badger Herald, first-year student Katie Sullivan writes about the disheartening experience of taking disability-focused classes as a disabled student at UW-Madison and encountering pervasive ableism. "In a course entitled 'Individuals with Disabilities,' a classmate of mine argued that I was centering myself around my 'downfalls' by referring to myself as disabled," recalls Sullivan. Echoing the withering critiques on the ableist culture in higher education found in Jay Dolmage's book, Academic Ableism, Sullivan notes that "Professors discuss disability as if disabled students are not in the room. Students engage in discussions surrounding disability but resort to ableist and euphemistic descriptions of the disabled experience. These courses, I’ve found, often reinforce the dangerous notion that the presence of a disability requires some form of treatment or an ultimate pursuit of a panacea."
Prior to the opening of the Disability Cultural Center (DCC) in the McBurney Disability Resource Center in 2023, disabled students reported feeling isolated on campus, according to The Badger Herald. The Badger Herald also reported that disabled students pursuing STEM fields at UW–Madison not only encounter physical barriers in labs that were not designed to meet their needs, but are also held back by ableist attitudes that disabled people are "not cut out to work in medicine or work in research or be involved in science." Students told The Daily Cardinal that they formed the Disabled Students Union (DSU) last year, after some members "considered dropping out of UW–Madison because they felt alone navigating rigid and ableist learning environments and were 'constantly having to be forced to be activists.'"
The McBurney Disability Resource Center has 1,600 students registered for supports for ADHD, making ADHD the second largest diagnostic category for which students seek accommodations at UW–Madison. In addition to providing extra time on exams, McBurney provides workshops, pairing services to match students with study partners for mirroring, as well as one-to-one study skills training sessions, according to The Daily Cardinal.
Still, disabled students express dissatisfaction with the supports on campus, noting that they barely go above the level of ADA compliance. In 2023, The Daily Cardinal reported widespread dissatisfaction with paratransit and shuttle services at UW–Madison, with students reporting drivers being late, causing students to miss classes; instances of wheelchairs being improperly handled; and an inconvenient booking system that constrains disabled students' schedules. Students also report often having to negotiate accommodations directly with professors, and when professors deny students' accommodations, students say there is a lack of communication and support from McBurney. (UW–Madison launched a Disability and Ableism Awareness Training for faculty and staff in 2021, but the training is not mandatory.)
Other sources of disability community and support on and around campus include Disability Pride Madison, a cross-disability organization that hosts the annual Disability Pride Festival in Madison. UW–Madison also hosts the annual Diversity Forum, which always includes disabled speakers and panels on disability.
While UW–Madison has become a hub of disability scholarship and disability activism, however, it is important to acknowledge which communities continue to be disproportionately excluded from campus. According to a 2022 article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "the percentage of students who identify as Black alone at UW-Madison has never surpassed 3% of the student body" although Black people account for approximately 6.4% of the population. In a 2018 survey conducted by University Health Services, 43.6% of Black students at UW–Madison reported considering leaving, because of the racial climate on campus, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Badger Herald notes that "The state’s declining financial support for the UW System is rooted in its opposition to the universities’ diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Created to support minority students in their academic and professional endeavors, DEI programs are crucial to help students from underrepresented backgrounds feel less isolated on campus."
UW–Madison is currently ranked 39th among national universities by U.S. News. It was ranked 35th in 2024.
Steward-Trivedi —who has Goltz syndrome, causing vision and mobility impairments — saw the three-week summer intensive as an opportunity to pursue their career goals and a place where it would be easier to receive accommodations for their disability, in their mother Lina Steward-Trivedi’s view.
But on June 28, just two days before the program began, program administrators told Steward-Trivedi they were unenrolled because ALP lacked time to review and plan accommodations.
In the weeks since, the 14-year-old has demonstrated on campus by holding sit-ins and marches to call for changes in how the university handles accommodations.
The Daily Cardinal asked Steward Trivedi, who goes by ‘Kitty’ and uses gender neutral pronouns, how this experience made them feel about UW-Madison’s treatment of people with disabilities.
“They don't,” they said. “[To them] we’re objects.”
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