Celebrating the One Year Anniversary of Beyond Disabilities Week

Beyond Disabilities week started as an idea. And an email. And one year ago it became a reality. 

Leah Serao disability curriculum and resources college awareness

Today we are celebrating the one year anniversary of Beyond Disabilities week at Gordon College. It was a great week that challenged students, faculty, and outside community members to think about disabilities in a new light.

In remembrance, a Beyond Disabilities page on this blog was created to remember and relive the many discussions on campus. We hope for the conversation to continue through this electronic medium.

 Discussions have swirled at Gordon in recent years about perception, art, disability politics, and their impact on the disability community—and from February 17 through 21, those vital, intriguing issues were the focus of a symposium-style week of events at Gordon called Beyond Disabilities. It culminated with a talk by Temple Grandin, Ph.D., an acclaimed speaker, writer and activist on the topic of autism.

-Gordon College: Beyond Disabilities Week: A Week to Explore

An overview/review of the week:

1. A Shared Vision of Access for All (Huffington Post, D. Michael Lindsay, May 2014)

2. Beyond Disabilities Week: A Week to Explore (Gordon College, March 2014)

3. Students Launch Beyond Disabilities Week (The Tartan, February 2014)

4. Beyond Disabilities Week (Stillpoint Magazine, Spring 2014)

5. Beyond Disabilities Week Schedule (Gordon College, January 2014)

6. Beyond Disabilities: Strength in Weakness (Brett Olson, August 2014)

7. Beauty in Weakness: Examining the Mess Under the Carpet (Brett Olson, January 2014)

Team Sites:

Twitter: @gcdisabilities  (https://twitter.com/gcdisabilities )

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gcbeyonddisabilities

Instagram: http://instagram.com/gcbeyonddisabilities

Please visit the Beyond Disabilities page found on the top of this blog to view each event that took place over the week.

 

 

#GCBeyondDisabilities

Beyond Disabilities Week: President Lindsay

Pictures from: An Evening with President Lindsay: “Sharing from My Heart: Reflections from a Father with a Special Child” (Monday 8-9)

Beyond Disabilities Week: Library Entrance Closing

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Pictures from the Library Entrance Closing at Gordon College. Used to promote Beyond Disabilities week at Gordon College and to raise awareness of accessibility and disabilities on campus.

Beyond Disabilities Week: Library Closing

Dear students of Gordon College,

On Monday, February 10 the front door of the library was closed in order to raise awareness of how some students on campus must enter the library due to their physical disability. While this closing was a surprise to many students, the main purpose of the door closing was for others to experience what it is like to not use the front entrance of a building and how stairs can be seen as a barrier.

The intention was not to frustrate students, but to realistically show how some of our peers must enter and exit the library. As was said on our sign in front of the library, “reconciliation is walking alongside our brothers and sisters.” Since one of the goals of Beyond Disabilities Week is to make Gordon a place more hospitable for people with disabilities, we wanted the campus to join our peers in using the accessible entrance.

The Beyond Disabilities Week planning committee hopes that you found this exercise to be a unique opportunity to reflect on the challenges some of our peers face on campus. We look forward to exploring this topic with you more next week, February 17-21.

Thank you,

Beyond Disabilities Planning Committee

Please enjoy the photos of the event below. Click “Beyond Disabilities Week: Gordon College Library Closing” for more picture.

Library closing disability awareness Leah Serao
Library closing disability awareness Leah Serao

disability awareness library closing Leah Serao