Accommodations and Disability Justice
What is Disability Justice?
The 10 principles of disability justice are: intersectionality, leadership from the most impacted, anti-capitalist politics, commitment to cross-movement organizing, recognizing wholeness, sustainability, commitment to cross-disability solidarity, interdependence, collective access and collective liberation.
UChicago is inaccessible, including physically as a campus and institutionally through classes, bureaucracy, etcetera. Many buildings are not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA), which should be the bare minimum (the University has even been sued for violating disability law in the past). The University has deferred over $1 billion of quad maintenance, making the quad difficult and sometimes impossible to navigate for some students. Those who are unable to get to class are simply told not to attend. There is also consistent structural and interpersonal ableism. Likewise, there is no university-wide testing accommodations mandate for students who do not have SDS accommodations (for instance, if a student is sick). Despite the erasure of disabled students, disabled students are here. Many aspects of UChicago themselves can also be disabling, both to students and also to the residents the University displaces, polices, and kills.
Accommodations
You can access accommodations through Student Disability Services(SDS). SDS is very bureaucratic and often takes advantage of students’ lack of knowledge. The university puts the onus of seeking accommodations on students and forces them to disclose in order to get them, which is especially unfair considering how little visibility and discussion there is around access needs. However, don’t let this discourage you from seeking what you need. Under the 504 Rehabilitation Act and the ADA, you have the right to equal access to the university and to not face discrimination as a student with a disability.
Classes: When you get accommodations, a determination letter will be sent to professors and TAs through the AIM portal. You do not have to disclose anything about your disability to your professors, but your professors are legally required to implement your accommodations, so email/talk to them to finalize arrangements.
Tips for navigating accommodations
Reach out as soon as possible! SDS processes requests throughout the quarter, but not during breaks. Requests made during the last two weeks of the quarter will be reviewed the following quarter.
Don’t be afraid to ask for accommodations not listed on the SDS website
After applying once for accommodations, you can apply for additional accommodations, reapply for accommodations, and appeal a decision from SDS
You can copy your parents and/or advisors on emails (with their permission) to SDS! You can also request an in-person meeting with SDS and bring your parents to help advocate for you.
Share knowledge! Talking to students about disability and experiences with accommodations can help you navigate SDS. You can also reach out to SDJ(see below).
Employment: You can get accommodations as an on-campus employee through a similar process as SDS! The database askjan allows you to search by disability for a list of possible job accommodations.
Housing: You can get housing accommodations through SDS, but it may be easier to go through Housing. Contact your Resident Deans, Resident Heads, and/or Resident Assistants to help you get the housing accommodations you need.
Transportation: CTA buses and campus shuttles are wheelchair accessible. UChicago also has a transportation service for injured and disabled students called Dial-A-Ride, but you have to schedule this 48 hours in advance.
Medical bill assistance: If you need assistance with medical bills, the financial aid office probably won’t help you, but you can appeal to the hospital, appeal to your insurance, or reach out to the Center for College Student Success.
COVID-19
UChicago’s drastic mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, a mass-disabling event, has created further inaccessibility and exclusion. This includes barring professors and University-affiliated groups from requiring masks since 2022 despite no longer having virtual options and continual COVID surges. They have also ended COVID protections and testing access, including stopping reporting COVID data in March 2023. This forces students, faculty, and staff to choose between their safety and classes/work, and is a potentially lethal ask for sick and disabled individuals.
Long COVID is estimated to impact over 400 million people worldwide and can severely impair people’s ability to function. Not only does the University continue to contribute to long COVID through its lack of protections, but it has created no structures to support students, faculty, and staff dealing with it.
Wear a mask, and keep getting tested and vaccinated. Even if you stopped, it’s never too late to start again. As of September, we are currently in another COVID-19 surge, with viral levels in wastewater being “very high”. Our lives are not disposable, and you are not entitled to our deaths.
Get involved: Students for Disability Justice(SDJ)
The Students for Disability Justice RSO (SDJ) can also help you navigate SDS and is also working to make campus more accessible. They are currently focusing on pushing SDS and the College to improve the accommodations process, and they also help student groups better prioritize accessibility and disability justice. You can reach out by email at sdj.uchicago@gmail.com or @sdjuchicago on Instagram.
