The Access Radio Hour blends music by disabled artists and conversations about disability at Emerson. Hosted by Access: Student Disability Union's Vice President for Community, Greyson Acquaviva, this accessible radio show brings disability to WECB every Friday from 2-3pm EST.
The audio of this interview can be found here.
Greyson:
So, we are here with Harper McKenzie. Harper, tell me a little bit about yourself. Who are you?
Harper:
Yeah, sure. So, like I said, Greyson said, my name is Harper McKenzie. I use the she series of pronouns. I am a senior here at Emerson. I'm an IDIP major, so I study Creative Writing and Disability Studies. I’m from Dallas, Texas, which is actually where I'm currently studying ‘cause I'm doing my studies remotely this semester. Yeah, I think I think that covers it.
Greyson:
Yeah. So how you— you'd said— mentioned Access, right?
Harper:
I think I forgot that. I should have mentioned that. I'm the Co-Founder and President of Access Student Disability Union.
Greyson:
Right. Awesome. So how did Access come to be? What drove you to create an org that focuses on people with disabilities at Emerson College?
Harper
Yeah, sure. So, I am a disabled student myself. I'm autistic and have a couple other comorbid disabilities. And so, coming to Emerson, I knew that about myself, but there didn't really seem to be a space for students with disabilities at Emerson and I kind of spent my first two years sort of, you know, searching for a place on campus where I could find people that were, you know, experiencing the same and similar things to me. People who cared about disability, disability rights, Disability Justice, you know, creating a community of disabled people. And there really wasn't a place for that. And so, at the beginning of my junior year, when I stepped into the position of SGA, Accessibility what was then Commissioner that is now senator, it was sort of something on my mind of a project that we could, we could do something that we could do to create that space, you know, because at Emerson, we have plenty of orgs, for all sorts of things. And, you know, we have a lot of intercultural orgs for different marginalized identities, but there was none for disability. And so, I got connected with Zack Swasta, who ended up being our Co-Founder who had a very similar experience to me— came to Emerson couldn't find a space for students with disabilities and felt that desire and that need. And so, we got together and we sort of just started working on the org that would become Access. And we sort of put out the call to other students with disabilities who had had similar experiences to us. And we found quite a few people that were looking for a space at Emerson, that Access ended up becoming. So, we started last year, when I was a junior. And we've been we've kind of been just on the ground running Ever since then, just creating this space, building it up, you know, social media E-board weekly meetings, we've just been going at it trying to do some cool stuff.
Greyson:
That's, that's really cool. It's really amazing how Access came to be. That’s a really interesting story.
Harper:
Yeah, thank you.
Greyson:
No problem. So, what is Access doing currently? What things have they accomplished so far?
Harper:
Yeah, so I'll start with our accomplishments, run through a couple of things that we did last year. Sort of our crowning jewel— that I feel like I always come back to when I'm talking about Access with people— is the Accessibility push button that we got installed on the front entrance of the walker building. So, for the longest time, the front entrance of the Walker Building was not Accessible, there was no push button. And you know, if you know that entrance, it can be sort of crowded, and you know, it's a high traffic area, and there was no push button. So, it was pretty inaccessible for people with mobility needs that might need a push button. And so, we, you know, got that idea from one of our amazing members. And we worked pretty much all of last year to get that installed. And we worked with SGA and with, you know, President Lee Pelton. And by March of 2020, right before the pandemic hit, we got back to campus, and boom, there was a push button installed on that door. Which was, you know, just such a great like, tangible example of what happens when you get a community of disabled people together, working for advocacy, you know, trying to find ways to make Emerson a better place to be disabled, and, you know, make it just a better place in general. So that's, that's a big thing that we've done. But we've also been working a lot, you know, with SAS, to see if we can, you know, sort of streamline accommodation processes, and we've been working with administration to sort of bring disability consciousness to Emerson at lots of levels. And especially in the past couple of months with, you know, COVID, our lovely friend COVID, we've been working to ensure that, like the reopening plans, and the way that, you know, the flex plan works, and just all of this COVID related stuff is Accessible and that disabled students are thought about when these decisions are being made. So, it's, it's a lot of work and we really enjoy it and we feel very proud of the stuff that we've accomplished. And, you know, we're, we're working towards doing more, always. And so, this semester, like currently, we're having weekly meetings. we meet Fridays at 7pm. And we're, you know, just working on projects, like the push button, but you know, new and different things. There's always more ways to make Emerson Accessible and we're trying to be on the pulse point of that. And then just continuing to foster the community that we have. Because, yes, advocacy is a huge part of what we do. But you can't really do advocacy if you don't have a community behind it. And then it's also just nice to have disabled friends. Like it's so wonderful to be in a room with other people who have the same or similar experiences to you and be able to sort of, you know, commiserate in that, but also share in the joys and just be in a space where you don't have to worry about, like, being judged or not being able to be yourself. And so, we do a lot to like build community. So, like last year, we did like a game night, which was like, super fun to sort of get people together. And we try to stay active on social media too, so that there's, you know, a place on the social sphere that is Access. So yeah, and we're just, you know, keeping it going this year. So, I think—does that answer your question?
Greyson:
Oh, yeah, that perfectly answers that question.
Harper:
Beautiful.
Greyson:
I believe we covered a lot in that. Wow. So, I guess you talked a little bit about this, but could you talk maybe in more detail— what are the goals of Access?
Harper:
Yeah, no, that's a great sort of two-pronged question. Because I think we have a lot of like, macro goals, like big picture goals of just, you know, I mean, creating this space at Emerson for disabled students— which I feel like we've like low-key already accomplished. But we're always determined to continue to create and keep that space alive. Like we want Access to, you know, outlive our current membership. Like, we want this org to be here 10, 20 years, like, as long as Emerson's here we want Access to be a part of, like, the DNA of Emerson orgs. And so, we're really trying to, you know, found ourselves and root ourselves in that. And then I think we also, macro speaking, like, we want to just bring that disability consciousness to Emerson, like I said. And you know, so that's on all levels. That's within the, you know, community of students we have, but also in, you know, professors and faculty and staff and upper level administration—just from the top down and the bottom up. So that disability and Accessibility is just like always there on people's minds, because that's really the only way that we're going to have a more Accessible school and then we're going to work against ableism. So, there's a lot of big picture kind of stuff like that. But then, of course, we do have, like— micro seems like the wrong word, to call them micro goals. But you know, small, like concrete things that we're working on doing right now to further those bigger goals. So, one of our big, like, advocacy, Accessibility projects that we're working on right now, is trying to get audio cues in all of the campus elevators. So maybe you've noticed, if you're, like, on campus, when you go into an elevator at Emerson, chances are, the audio is going to be very different depending on which elevator you go in. Some of them are, like, totally silent, some of them beep with every floor that you're on, some of them tell you like, “fourth floor” or “going up,” “going down.” And we're really trying to get those to be consistent audio cues, so that students who need the audio cues to know which floor they're on, or if they're going up or down, all that kind of stuff can have a reliable way of using the elevators on campus. It's just one way to make elevators more Accessible. So that's a project that we're trying to work on. That’s been on our radar for quite a while now, but we're trying to, we're trying to get that going. And we're also like I mentioned before working with SAS a lot like right down to try to streamline accommodation processes and make it you know, function better. So, we're looking at creative ways to sort of, you know, work within the SAS system to allow people to understand what SAS does, because a lot of people just don't know, like, what kind of accommodations are available to them. Even if you've been working with SAS you might not know everything that you have Access to through SAS. And so, we're trying to work on those kinds of things.
Greyson:
Yeah, I definitely agree with you on a lot of that. These are important goals. Definitely need to try and be met, at least. So, why is it important that there be a student org— student led org—that focuses on advocating for disability rights at Emerson when there’s already Student Accessibility Services or SAS?
Harper:
Yeah, I think that's a great question. I think that even speaks to what I was saying about how a lot of people don't always understand how SAS works and what it does. So, SAS is a fantastic, you know, department at Emerson, a fantastic office. And their job is essentially to provide accommodations for students with disabilities, you know, who go to the office and say, “Hi, I'm a student with XYZ disability, and I would like accommodations— academic, housing, etc.” And then you work with whoever you work with it at SAS and you get your accommodation letter or your accommodation for housing and it all, you know, comes through that way. And that's a super, super important part of the process. Like, I couldn't get my education without my SAS accommodations, and that's the case for so many people. But being disabled is so much more than just accommodations. Not even every disabled student at Emerson uses SAS or needs to use SAS, because there's just so much more than that. Like, Accessibility is such a big topic that goes beyond SAS. And I think that, you know, SAS is so great, and we love working with them. And they, they would love to have like, a hand in every kind of disability related thing at Emerson. But the fact is, they're, like, three people and a grad assistant or two. They don't have the wherewithal to work on every single possible thing. And so, you know, we're trying to sort of be a part of some of that advocacy work and sort of work with them and have more people on this force to bring Accessibility to Emerson. And then the piece that is so important to me is that this is a student led movement. Like, the Disability Justice Movement is such a wonderful thing and it's, you know, led by people with disabilities. It's people with disabilities that made things like the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 possible, like these very big legislations that allow for disability rights were, you know, forged by disabled people. And so, we want there to be disabled people at the forefront of the Disability Justice Movement at Emerson. And so being students with disabilities, that's sort of a way that we can engage with that. And we can work with SAS and with administration to work on these advocacy projects and these Accessibility needs. But it's even more than that, because SAS is an office. It's, you know, three or four people that work for the college and help us get accommodations, but there's no like community aspect to SAS, it's just you go get your letter and, like, that's kind of the end of it. You know, so many of our Access members have been using SAS for years, but never met each other because that's not how the office works. And so, Access provides a space for disabled students to actually connect with each other. And, you know, I make this, you know, metaphor-ish of how, at the beginning, like before Access, we were like a disabled population. We were just like disabled people like scattered across the college and different majors and residence halls. And we weren't connected, we were just a population. But what Access aims to do, and what I think we have done to some degree, is we've turned a population into a community— people that know each other, that can connect with each other, that can work together, they can be friends, who can just like, hang out and have a good time, but maybe also do like, you know, creative projects together for like class, like work on a film together or something like that. And then also do the advocacy stuff, but having that community, you know, regardless of anything else is just so vital and exciting to me.
Greyson:
Yeah, I mean, you nailed that out of the park.
Harper:
*Laughs* I do study disability studies, like I said. So, like, this is, this is kind of— it's something that I study a lot and I'm very passionate about. So, thank you.
Greyson:
Really? I didn't know you study disability studies. That's actually really cool. Are the classes there really good?
Harper:
Yeah, I mean, I could talk forever about my IDIP— maybe we'll, we'll do that at some point on this here radio show. But yeah, I, you know, in my IDIP, half of my major is disability studies related courses. Which, of course, Emerson doesn't have a disability studies program or major. Which, you know, is something that we could even work on in the future of Access, to be honest.
Greyson:
Yeah, definitely.
Harper:
But, you know, I was able to find classes, like from the Communication Sciences and Disorders and Psychology, and, you know, a couple of different places in the college to sort of create, you know, some sort of disability studies thing for me to do. And it's been really great. Like, I've learned a lot. And Disability and The Media taught by Nancy Allen— it’s a pretty good class. That was a good one.
Greyson:
Nice. So, what's next for Access? You've been talking a lot about, you know, what have you been doing and all, but what really is next for Access?
Harper:
Yeah, no, this radio show is actually a pretty good answer to that. We have a couple of like, ongoing projects that we're sort of working on right now. One is like still kind of a secret. So, you should definitely stay tuned to our, like, Instagram page. We're probably going to announce a really cool event coming into the next few weeks. What are we on Instagram? Access_sdu?
Greyson:
I believe so, yeah.
Harper:
You should go check it out. So yeah, but this radio show is like a project that I'm really excited about that I think is totally like a “what's next for Access,” because we're really, we're trying to create content that we can put out into the Emerson world to sort of, you know— education and visibility are words that are sort of a part of our mission as an org. Like we want to create that space for disabled students you know, hold true to that so that we have a space we can go. But we also do want to be a part of the movement that is like fostering allyship, you know, for the non-disabled members of the Emerson community. And, you know, putting out a radio show like this, you know, having maybe some other forms of content on our website and stuff like that is going to hopefully be a really impactful way of doing that— of bringing disability even more out of the shadows and, you know, showing, showing this, all of this stuff that we're doing and talking about disability issues and Disability Justice, and just hearing from disabled students and putting this all out there so that people can, can learn and find out about something that they probably haven't found out about, which is really to no fault of theirs. You know, disability is sort of left behind in a lot of narratives, especially like social justice narratives. And it's really exciting to see that people are starting to, to, you know, to get here and start learning about ableism and Accessibility and all these things.
Greyson:
Right, I definitely agree that some interesting stuff. So, our last question for this amazing interview—
Harper: Thank you.
Greyson:
No problem. Do you have any advice for the listeners in terms of making sure their accommodations are met when they're attending Emerson College?
Harper:
Yeah, sure. I think this is such an important question. Because, you know, accommodations, like I said, are super important to, you know, the experience of getting your education, when you have a disability— not necessarily, but it can be super important. And I know that not everyone who needs accommodations, always gets them to the fullest existence that they need them, which, of course, is a complex issue, all on its own. But I would say that, I think empowerment is such an important piece of this have. I really want to empower any disabled student who's listening who needs accommodations to, like, fight for themselves, and to be able to, you know, take that self-advocacy and really push it forward. I mean, you're not alone. Like, it's not all on you to make this stuff happen. But it does start with you. And I think that can be sometimes a, you know, an intimidating thing to think about. But I think it's also really empowering, there's so much agency in the fact that you're the one that gets to decide, like how this stuff works for you. Like you get to go to SAS and say, “Hey, this is this is a problem I'm facing. And I want us to fix it together and find a way to make this accommodation work.” And that might be an idea that you come up with, that might be an idea that SAS comes up with, it might be a collaborative effort. Actually, I think that's one of the coolest things about SAS is working together to come up with creative solutions to issues and problems and challenges that you're facing. So, if I, you know— advice. Definitely reach out to SAS. They're here for a reason. They're here to serve you and to make sure that you have the education that you have every right to have. And, you know, you can also always reach out to Access. We're here to provide support and community as you're going through these processes. And if something isn't working, like, you have the power to do something about it, whether that's talking to Access, whether that's talking to SAS, or you know, even just starting with a conversation with a professor or an RA or something— you have resources, you have ways of going about this kind of stuff. So, I really hope that everyone can use their resources and knows that they exist, and that Access can be one of them, if that's what's needed.
Greyson:
Wow, that was a really good answer.
Harper:
Thank you.
Greyson:
No problem. I definitely feel like empowerment—it definitely does feel a sense of empowerment when you're able to fight for your, um, basically fight for your own education in a way. And I think that's one of the most greatest things about SAS. Um, I've definitely had a lot— I've definitely— it was definitely a shock to me coming into Emerson College. And used to be, you know, my parents would help me with the, with the, you know, with the disability stuff and make sure my accommodations were met and then all of a sudden, I was kind of put in this, you know, situation where I had to, I had to tell them, “hey, I need this accommodation, this accommodation.” And while I was a little nervous at first thing— it can be a little daunting. It was very empowering, when I was able to receive those, you know, accommodations. And I also encourage anyone who needs anything from SAS, or any accommodation to go talk to them, or you can talk to Access. We're happy to bridge the gap whenever we need to. And, and— this was this was a great interview. Thank you so much, Harper for coming.
Harper:
Of course! And thank you Greyson, for interviewing me and for sharing a little bit of your own story there. I think you had some really, really good words to say, so thank you.
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