Staff Editorial:
If you’ve ever walked into a building on the AC campus, you’ve probably noticed the doors with the accessible stickers and their notable feeling of being heavy and hard to open.
These doors are part of the initiative to make all AC services and resources more accessible to those who experience disabilities.
Despite all the disability services that AC has implemented, we still have a long way to go both physically and emotionally.
We, the Ranger staff, want to challenge our readers to reframe their idea of disabilities and to consider using the mindset of diversity instead.
We understand that it’s human nature to see something we don’t understand and to feel a bit uncomfortable. This has been apparent with many topics: race, nationality, sexual orientation, culture, etc.
People who identify with each of these topics have had to work really hard to gain equality and acceptance in the name of diversity. We want to encourage you to think about disabilities from this same vantage point.
When you see someone in a wheelchair, it’s easy to describe the person based on their physical appearance and the preconceived notions about what they can, or can’t accomplish.
There are so many disability stereotypes and ideologies that have been passed down from generations before us that need to be dismantled. A person is not a handicap or impediment; he or she is a vibrant, unique, wonderful person who experiences a disability.
When we begin to view and treat people based on their unique values and worth, we begin to tear down the stereotypes that attempt to hold people back from meeting their full potential.
Believe that people can do great things. If you don’t, they probably won’t.
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