Laura Saavedra Forero ’25 and Eleanor Bolton ’25 joined Catalyze with scholar co-host Elias Guedira ’26 from the Scholar Media Team to talk about their call to activism for disability rights on the campus of UNC–Chapel Hill. The two also share about how Morehead-Cain Alumni can support disabled college students at Carolina through their advocacy, expertise, and other resources.
Laura Saavedra Forero ’25 and Eleanor Bolton ’25 joined Catalyze with scholar co-host Elias Guedira ’26 from the Scholar Media Team to talk about their call to activism for disability rights on the campus of UNC–Chapel Hill. The two also share about how Morehead-Cain Alumni can support disabled college students at Carolina through their advocacy, expertise, and other resources.
Laura and Megan Murphy (UNC–Chapel Hill ’23) were elected co-presidents of the UNC Campus Y for the 2022–2023 academic year this past spring. Eleanor serves as the co-chair of the Disabilities Advocacy Committee for the social justice hub.
The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. The ending song is by Nicholas Byrne ’19. Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram.
On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.
Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at communications@moreheadcain.org.
(Elias)
Laura and Eleanor, thank you so much for joining Catalyze today.
(Laura)
Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
(Eleanor)
Thank you for having me.
(Elias)
Laura and Eleanor, could you share with listeners your background in disability advocacy? What was your introduction to this kind of activism?
(Laura)
Yeah, thank you for that question. Basically, I used to be a really active individual. I was not disabled growing up, and I played soccer, ran cross country. And after an injury in 7th grade and multiple failed surgeries and complications and different diagnoses, I ended up in a wheelchair my senior year of high school. I did not expect to be in a wheelchair going into college, but it ended up happening. And so, I had been very involved in other activist efforts and endeavors particularly related to immigrant empowerment, environmental justice, and reproductive justice, but not necessarily disability rights and accessibility. I think my biggest wake up call into this realm of activism was when I came to college and realized just how many barriers. I used to be in a small bubble where it was just really my house and my high school, and you notice different things, but not to the extent where they’re inhibiting your safety. And so coming to UNC and seeing that there were other students who were going through similar things and accessibility challenges was the reason I started getting involved. And after getting stuck in my dorm for a couple of days was really when I think my accessibility advocacy kind of took off and has been more involved now than ever.
(Eleanor)
And I'm Eleanor. I’m also from the Class of 2025, and I was born with a genetic disease called spinal muscular atrophy. My brother and I both have spinal muscular atrophy, so we both use power wheelchairs to get around. I’ve been going to physical therapy my whole life, have had different surgeries, and now I kind of use a power wheelchair to get around every day. I use a lot of different mobility equipment in order to live independently, and I’m pretty involved on campus through the Disability Advocates Committee. It’s a really big passion of mine and has been for as long as I can remember. I’ve been advocating for my brother and I to be able to have equitable access to a lot of different public spaces and conversations. Things of that nature really need to include people with disabilities. So I’ve been advocating pretty much my whole life. But I’m really excited that UNC has kind of like a platform where students have kind of siloed this to be an important aspect of the experience at UNC. So we have a space to kind of share our experiences that are very alike and very specific to who we are and get to kind of build that advocacy within our group.
(Elias)
Thank you so much. How do you feel that your activism has evolved since joining the Campus Y?
(Laura)
I really think that the Campus Y has given me the community and the space to do a lot of work that I had been doing. I think I now have support from a large institution within the University, their staff, students, committees, and there’s even funds allocated towards activists’ endeavors. I think I have really been able to broaden my scope of what I do. Like I said, disability rights is something that’s relatively new compared to other forms of activism. I think I’ve really found my community and know that I can rely on people to host protests and actions or just create safe spaces where we can talk about these issues, and things aren’t necessarily just tried to put to the side. I think we really address them. And I think the Y is a great space to do so. I have also joined a couple of committees, apart from being on the executive board, so I’ve gotten to see it from the committee aspect, working on specific things like abolition, accessibility, et cetera. Or on the broader scope of focusing on all activist endeavors and supporting other folks who are doing things for UNC to grow to be a more accessible, inclusive, equitable place.
So I really think I’m just grateful for the space and what I’ve gotten because that was something I didn’t have in high school. I felt like most of it I was doing alone and relying on people, on having to reach out to people in the community. But here I feel like, you know, some of my closest friends are right there with me and they show up in support, including Eleanor.
(Eleanor)
Yes. Similarly, I think the Campus Y has really given us just such a great platform that is really inclusive, and everyone is able to share their perspective. And specifically with disability and disability activism, it is so important that every single perspective is included. So having the space in the Y that is an inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone to kind of share their perspectives, and then for us to kind of have that horizontal leadership which allow all to really help to implement helps us to kind of communicate and all feel like we have a place and a seat at the table, so we all are able to work on really big tasks. But also making sure we support one another. Making sure that we know what each other is up to, what our passions are outside of the Campus Y. So it’s really built like a great community structure that I’ve never had before. And I don’t think, had it not been for the Campus Y and the Disability Advocates Committee to be housed within the Y, I don’t know if that community aspect would have been there otherwise, so I’m very grateful for that aspect coming into later on.
(Laura)
Yeah. And just to add, I think that this really is the first time in which, as activists, I think you’re often siloed to just what your work is and your value being correlated to the work that you’re putting in and the hours. But I think here, it’s really been the first time which I’ve been valued as an individual before an advocate, an activist, an accomplice, whatever you want to call it. And I think that it takes a really special group of people for that to happen.
(Elias)
You both talk about finding your community in the Campus Y. Laura, you’re on the executive board now. Eleanor, you work in the Disability Advocacy Committee. Before you took on these roles, what were some events that you’ve organized and committees that you led to help improve accessibility policies?
(Eleanor)
So last year as a first year, it was actually really exciting to see the Richards Administration and the executive branch of student government—our student body actually created a separate piece of their DEI initiative to be specifically for accessibility services. So I got to work with a really awesome senior last year, and we both worked together to create some policies from the student government perspective. So we worked on things like digital literacy and how professors go about making digital assignments accessible and what those types of policies look like and what the support looks like for that, as well as, like, how to go about using language and diction to make sure that our words have a positive impact on the way disabled students see themselves. So we worked on a lot of policies within the digital space, and then I also worked both in the DAC—Disability Advocates Committee—and a different advocacy group for disabled students called Tar Heels at the Table, where we had a lot of meetings with executive people or people of power on campus. So we met with the lead architect of the campus to kind of understand what was going on behind the scenes and how the campus isn't accessible and what are the funding opportunities to make it more so accessible in the future.
We also talked a lot to a lot of, like, Vice Chancellor Amy Johnson; Kevin Guskiewicz we talked to a lot last year about so many different instances of inaccessibility that we both experienced. So we had a lot of really tough conversations, and I’m excited to see those be kind of like built upon or be the building blocks for further action this year. And then towards the end, I’m going to let Laura talk about this part, but we actually had a really, really important protest, which was super cool. So I’ll let her talk about the Y’s role in that.
(Laura)
Yeah, I think for me, Tar Heels at the Table was also one of the main spaces. I was invited, after expressing some of my concerns kind of early on in the year about accessibility or lack of accessibility on UNC’s campus that was published in the Daily Tar Heel, and then I also was involved with First Year Council, which is a way in which first years can really understand their role in activism at UNC and in the greater Chapel Hill community, and so started bringing those conversations more deeply into the Campus Y, and that has definitely evolved after being elected co-president of the Campus Y late last spring. And then as we started our term, Eleanor is also on the executive board. So we’ve been really working on making sure that all spaces, both the physical space, but also more of the metaphorical space, be accessible to everyone. I’ll say that after an incident that took place in February where I got stuck in my dorm, it gained a lot of media traction, making it to the Today Show, et cetera. And after that, I also started having a lot of different conversations. I worked directly with the executive director of Carolina Housing to ensure that we have a plan forward for all students who use wheelchairs to be able to have ground floor rooms and dorms and have even gone on tours with people of power and ADA directors to try and explain what isn’t and is accessible. Because one thing is ADA, but that’s the bare minimum, and that doesn’t necessarily make it accessible to all students. So I also agree that these conversations have sort of really been brought up. I think our first year, Eleanor and I did a lot of work trying to get ourselves out there and our experiences, in order to make a greater difference and make it more accessible and not have future disabled students at Carolina have to go through some of the things that we went through.
(Elias)
You mentioned a couple of times being trapped in your dorm room. Could you unpack that for us?
(Laura)
Yeah, I’ll give a brief rundown. It was definitely a traumatic experience, but basically in late February, the Koury elevators—Koury residence hall is where I was living and Eleanor was also living. I was on the fourth floor, Eleanor was on the third. The elevator went out of order, and what initially was going to be a couple hours to repair ended up being three to four days. Obviously, that’s not ideal for anybody, but for us who physically could not get out of the building without the elevator, this posed a safety risk. I had to get evacuated by the EMT group with the use of a stair chair and go down three flights of stairs. Basically imagine like a box being taken down in a cart, and that’s pretty similar to what the experience was. I’ll let Eleanor touch on her experience, but then I had to move into an empty dorm. It used to be an isolation dorm, but it was completely empty and maintenance was being done, and my mom had to come live with me on campus for about a week until we could get everything situated. And I made it clear that I wanted a ground floor room for this incoming year and also to finish my freshman year. And unfortunately, that was not granted. Apparently there were just not the rooms, and they could not make any other student move even if they were not in need of the accessible room on the ground floor. And so I ended up being moved to the second floor of Koury because I guess one flight of stairs was better than three, and then had to fight for months in order to get a ground floor room for my sophomore year. I’ve been working with Carolina Housing, trying to get something implemented where all students in wheelchairs can get access to ground floors. But ultimately I shared my experience of being trapped on social media, and it sort of blew up, and the media started reaching out, and this experience was shared all over the country. And I did it because I didn’t feel like I was being heard by UNC, and I wanted to make sure that students knew what the reality was going in and also to hope that this was going to push UNC to want to make more long-lasting change in order to better suit all of its students.
(Eleanor)
Yeah, so similarly to Laura, I was also on the third floor of Koury in an accessible dorm there. And I woke up on Saturday morning, and I had plans to go to brunch with my friends, and the elevator wouldn’t work. So I called someone, and I was like, “Hey, I don’t know if this is an issue, but do you all happen to have a plan?” And they were like, shocked, there was no plan. Which obviously, when you’re a freshman and you’re moving in, it’s in the back of your mind since you have a disability, but you always think, well, probably there’s a service elevator or there’s some sort of plan, but there was absolutely no plan whatsoever. And further, like, no one checked in on us to make sure we had water, food, basic necessities that one would need to live in a ten-by-ten room for three days. So thankfully, we both have really great friends and a really great support system here who brought us everything we needed and were able to support us. But we did find out that Saturday that it wasn’t going to be fixed until around Thursday morning. So obviously that’s an unimaginable amount of time if you’re asked to just sit in a room by yourself, not being able to go to classes, not being able to go to events, things like that. So my dad actually drove here. He brought a backup wheelchair that I had from when I was seven. And then my dad actually carried me down the stairs of Koury and put me in my really old small wheelchair, and then I went to my friend’s apartment to kind of wait out this serious incident. So ultimately, I think it just opened both of our eyes to how undervalued and just not thought of in the way that is respectful or even just fulfilling basic human rights. It was just really a horrible experience and not anything anyone should ever have to experience their freshman year. So I hope that through this experience, while we had it, no one a) has to have it again, and b) we can hopefully create change to where this type of incident is never given to a teenager who is asked to then navigate such a horrible experience.
(Elias)
I personally cannot imagine how terrifying or demoralizing that experience must have been on your guys’s parts. And I am glad that you guys are taking steps to make sure that nobody ever has to feel something like that ever again. Last year, you both organized a demonstration on the last day of class to raise awareness about current accessibility policies and injustices. Over 200 students attended. Can you explain what it was like to lead an event of this scale and how it felt to experience such an outpour of support from the community?
(Laura)
So ever since the incident occurred, I had been reached out to by many folks on campus, and I think that the UNC students ended up being like the most supportive group of people during this time. As to what can we do to support, how can we help? Obviously, in the immediate, there were people reaching out and willing to bring me food and bring me things that I may need, but in the long run, they wanted to do more, and obviously I knew I wanted to do more. So what began as a lot of one-on-one meetings with different individuals in the University and Carolina Housing, went into something much bigger once I was elected co-president of the Y. Knowing that accessibility was something that we wanted to prioritize, we decided that a form of direct action was going to be something that we wanted to do before we left, because something that I’m very intentional about is not letting the momentum die down. And unfortunately, that happens a lot with these issues. When an incident occurs, there is a lot of support for about a month, and then it seems like everyone forgets. But we don’t forget. We’re still here and still dealing with the same problems.
And so we decided to put on an event that was called Carolina for Everybody. The idea of everybody and every single body was emphasized. And basically the beginning of the action was a space where we shared our experiences. We sat on the floors of South Building because we wanted to be seen, and we wanted to make sure that we were visible. And so we sat and we told our stories, we expressed our frustrations because a lot of these issues have been things that we’ve brought up for years. Alumni came and were expressing that these were things they were fighting for, and that was really eye-opening to see when is there going to be actual, tangible, long-lasting change if there’s been students who have been doing this for so long. So we’ve had a ton of students show up, a lot of folks. We had like an open mic where folks could come and express their thoughts and their feelings, not just the organizers. And then what we did was we had put signs inside South Building that told them that we were going to be at both of the non-accessible entrances of the building, physically blocking the spaces, and that we would appreciate if in an act of solidarity, the folks in South Building would take the one singular accessible entrance in and out of the building. And so we had folks who were blocking the doors in order for everyone to have to be very intentional about seeing how we have to navigate every single day, knowing that a lot of these entrances aren’t labeled, aren’t pointed out. If the elevator were to break, then what would happen? And that’s what we have to think about often, and not just think about because it’s been our reality and we’ve had to experience it. So we just wanted folks to really understand that our experience is a real one and it’s a lived one and that it is a commodity to be able to use all five entrances of a building. And we really appreciated the students who stayed out there for hours, as well as the folks who shared their stories, and were just willing to come up to us and thank us for what we were doing because we don’t do this work to be thanked, but it is a lot of work, and it is difficult being not just a full-time student but a full-time self-advocate and then greater advocate for all disabled students.
(Elias)
I think that what you guys organized was really cool and brave, and I’m glad that you were able to recruit such a large portion of the student body to get involved and raise awareness about these issues. What was it like going from being a first year on campus to kind of being thrust into a role where you had to speak about so many issues in the media spotlight?
(Laura)
I’ll definitely say it was challenging because first of all, I felt like I had to do a lot of what I did in order for future disabled students to not have to do it. But I don’t think I necessarily had the capacity to do all of that. I had a pretty heavy course load and was involved in a lot of different things but also dealing with a lot of medical issues myself and going on trips, and all of a sudden, I am getting all of these folks from media reaching out, but also folks from administration that I had once talked to now want to reengage. And yes, I’ll definitely say it was challenging, it was not an easy thing. A lot of, the event that took place definitely affected me a lot as an individual. And so having to go straight into all of these interviews and not really even have time to process it myself was a lot. I will say I’m really grateful that I had support from different people, including Eleanor, who just understands the degree to which these things can affect you and understands just how important the advocacy is to avoid future conflicts and future problems, was really helpful and what actually helped me get through and also my family. They came and literally had to physically move me out into a separate dorm and move me back in. So there have been people that made it a lot more bearable, and I think I really grew throughout the process, and I learned who my true allies and accomplices were. And so as difficult as it was, I do think that it was an experience that opened my eyes to a lot of different things and ultimately led to this campaign of Carolina for Everybody, which we’ll touch on.
(Elias)
Laura, thank you so much for opening up about your experience. I wanted to follow up about that and ask how Morehead-Cain supported you throughout this process?
(Laura)
I think it was really more so the individuals and the community that I have within the Morehead-Cain that allowed me to get through. Like obviously some of my closest friends, having Eleanor’s support, and then some of the advisers, just to be able to talk to them about it, rant, and open up conversations about accessibility within the Morehead-Cain Foundation, not just in the greater UNC. I think there’s a lot of overlap, and things that need to be done and can be done. Eleanor and I are the first wheelchair users who have been scholars, and so there has been a lot of learning involved for Morehead-Cain staff and obviously for us. And so at least them being willing to have me share my experiences and talk about things that we can do to improve was really helpful because sometimes when talking to bigger institutions and talking to the University, it was really difficult to get through and sometimes felt like you were talking to nobody because there’s so many different people that you have to share your experiences to. So yes, I think it was really having that sense of community and having this space be one where I do feel welcome in and being part of that because I think that’s an important thing, is making sure that disabled students are actually part of the conversations was crucial.
And so I think that last year served as a really big learning experience for all of us at the Foundation, including my closest friends. A lot of them weren’t aware of things until they were with me and realized the different challenges. And so I look forward to seeing over the course of my four years what else we can accomplish and how we can make the Morehead-Cain Foundation and all of its programming as accessible as possible.
(Elias)
Well, I am glad to have you here, Laura. Eleanor, you touched base on UNC policies using exclusive language. Could you elaborate on that? And where do you see room for improvement?
(Eleanor)
Yeah, so as a staff member for the executive branch of UNC’s Student Government last year, I had the opportunity to collaborate with a lot of UNC leaders about what policy looks like. And we noticed that a lot of rhetoric around disabled students was either not totally holistic, so different things that constituted a disability or an accommodation, or the ways in which students get accommodations and the language around that was pretty exclusive. Or they would use person first language, which is basically saying a person with a disability instead of identity first language, which is disabled person. And a lot of people with disabilities do prefer identity first language, such as myself, I do like to use disabled person instead of person with a disability. That’s just what I’m more comfortable with. So when people specify they prefer identity first language or they prefer a certain title with their disability, the University policy was not always respectful of that or would not be totally encompassing of their disability when it comes to accommodation. So different language like that is such a minute detail that you may not think about, but it is so important in the inclusivity of people with disabilities and making sure that every single person on campus feels like this is their community and a place that accepts them.
(Elias)
It’s amazing to think that something so small can have such a large ripple effect on the community. So thank you for sharing. Laura, the Campus Y is home to over 1,500 students, 30 committees and organizations. What is it like to represent such a prominent body on campus, and what values do you strive for in your administration?
(Laura)
I try and tell myself that I don’t represent the Campus Y, I’m just a really small part of it because I think each individual who is a part of the Campus Y is what ultimately constitutes the organization as a whole. And so that includes staff, students who engage with our programming, committee chairs, folks involved in the different programs such as the Bonner Leaders Program, Global Gap Year, our Social Enterprise Innovation Team, et cetera. So with that being said, I think that the biggest thing when I was elected was the idea that we wanted to go in and make sure that each person was valued as an individual. I think our community went through a lot of collective burnout and trauma last year, especially as first years with the suicides on campus, and so we wanted to make sure that instead of just saying that we wanted to prioritize mental health and wellbeing, that we actually did certain things to express that. Previously campus-wide exec and the executive board was formatted in a hierarchy, and now it is more of a horizontal leadership. We want to make sure that each individual feels like they can share what they want to share. You don’t need to be siloed into a really specific role, and that your capacity can vary on a week to week basis and nothing is going to fall apart because of that. Because ultimately if you can’t take care of yourself, you can’t give back to whatever group you’re working for or whatever project you’re working towards. So I’ll say that a lot of abolitionist principles were implemented with horizontality, the prioritization of the individual, and also that accessibility played a really big role.
The other co-president, Megan, is also disabled, and we both realized that the space that the Y has is crucial and really important, and it wasn’t always as accessible as we wanted it to be. This is both in the physical and metaphorical sense. So in the physical sense, we have been working to implement, for example, like wellness rooms, making sure that furniture is accessible because previously the tables had been high tops, and that’s not accessible to folks in wheelchairs. So it’s these smaller things that you don’t necessarily realize are a problem until you’re the one going into the space or not even being able to go into the space. And so we’re creating these smaller things that to folks with disabilities, they’ll be the ones who realize and recognize it and appreciate it, and hopefully the greater community does as well because if everybody can be included, then it’s a benefit to everyone, and then in the metaphorical sense, it really does go back to the whole idea of fluctuation in capacity and that tends to happen a lot with folks with chronic illnesses like myself. I can’t always predict how I’m going to feel one day, and so knowing that there’s a group behind me that knows how to do different things and can pick up some of the work, or being okay with taking a break, I think that’s something that we have really picked up. And if one week it feels like everybody’s low capacity, then we don't need a tight agenda, we can move on, we can talk and make the space something that feels right for us as individuals. So really, everything has been done very intentionally with the idea that we need to be okay in order for us to continue giving and continue working and being activists and advocates.
(Elias)
And do you feel like you've begun to see the effects of these changes that you've implemented or the fruits of your labor?
(Laura)
I’d like to think so, but obviously it is going to take a longer time since this is a larger institution. Any change in power is going to create a little bit of instability, a little bit of uncertainty. I think we’ve gotten over a big hump of that. And our executive board seems to be working really well together. I think folks feel comfortable sharing whatever they want to work on and knowing that if they share it, they don’t necessarily have to be the ones who have to put in all of their time and effort, because we’re all together and we’re all a community. I’ve heard from different individuals personally that they appreciate what has been done and don’t necessarily feel like this is a burden or this is another role, but more of like a space where they feel rejuvenated and can continue growing individually and helping other folks grow. And so I’ve personally seen it, and knowing that we’ve been able to implement some things that haven’t been done since years before COVID has been sort of a big thing. So getting back to direct action, for example, was something that folks didn't have capacity for and that was totally fine. But now realizing that we’re in a time and a place where we’re sort of getting back to these things has been eye-opening, and I’d like to think some of it is attributed to the changes that were made by the co-presidency.
(Elias)
Awesome. Going outside of the Y, what are some physical barriers that exist on UNC campus that affect disabled students? And how are you playing a role in mitigating these barriers?
(Eleanor)
So with UNC’s accessibility, it’s actually very dependent on when things were built, what laws apply to them. However, a lot of it is actually a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as the 504 Plan. So these things have been implemented for about 45 years now, and so everything should be up to date, and disabled students should be able to access any and all resources that the school has to offer, including buildings, including programs, including just any type of extracurricular. Like, all of that falls within the umbrella of the 504 Plan, which was enacted over 40 years ago. So it’s really important that we advocate for the physical structure to be more accessible, since that is what Laura and I are most familiar with. So that’s kind of where we’ve been focusing. That doesn’t mean that we don’t focus on other areas, too. It’s just we try to uplift the voices that are more applicable or have experience to those different issues of accessibility.
So with the physical accessibility, classrooms are very inaccessible in certain buildings. My first day of class, actually, this year, I couldn't get to my Spanish class because two elevators were out in the same building, and no one told me that this was going to be an issue. No one told my teachers, so my teacher thought I was absent. So it’s a huge issue, and you can imagine how that makes a student feel. As far as inclusivity, obviously you feel as though you're not wanted or needed on this campus when you can't even get to your class on the first day of school. So things like that are very, very imperative to making sure that disabled students are included and also experience an equitable and meaningful education. That’s why we’re all here, and that's kind of what we all deserve.
So that’s the main thing that we’ve been focusing on right now, are the classroom accessibility. There’s over $45 million worth of maintenance that needs to be done on elevators on campus. So that’s really important to advocate for. And that funding comes from the state legislature. So it’s a very convoluted process, very hard to get funding for, but it is our civil right to access these buildings and to access our educational resources that we do come to the school for. And since disabled students, I like to say, really contribute so much to this University as far as our ability to problem solve, our ability to overcome adversity, all of those things are such important resources to this University, and we make it stronger for that reason. So it’s very frustrating when we’re kind of undervalued in a sense of, like, not being given the same opportunities in an equitable manner. So we’re focusing a lot on the educational field.
We’re also focused a lot on housing. Housing, obviously, is a lottery. And I touched on was a really important issue for us last year. Being stuck in our dorm for three days was not ideal, and, you know, that’s also very illegal. So making sure that we advocate that these are not only violations of rights, but they actually have a very serious impact on the ways in which we see ourselves and our space in this community. So making sure that we do not give up or relent, you know, when it’s a serious, serious, important issue, specifically on this campus. And we always also keep in mind kind of like, who’s coming in after us. And so every time we’re tired and there’s so much advocating to do on this campus, we always try to think about who’s going to be coming in after us and the legacy that we want to play.
(Laura)
And I’ll just add, there's some things that folks don’t necessarily even think about. Sporting events. I am a very big Tar Heel fan, but a lot of sporting events aren’t accessible. There’s very few times in which I’ve ever been able to sit in the student section. Things like the dining halls are not accessible. It’s really difficult to navigate that in a wheelchair. We had to go on a tour that lasted over an hour, just pointing out what was accessible and what wasn’t. And I think sometimes UNC wants to put a Band-Aid on a bullet hole, but that’s not going to work, and it doesn’t work for us. Once, we went in, and we went to the tour, and there were these new accessible stickers on some tables, and we were obviously really interested because I hadn’t seen them previously. And then, unfortunately, the ADA director had to tell them that those tables were in fact not ADA accessible, so we are not able to use them. So housing and education are some of these big factors, but Carolina promised us an equitable experience. Carolina for All was something that they really emphasized and really expressed, and then coming here and realizing that we can't take part in a lot of traditions. For example, the Bell Tower when you’re a senior. Or even the Old Well, we’ve worked really hard this past year on trying to get a ramp installed. Things that make your Carolina experience complete that we don’t get to be a part of. And so making sure that these small details that seem small on the outside and that we tend to put up with, but over time they build up and really impact the experience that you have as a student are also things that we’ve made sure to bring to the table and want to emphasize and resolve.
(Elias)
How do you believe alumni can engage with UNC to improve its accessibility?
(Eleanor)
So this is actually a really big thing that we’ve been looking into recently because we’ve had some conversations with different disability rights activists across the country, and we’re really looking at ways in which we could implement a more equitable experience at UNC. And we talked a lot about how we just do not, as college students and teenagers, have the resources or the knowledge of what our rights are, what can be done about them, how we go about implementing radical change on this University’s campus to make sure that we’re included in a meaningful way. So I think not only from an advocate and an activist role that the alumni have a place in, but also just making sure that if you are an alumni with certain resources, such as understanding civil rights or education, and how the different mechanisms in the bureaucratic system within both of those work. If you have any knowledge in both of those, those are really important pillars that we just cannot supplement ourselves, and we really do not have the capacity to do. But we would really appreciate if alumni who have vast experience in these fields—and I know a lot of Morehead Alumni specifically do—if they had the resources or the time to have these important conversations with us and with UNC leadership, it would not only mean so much to this current student since we are currently at UNC, but also to the students coming in, and what we kind of want Morehead and UNC to look like for disabled students in the future.
(Laura)
Yeah, I agree. And I think that just touching on, you know, if there is financial support, pushing the University a little bit on being intentional about making sure that whatever this is going towards includes disabled students. I think it’s really easy to forget that we exist, but we’re here, and we hope that this makes it clear that we’re here, and we want to do so much, and we want to contribute, and we are contributing, but yeah, some of the resources we don’t have, and so in whatever capacity that looks like, just making sure that disabled students are going to be included in whatever role you provide.
(Elias)
My final question for you both. What do you view as the most impactful aspect of your work?
(Eleanor)
I think the most impactful aspect of our work has been when we’ve been able to make those connections that are really important to the student body. So when we did Carolina for Everybody, it was so cool to hear the impact after the fact. I just had a conversation in the Disability Advocates Committee about the event, and if we wanted to do something in the future like that, and everyone’s response was like we’ve never felt so seen by the University, we’ve never felt like so just loved by this community, or seen and valued. So that’s kind of like what we’re going for, and that’s what we want to make those connections in the future. So I think that’s hopefully the greatest impact when we leave here because we are both very futuristic in what we want this school to look like and what we want our impact to be. I think making sure that every single student is activated on this cause, and knows about it, and knows that how to make other disabled students feel welcome is to stand up for our rights and say, “This is a really important cause.” And then also having alumni connected as well to the story, hearing our story, hearing our experiences, and utilizing their resources to make this University better, is so important.
And that’s been really cool to see the professors and the alumni reach out to us and say, “How can I help?” Because that is so important, and we can’t do it alone. So making sure that we are making those connections that are so vital to increasing our impact is just the coolest thing ever, and being able to share our perspectives and having an impact from that is really awesome. So I’m really grateful to you guys for inviting us on, and I hope that we’ll be back with some cool updates in the future.
(Laura)
Yeah, I think in the short term, it has been those small tokens of appreciation or of love and support. The messages I’ve gotten on Instagram or emails from professors just thanking us, apologizing for what happened, things like that were really crucial to that time. It was a difficult time of having to meet with folks and basically trying to express to somebody why I deserve to have equal rights. We weren’t even going for equitable at that point. It was really draining. And so folks who were there to support meant the world, and I think that most impactful is just the idea that, in the future, no student will have to do this. And you can be a full-time student, be involved in whatever you want, but don’t necessarily have to be a full-time self advocate or have to go through three hoops just to get what everybody else gets. And so I think that idea and radical re-imagination of a campus that’s accessible for everybody is sort of what keeps me going and what makes me smile when the things in the accessibility world get tough.
(Elias)
Laura, Eleanor, the pleasure is all ours. Thank you so much for being here with us today.
(Eleanor)
Thank you for having us.
(Laura)
Thank you.