March 30, 2026 - 13:40
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Rethinking Campus Accessibility: Designing Customs Week Tours for Inclusion at Haverford College
March 30, 2026 - 13:40
Comments
Fatoumata! This is such an
Submitted by Alice on March 30, 2026 - 22:02 Permalink
Fatoumata! This is such an interesting paper! While I am not someone involved in customs (other than my own participation), I hope you can help make the change you write about! I especially liked the way you described the changes made to the tours as "reactive rather than intentional." I think this highlights what you describe correctly as an "afterthought". When I think back to my customs experience, the critical campus tour was easily one of the most unpleasant parts, despite my not having mobility issues. It was hot and humid, we were expected to be outside for 3 hours, and it felt like we never stopped moving. Even in the parts we were not moving, we were often in areas without any seating in the sun, and we were expected to listen to long lectures about the history of Haverford. While I think the campus tour is an important introduction to the relevant history of the college, I think there is room for a lot of improvement, which you highlight. I think customs needs to rethink the way it structures activities to better accommodate all students participating, in ways that ensure students' needs are not an afterthought.
Fatoumata this is such an
Submitted by amelia1736 on April 3, 2026 - 11:16 Permalink
Fatoumata this is such an incredible project! I think this was definitely an issue with the CCT. I know that the subcommittee tasked with modifying it tried their best to make it accessible, but the original design of the tour from Beyond the Bell was not initally designed with accessbility in mind. I think for this next custom's cycle that this tour needs to be redesigned from the bottom up with accessibility at the forefront. I think the interview part of the project was very insightful as it provides first hand experience with the inaccessibility of customs week. It is so important to forefront disabled voices and experiences so change can be enacted. I also liked how you utilized Jay Dolmage's concept of structural ableism as a framework to understand the issues with the CCT as well as customs. I think there needs to be a shift with the centering of acessibility in customs week as opposed to having it as an afterthought. This would be a good thing to share with next years customs committee! I also loved your suggestion for virtual maps and tours.
midterm comment
Submitted by grace on May 7, 2026 - 13:14 Permalink
I think this is really awesome (also knowing that you plan to continue some of this work!). Because customs is such an early experience for all Haverford students, this seems like an especially important place to start improving accesibility.
First, I think it was really helpful that this was grounded in your personal experience being a customs leader - hearing about this in class and in your written work for this project really made it clear how problems/area for improvement were being identified. In particular, I like how you point out that the language used for accesible tours during customs very clearly defines a "norm," and that many physically accesible routes on campus are not just another options, but a lesser or secondary one.
I also really appreciated how you included an interview with a Haverford student to make sure to include first-hand experience with wheelchair use on campus. I think this supplements some of the writing you include about ableism/access/theory and makes it clear how currently needed change is. I also think that you incorporated some of our class conversation about how accessibility in these tours will benefit everyone really well.