May 15, 2026 - 06:22
One thing that really stayed with me throughout this semester was how much my understanding of disability changed and deepened. Before this class, I thought of disability as accommodations or accessibility, like ramps, elevators, extended time, or things that help people “fit into” spaces that already exist. But over the semester, I started realizing that disability studies is not just about helping disabled people adapt. It is also about questioning why spaces, systems, and even ideas were designed in ways that exclude people in the first place. That shift in thinking probably impacted me the most.
A big theme that kept coming up for me was the idea of inclusion versus belonging. At first, I thought those two things were basically the same, but now I see they are really different. A place can technically be accessible and still not feel welcoming, enjoyable, or designed with disabled people in mind. I noticed this especially when thinking about sports, recreation, and public spaces. A lot of environments seem to treat disabled people like an afterthought instead of imagining them as part of the original design. That is something I kept thinking about in discussions, readings, and especially while working on my final project.
For my final project, I became really interested in camps and physical activity programs for disabled people. At first, I was just curious whether camps like that even existed, but once I started researching them, I realized there were so many different approaches. Some programs focus on competitive adaptive sports, while others focus more on recreation, therapy, or community-building. What interested me most was comparing how these camps define “activity,” “fun,” and even “independence.” Some camps seemed empowering and centered around freedom and confidence, while others felt more focused on supervision or care. That made me think a lot about how disability is framed in society. Are disabled people being encouraged to fully participate and lead, or are they just being accommodated enough to participate safely?
Creating my infographic made me think critically about these ideas in a way I had never done before. I wanted the project to be creative and visually engaging, but I also wanted it to say something meaningful. I focused on the idea that disabled people deserve more than just access. They deserve joy, fun, community, movement, and spaces that are actually built for them. I think this connected strongly to disability justice because it pushed beyond the idea of basic accommodations and focused more on dignity, autonomy, and belonging. I wish I could have gone deeper with the project and connected with camp counselors and looking more into smaller named camps.
Another thing that expanded my thinking was hearing from classmates and engaging with the CCW artists and exhibition. Seeing disability represented through art, storytelling, and lived experience made disability feel much more personal and human to me. It reminded me that disability is not one single experience and that disabled people are constantly creating culture, community, and creativity in ways that are often overlooked. I also appreciated how much discussion we had in class because I learned a lot from hearing other perspectives. Sometimes people brought up experiences or viewpoints that challenged my assumptions, and I think that was one of the most important parts of the class.
I also think this course changed how I look at everyday spaces now. I notice things I never paid attention to before, like whether a building is sensory-friendly, whether transportation is actually accessible, or whether disabled people are included in recreational spaces in meaningful ways. I started realizing that accessibility is not just physical. It is social, emotional, financial, and cultural too. Something can technically meet accessibility standards and still make people feel excluded.
Moving forward, I think I will take this perspective with me into future classes, my career, and honestly just my everyday life. I feel like this course taught me to question “normal” more often and to think about who is being centered in different environments. It also reminded me how important representation and design are. Whether I am thinking about schools, sports, workplaces, or public spaces, I know I will continue asking who these spaces are really made for and who might be left out.
Overall, I think this course helped me become more thoughtful, more observant, and more aware of the ways disability connects to power, design, identity, and community. It definitely changed the way I think about access and inclusion, but more importantly, it changed the way I think about people and the world around me.