Education is a right that should be given to anyone and everyone. The right to having an education is something that some of us take for granted, when it should be something we can all collectively appreciate and use to its fullest extent. Unfortunately, many people, especially young children or teens, are born with or develop disabilities early on, which make the process of getting an education difficult, along with other aspects of life. On top of this, the city has been delayed in improving the learning aspects of young people. A majority of schools and colleges don’t favor the disabled in how they’re run, how they’re built, etc. “New York is home to nearly 200,000 students with disabilities, and the delays have persisted since at least 2003, during former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, when parents first sued the Department of Education over them” (Closson). And in this pursuit of bettering education for students with disabilities, public schooling and colleges continue to improve and implement many services and programs to help make learning with disabilities efficient, inclusive and supportive.
The City University of New York offers some of the best programs in the country and is highly reputable in many aspects, such as sports, education, etc. One of these programs that are offered is aid and accessibility services to the disabled. Hunter College, being a CUNY school, offers a wide variety of aid to those who are disabled and need further assistance in education or as an educator. Hunter has their Office of AccessABILITY for disabled faculty and students to help enhance and make the university as accessible and inclusive as possible for all students and faculty. This resource at Hunter offers many additional services to ensure each area of need is targeted. The Office of AccessABILITY works in collaboration with other departments and divisions of Hunter to offer you the best resources.
Hunter’s Office of AccessABILITY has its very own section on Hunter’s main website where all its resources are offered. The main section of the website clearly states its mission, what the service’s goal is, and who it targets as the director of the office, Sudi Shayesteh. The website section is apparent and very easy to navigate. Their subsections, services, and programs are underneath their mission statement, all together in one list. At the very bottom of the list is their contact page for any further questions along with a schedule of their availability. You can contact them at 212-772-4857 or tgumbs@hunter.cuny.edu. From my experience using the provided website, I wouldn’t say I ran into any barriers navigating through the website. Everything was posted clearly for me to access. It still feels straightforward and simple for anyone to navigate through.
Two CUNY programs are offered throughout every CUNY school. All CUNY’s implement services in an effort to improve education for disabled students. “CUNY is deeply committed to ensuring equal access and opportunity for students with disabilities through innovative support programs, grounded in nationally regarded best practices in postsecondary disability services which support the academic success and personal development of students with disabilities” (CUNY). With this are programs offered through each CUNY. The CUNY LEADS Project and the CUNY Project Reach. CUNY LEADS helps people with disabilities make career-related choices post-education. And CUNY Project Reach is specifically targeted at students on the autism spectrum. This makes it clear that services like these that are offered at Hunter are also offered throughout CUNY universities. Both of these services are provided outside of Hunter’s main accessibility website on CUNY’s accessibility website.
However, as for actually physically getting these resources, it is quite a barrier in itself. Hunter’s Office of AccessABILITY is located at 1214B in the East building. That means that this office is located on the twelfth floor of one of Hunter’s buildings. Hunter college is a university located in the dense and crowded city, meaning the campus and the buildings itself are not spacious and can easily get packed. For students with any sort of disability, having to traverse through narrow hallways with swarms of students is absolutely not ideal for them. This applies for all sorts of education in New York City, both collegiate and public schooling. “Inaccessible school buildings have long represented a barrier for students with physical disabilities” (Zimmerman). The services offered for students with disabilities can definitely improve and aid one’s education, but when the campus is unchangeable and not in favor of students with disabilities, things are different.
Overall, the accessibility services offered at Hunter are shown to be very useful and offered in a wide variety. From offering help to students with hearing disabilities, to visual impairments, Hunter makes sure to provide a plethora of resources to better and enrich the learning for all of its students, despite the boundaries that may be present in the physical campus. With an easy to navigate website, with plenty of resources, Hunter college and its office of AccessABILITY is a reliable source.
