Disabilities are a part of life. Few people can deny this. The facts are that something as basic as movement is not the same for every person. Additionally, in college, movement is a necessity, and students, faculty and staff alike cannot afford to have their movement hampered. To make the situation a little easier, we have the Office of Disability Resources to assist people's various needs. There is no such thing as too much knowledge in assisting disabilities, and there is always something to improve when offering this assistance.
For this reason, Longwood University's Office of Disability Resources hosted an event called WALK-N-ROLL on Friday, April 6. Students and faculty members alike attended the walk as a symbolic means of demonstrating what Longwood does to assist disabled persons traveling across campus and what should continue. Starting in front of Stubbs Residence Hall, the walk circled around campus. The route's designation to be accessible was key to its purpose.
It included what Office of Disability Resources Assistant Director Lindsay Farrar called "places where people who use a wheelchair will be able to have an uninterrupted route, such as curb cuts and constant sidewalks." When the walk ended back at Stubbs, the participants collected in front of the residence hall to receive a sticker, various handouts and a pledge concerning the assistance and improvement of travel for people with disabilities. Farrar said the event's organization happened when she, Office of Disability Resources Director Maggie Butler and Office of Disability Resources Program Coordinator Cameron Patterson wanted to celebrate disability awareness through events during the month of April.
"First, we were trying to determine events that we could organize on a fairly short notice for Longwood University. So, we looked at what other universities do," said Butler. Butler noted, "We definitely had to consider the landscape of our walk to make sure it was accessible and inclusive for our participants and making sure that we had a time. We're considering a time for the next event and hoping that the weather would be excellent for the event." Butler spoke of the hope for direct collaboration with other Longwood departments for next year's WALK-N- ROLL. Butler stated, "We want to expand it next year to a walk, run and row so that we have longer distance like a 3K that people can walk, row or run."
Two participants, Sonja Ast and Office of Disability Resources Intern Sherries Campbell were also able to talk soon after. When asked what the importance of WALK-N-ROLL was, Ast said it was the "inclusive environment." She went on to say an important point of the walk was "getting everybody who's able-bodied and those with disabilities together." Additionally, Ast said she felt her involvement in WALK-N-ROLL had to do with "just be[ing] a part of something bigger than myself and just be[ing] with people who are able-bodied [in order to] think that I'm not different, that I'm on the same level as they are."
Campbell noted the event's importance to her was "to give awareness to disabilities here on campus [and] off campus." She also said her part in organizing the event was to do "a lot with administrative work as well as flyers, making copies [and] designing the pledge for it." Campbell also explained how she got involved as an intern, saying, "I'm a social work major and had to choose what I wanted to work on. So I worked on disabilities. That's when they contacted me and asked if I could work for the semester. And so other projects I've worked on were on autism, support groups for autism ... and the transition from high school to college level."
WALK-N-ROLL was an event worth attending. The cause was a well-known one and the simplicity of the event seemed to bring attention to the central issue: how people get from one place to the other. Perhaps next year, the size of the event will garner more attention and allow Longwood to know more about one of its more important projects.
