Assignment #5: Portfolio Statement
These first few weeks at UW have been quite the wild ride. I’ve already changed my perspective major (from a Phycology and Spanish double major, to a major in LSJ with two minors), and done some serious growing. I originally thought that the type of personal growth I was going to do was going to be in the class room, but in reality, most of the growing I have done has had little to do with what I’m learning in my classes. Coming into The University of Washington, I thought I was pretty good at self-advocacy. Little did I know that in a few short weeks I’d have to use that skill a lot, and in that process, I’d improve greatly.
The first night that I stayed in the dorms, I was already on my way to improving my ability to advocate for myself. I was already a little nervous about spending my first night in my new place, and it didn’t help that I was woken up by the blaring sound of the fire alarm. Attempting to stay calm, I hurriedly plop out of bed into my wheelchair, and went to the door. As I pressed the automatic door button, I was very surprised (not in a good way) that nothing happened. I started freaking out a bit more at this point, but I took out my phone and called the RA on duty number that I had saved in my contacts the day before at our floor meeting. My call was answered by some computer-generated voice trying to take me through a list of options, but I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying over the ear-splitting alarm. After even more freaking out, the alarm finally stopped, and everything was okay, there wasn’t really a fire, but there was still something that was bothering me. Why hadn’t my door opened?
I brought the problem up to a few family members, including my mom, and the general consensus was to live with it, and that it was most likely some form of safety precaution, but I couldn’t do that. The next day I had a meeting with my RD, and I told her about the door problem, boy was she shocked. After a many calls, emails, and a meeting with some very important officials from UW’s health and safety department, it was discovered that almost all the automatic doors on campus needed to be rewired. Good thing I said something, rather than letting the issue just slide by.
Another place that I’ve really had to work on self-advocating is with Disability Resources for Students, or DRS for short. DRS is a great resource for students who have disabilities, and they do many amazing things, but not everyone has the same level of satisfaction. I knew plenty of other students with disabilities who were very happy with the services they were receiving, but for me, that wasn’t really the case. For the most part, DRS works really well for people who’s disability happens to fit within their premade categories, which mine does not. Because of this, I’ve faced some issues. After many meetings with my DRS councilor, I have started to see improvements. There is definitely room for growth, however, and I plan to work on that for the rest of my time here.
The last main test of my ability to self-advocate has been with the math department. I have a huge, international swim meet that is scheduled for the same day as my Math 125 common final, and for weeks now I’ve been working on a petition to take the retake. Initially my petition was not approved, but after a carefully written letter explaining my situation further, and explaining that the Paralympics and Olympics are an equal level of competition, the board approved my request. Calling myself the female, disabled Michael Phelps probably didn’t hurt.
All of these chances to prove myself weren’t accomplished alone. I used the interdisciplinary mindset to think through different ways to get through my problems. I talked to two of the honors advisors to help sort through my struggles with DRS and the math department. I talked to my swim coaches, got letters from the High Performance Director of the Paralympic National Swim Team, to help the math department understand the importance of the swim meet. I also got my boss come and help me talk to DRS about my issues. None of these things I could have accomplished by myself at the very beginning of this quarter.
This quarter, I’ve really learned how to look at a problems, assess my resources, and try to put them together in a way that will be the most beneficial, a skill that I hope to build upon, not only the rest of my time at UW, but the rest of my life.
