Ros, Slavic Languages and Literature PhD Student, UC Berkeley
“I chose to attend UC Berkeley over a wealthy peer institution because none of the faculty who interviewed me here broke federal law in the process. This was exciting for me, accustomed as I am to near-constant frustrating, humiliating, and sometimes hilariously funny violations of my legal rights as a disabled worker in academia. The initial euphoria I felt at the clearing of that distressingly low bar, however, dissipated on contact with the day-to-day reality of UCB vs. My Body.
Example: the overhead lights in the building where I teach are old and outmoded. The flickering screws with my damaged nervous system. I currently take five different drugs— and one biologic injection— to manage the pain, nausea, and vertigo I face every time I show up. The “reasonable accommodation” I got, after months of expensive back-and-forths with my neurologist for medical documentation (which the law does not require, but our contract does!): the boss has graciously agreed to let me wear sunglasses inside. Which I was already doing. Wow. Thanks.
Situations like mine are common, and filing individual grievances that don’t even set a legal precedent for others is not enough. Any worker can become disabled at any time— especially with covid in play. To be safe at work, we all need a contract that will actually force the boss to update the [expletive] buildings— lights, ventilation, and all. This contract doesn’t do anything for me. I’m voting no.”
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“I suffer from Madelung’s Deformity, a condition that causes significant chronic pain and limited mobility in my wrists. Since starting my PhD program, I have had two major reconstructive surgeries of both wrists. I am lucky enough to work in a department that is extremely accommodating and understanding of my mobility limitations and access needs. For example, when I was working as a GSI, my department hired an undergraduate student aide to assist me with managing physical aspects of the classroom, such as writing on the board, setting up the projector, and rearranging desks. Unfortunately, a few weeks into the semester, the undergraduate stopped coming to the class. When I notified my supervisor, they shrugged and did not offer a solution.
During midterms, I experienced a major pain flare-up and asked my supervisor for a reduced grading load. The instructor accommodated this request, reducing my grading load by 80%; however, they assigned me additional non-grading tasks to “make it fair” for the other GSIs, which ultimately resulted in me working beyond the 10 hours/week I was paid to work and exacerbated my flare-up even further. To be clear, I do believe my former supervisor and my department are well-intentioned. I am very grateful for the support they have been able to provide despite limited official guidance from the UC around disability access and no required supervisor training on disability. In the summer of 2021, when I expressed that certain aspects of our building made it inaccessible to me, the department quickly secured a grant to fund needed repairs and construction. However, it has now been over 1.5 years and no progress has been made, and I continue to avoid coming to campus as much as possible to prevent debilitating pain flare-ups.Â
My student evaluations at the end of the semester were below my department’s average. One of the most common criticisms I received was that I didn’t write on the board enough and that writing out the equations on the board would have been more helpful for their learning than glossing over equations in a PowerPoint. I totally understand this criticism, and it makes me feel even sorrier that my student aide stopped showing to class and that there was no accountability/policy in place for securing a new one to help my students learn better. The consequence of this was not only debilitating pain flare ups that slowed down my own research/degree progress (which is already delayed due to needing major surgeries), but also restricting my opportunities to be hired as a GSI going forward due to poor student evals that will stay in my record forever. “Explaining away” negative student evals in future interviews is not easy when it involves having to disclose your disability, which can be grounds for experiencing further discrimination.
I believe it should not be up to individual departments to implement access needs policies or come up with the funding to make campus buildings ADA-compliant. Further, supervisor training around disability access and central funding for access needs from the UC would have mitigated all three of these harmful situations. I am deeply disappointed by the removal of the Access Needs and Public Health articles from the UC-UAW bargaining table, as these would have prevented me from experiencing significant harm in the future.”
“All of our demands in our contract, better wages, childcare funds, and more disability resources for grad students are important. This fight is about students having basic dignity. I have a heart condition and getting medical documentation for it to get disability protections has been a nightmare. This campus has many accessibility issues as well because of its geography, I can’t imagine how it would be to navigate it here if you are a student with a wheelchair or other severe mobility issues. The bargaining teams at other UC schools have been willing to squash the disability protections article of the union’s contract, but at UCSC we are not backing down. This fight is not just about the UC, this fight is about ensuring better conditions for workers nationwide. As a historian, I know that our solidarity and actions here will impact every grad student who comes after us, and we are responsible for building a better future. Being here on the UCSC picket line has made me very interested in joining more labor activism efforts to help those who need it the most”
