Our Impact
During the 2023-2024 school year, the HonorServes Accessibility team achieved its goals of implementing accessibility practices within HonorServes and creating a resource to help student organizations incorporate accessibility into their activities. Additionally, our team hosted two educational events. The first was the Lead Forward Luminary event with Mandie Greiwe, the director of the Disability Resource Center (DRC), who shared her personal journey of living with disabilities and emphasized the importance of accessibility as a shared responsibility. The second was the Accessibility Student Panel, which included three Disabled Purdue students who discussed the barriers they face in student organizations and explored potential solutions to help mitigate these challenges in the future.
In terms of engagement, 55 students participated in our events, which included two HonorServes Accessibility-specific educational events and one advocacy conversation with the DRC. For accommodation-specific implementation, 11 HonorServes meetings used live captioning, and two events utilized wheelchair-accessible transportation. Regarding published outputs, the HonorServes Accessibility team completed one accessibility resource guide, which has been submitted for publication on a Purdue University webpage, and has one manuscript currently in revision for the Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement.
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Lead Forward Luminary event featuring Mandie Greiwe, the Director of the Disability Resource Center at Purdue University.
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Student accessibility panel featuring three Disabled students, with live captioning services included during the meetings.
My Impact Story
During the first semester of the accessibility project, our team met with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at Purdue University to discuss the availability of accommodations for Disabled students in student organizations. Through this conversation, we learned that the DRC’s support is limited to academic concerns and does not extend to extracurricular involvement. This realization created a lot of internal reflection; not only on the limitations of the DRC, but also on the larger impact these limitations have on Disabled students.
It is important to recognize that these limitations are not the fault of the DRC as they have strict regulations and constrained funding. On the contrary, it is equally important to acknowledge that Disabled students are justified in expecting more from their university. All students pursuing higher education deserve the resources necessary to fully engage, not just academically but also socially and extracurricularly. To many students, the foundation of the college experience is connection. However, lack of accommodations in student organizations can isolate Disabled students from interacting with students who share their interests.
Understanding these barriers has deepened my commitment to expanding the scope of this project and initiating conversations that drive change. As part of our initiative, we are developing an accessibility resource guide to be published on a Purdue University webpage in Fall 2025 that will provide student organizations with practical, comprehensive information to implement accessibility effectively. Unfortunately, this resource is only one part of the solution. It is just as important to initiate outreach so that student organizations not only recognize their personal gaps in accessibility but also feel empowered to take action within their own spaces. Open, ongoing conversations around accessibility beyond the classroom is valuable to the success of this project and creating an inclusive culture at Purdue University.