Hello everyone, it’s been a while!
Today marks the one year anniversary of me dislocating my kneecap. I know it’s not something to celebrate about but it’s the reason why this petition exists in the first place. Due to that incident, it resulted in me being very physically limited for a period of time and I had to navigate around the campus on crutches. If you have been around the FASS campus, you would know that there are a lot of stairs and even the able-bodied would get tired from all the climbing to get from one block to the next - that’s what you get when your school is built on a hill, I guess. As someone who used to be just free to roam around without taking into consideration the infrastructure of the faculty, this experience opened my eyes to what people who are permanently physically-limited go through every time that they are on campus. It was due to that experience that I decided to create this petition with hopes that a difference can be made.
I decided to do some research about NUS and what has been done to help this population of students. I have met with a representative from the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) that helps students who have physical disabilities and I've learned about the different facilities and resources that are available to help these students. It is through that meeting with OSA that I also learnt that FASS is the faculty with the most number of disabled students, all the more making this issue more salient. The representative from OSA has also shared with me some of those students’ experiences as well as her experience working with them. On top of that, I’ve also spoken to some really kind individuals who have given me advice on resources that I can read up on and who I can reach out to better understand disabled-friendly amenities and facilities.
Tertiary education is a luxury and a privilege and if you're lucky enough to be able to have such an opportunity to embark on experience, being physically-limited does not mean that you should have any less of a fulfilling experience. The campus plays a huge part of the learning experience as it affects how mentally and emotionally present you are for your lectures or tutorials. From my experience last year, the navigation around campus was exhausting enough to affect my focus during my lessons.
It is through my experience as a Sociology student over the past 3.5 years that has changed my perspective about education and the inequalities in society. In an ideal situation, all of us would have equal opportunities when it comes to achieving our educational goals. However, in reality, there are barriers that we have to overcome and sometimes these barriers are embedded in the structure. Having a faculty that does not have a wheel-chair friendly environment is one such barrier that hinders disabled students from having the most fulfilling educational experience. I highly encourage you to read up about the Social Model of Disability to get a better understanding about how systemic barriers can make life harder for disabled people. It is through the removal of these barriers that schools can offer disabled students more independence and opportunities to have a better learning experience.
I actually planned to submit this petition last semester but due to the unfortunate circumstances with COVID-19, I assumed that the focus of NUS would be on navigating the pandemic. I decided to postpone the submission of it till this semester when things have settled down. With that being said, I am happy to update everyone that the Office of Facilities and Management has reached out to me and I’ll be meeting the directors next Friday to discuss ways to improve the faculty’s infrastructure. I look forward to updating everyone with the outcomes of the meeting!
Lastly, I want to take this time to thank everyone for signing this petition. When I set up this campaign, getting 100 signatures was already a huge achievement for me. I never expected it to gain this much traction and for so many students to share such similar sentiments. Your support plays a huge part in making a change in the university.
I'll probably close this petition once the report is done up in early December so till then, if any of you would like to contact me regarding advice or ideas that you would like me to raise up to OFM, you can email me at samanthalek@u.nus.edu! In the meantime, take care and stay safe!
Yours Sincerely,
Samantha