APRIL 17, 2026 CAMPUS Disabilty Revolution Club at EMU PRIYA KOTHARI Groundcover contributor Eastern Michigan University offers a variety of clubs. These range from academic clubs to organizations like the dance team. Student clubs help bring students with similar interests together to create friendships and create communities. This includes students with disabilities. During the 2024 school year, the Disability Revolution Club was created by EMU students Willamina Churchill-Torres and Autumn Persinger. As noted in the club's mission statement, “We are creating the Disability Revolution club to allow a safe space for people with disabilities and disability allies. Our biggest goal is to create a community of people who all believe in disability advocacy. We hope to spread awareness and inclusivity through educational discussions, meetings and social media posts." To achieve their goal, they have partnered with EMU's Disability Resource Center to highlight accessibility issues on campus. The issues the club highlighted on their Instagram page were that the problem with not shoveling the campus sidewalks was not fully resolved early in the semester. When getting the club up and running, Torres said, “Autumn and I started the club, and we first kind of looked around to find other officers. Just among the community and our friends, there was a lot. We spent most of the summer between my freshman and sophomore years making a constitution. We had lots of officer meetings throughout that summer. We talked about what we wanted from the club." Torres also mentioned that she had to complete a lot of paperwork. As stated on EMU's Campus Life website, any student who wants to start a club or organization has to do the following: (1) Undergo a formal recognition RIGHTS from last page almost empty.” Keller and a few friends were invited by the highly circulated “Ladies Home Journal” to write articles about how the gonorrhea STD was unknowingly passed from the mom to the baby. Keller and friends were given very tough writing assignments because sex and STDs were considered taboo in 1903. The Massachusetts Association for the Blind and the Visually Impaired was formed by Helen Keller and Charlie Campbell. Keller expanded her work on disability issues and job process to become an established RSO on campus. You will be asked to submit the complete application, which will include your organization's constitution and bylaws. (2) A minimum of three members, all in good academic and judicial standing with Eastern Michigan University. (3) An EMU faculty/staff advisor or a graduate assistant is permitted to serve as an advisor of an RSO. After completing the first few steps of the organization forming process, Torres and Persinger needed a faculty advisor, since their club focused on creating a community for disabled students. They asked Liz Shall, who is the interim director of the Disability Resource Center. Shall said, "Academic year 2024-2025 was my first year on campus working for the DRC. Willamina came to me in the winter semester of 2024 and said, ‘I would really like to start a club for students with disabilities. I really want it to be an opportunity for us to build a community to support people with disabilities.’ I said awesome." As part of her role as a faculty advisor, she meets with Torres once a month to assess the club's needs. Shall also offers leadership support, outside resources for the club, and hosted a speaker series for the club in its first year. Shall also served as a moderator on a panel for the club back in December 2025. Several of the club members participated in the Flipping The Script Conference. Their panel focused on diversity in the college setting. When the club first started, membership was slow to grow. Torres said, "At the beginning, most of the meetings were just the officers and Ben, an original member." She went on to say that membership has increased this year. They created more awareness about the club primarily through social media during disability pride month, through word of mouth, and by having booths at opportunities for the blind. She lobbied steadfastly, and the Massachusetts legislature urged the necessity for employment of the blind. Helen Keller said, “It's terrible to be Blind and to be uneducated; but it's worse for the Blind who have finished their education to be idle.” The state legislature accepted Keller’s suggestion to form a commission to reduce blindness in babies. She was asked to be a member of the commission. There was no accommodation for Helen’s deafness while on the commission, so she brought in her own interpreters. She was not able to acquire all the relevant information Willamina Churchill-Torres Eagle Fest and Eagle Con. The club is a place for disabled students to be themselves. One of the many challenges disabled college students face is making friends. People tend not to interact with people with disabilities because they are afraid of saying something that will offend them. Able-bodied people may also feel awkward including them in everyday activities because they believe that they can't do those things. On this topic, Torres said, "My main goal has also been to create a community because before this club, I never really felt like I had a disabled community on campus. I just didn't know anyone else who was disabled. And then no one really understood what I was going through." Alyse David, an undergraduate student member of the club, had a similar experience. She said, "I was looking for a community, and I wanted to make friends on campus. Kind of what I was going through, being chronically ill. It she needed while serving in the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. Predictably, she resigned. Syracuse University legal scholarFranklin A. Carcamo wrote a March 2020 article in the Syracuse Law Review. The title is “The Past, Present, and Future: ADA and Thirty Years of Progress in Access, Inclusion and Opportunity.” There is no doubt about the challenges and successes of the disability rights movement. The people with disabilities and their advocates will be eternally vigilant. The victories are hard-won, and as battle-tested soldiers for freedom, justice and dignity. The movie documentary “Crip Camp” Spencer Lyke made me feel less alone." Spencer Lyke, a graduate student at EMU, added, “The different clubs have given me opportunities to meet students who I know have similar interests to those of groups like the DRC. The biggest barrier that I find to making friends is, you know, the gamble of people who are ableist. But the DRC is really easy for that, and you've already confirmed that they're not. It was really nice for me to click with another group on campus and have a friend group so quickly." The club members enjoy spending time together outside of club meetings. Lyke said, "I enjoyed it when a bunch of us went to see 'June on The Moon' together. I enjoyed sharing something I've been working on with the group. And seeing different club members all just enjoy a performance and something that was accessible for everybody." Alyse David Liz Shall GROUNDCOVER NEWS 13 depicts a youth camp described by Barry Whaler as the “epicenter” of the disability rights movement in the 1960s. There have been millions of heroes in the American Disability Movement. Barry Whaley of Syracuse Burton Blatt Institute mentioned the School of Education Dean, Burton Blatt, and disability advocate Fred Kaplan. He also mentioned Ed Roberts of Berkeley, Marc Gold of alternative teaching modules, Fannie Lou Hamer, etc. There are plenty of stories of heroes in every community. Originally published in the October 20, 2023 edition of Groundcover News.
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