I urge Seattle Pacific University to take my concerns and experiences seriously. Professors and other staff who discriminate against disabled students need to be fired and never return to campus. Students who partake in hate speech need to be reprimanded and educated by staff. Accessible door buttons and wheelchair lifts need to be serviced and working again. Student events put on by STORP, Area Council and ASSP need to take place in or at accessible locations. Proper infrastructure needs to be built to ensure accessibility for all.

When I was 19, I was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, a rare and incurable genetic disease. The disease affects connective tissue and makes the tissue too stretchy. This causes all my joints to be loose, which leads to dislocations. Because connective tissue is in every system of the body, I have problems with every structure of my body, including intense chronic pain.

 I have had six surgeries in the past two years. The most notable include one where I almost died because of a medical emergency, one that fractured my femur and left me unable to walk for three months and one I was awake for. While I was born with this condition, I did not start showing major symptoms until I was 12. It took seven years to be diagnosed. Since then, I have been diagnosed with several other incurable conditions. I live with multiple disabilities that affect me everyday that, at the same time, are invisible. 

I transferred to Seattle Pacific University in the spring quarter of 2025. I had been unable to attend an in-person school since 2023 due to the severity of my illnesses. During my first quarter, one of my professors told me I could not use my approved accommodation to audio record the lecture for my notes. She told me that I was “breaking the law” by audio recording her class and that she felt uncomfortable with my use of an approved accommodation. Once I told her I would be speaking with my lawyer, she said she could provide me with slides from a completely different class where there was “some overlap,” but I would have to figure out what was relevant information to the class I was actually taking.

While she accepted that I can audio record the lectures once my lawyer got involved, it really looked like she did everything she could to punish me; she ignored me during class, graded me less than my peers without explanation, refused to include my lawyer in any communication from her and admitted to gossiping about me to other professors. She ultimately retired at the end of the quarter, which had always been her plan. To my knowledge, there was no report filed by DSS after I told them about my experience. 

I feel this professor did not follow SPU’s anti-discrimination policy, which states, “Seattle Pacific University is committed to maintaining an environment that is free from discrimination and discriminatory harassment.” Therefore, they should have been fired. Not firing this professor and holding her accountable was a failure on SPU’s part. 

Now, during fall quarter, I have experienced similar discrimination and hate. I will not disclose specific information about what has been said to me. However, I will say that the comments that I have heard are ableist and dismissive of disabled people’s experiences in the world. 

Unfortunately, the discrimination is not limited to just classmates and professors. A Sysco delivery driver* has blocked my car parked in the disability spot three times this quarter. When I asked him to move his carts away from my car for the third time, he looked me up and down and told me that I did not look disabled. After explaining that invisible disabilities exist, he laughed and doubted the validity of invisible disabilities. The fact that this occurred on campus reinforces my belief that I am not welcome at Seattle Pacific University as a disabled person. 

The Disability Services office on campus has you go down a short flight of stairs to enter the lobby. While there is a wheelchair lift, those lifts can be unreliable. They often break down, are not up to date with maintenance and take a long time to use. Additionally, students who do not have a disability permit will park in the already limited handicapped spots. Many of the automatic door buttons do not work on campus. On the main doors of Demaray Hall, there is an accessibility sticker on a door that is surrounded by stairs. Demaray, the home of many administrative offices, is known for being the most inaccessible building on campus, and there is no excuse for not having proper accessible infrastructure. Classes can be moved. Offices cannot be.

The lack of disability consciousness runs deep at SPU. Before the social justice major was cut, you could take classes on social issues surrounding minority groups. Some of these classes are still available to take under a different major. Of the 20 classes you could take, none of them had a specific focus on disability. If you are taking social justice classes, and none of them center around disability, there is a gap in knowledge. Disability rights has a vast and troubling history that everyone should have some knowledge of.

If you are able bodied, I invite you to take a moment to imagine what it would be like to have a physical disability. You deal with many debilitating symptoms, such as pain, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, headaches, limited physical mobility, etc. On top of that, you also have to attend school full-time and go to doctor appointments a couple times a week. You also work a part-time job and still have to find time for friends and family. Additionally, you have to be around people who make insensitive comments, tell you to “look on the brightside,” take advantage of disabled people by parking in handicapped spaces without a permit and put a service dog vest on their pet because they do not want to leave their dog at home. Depending on the disability, you may need several surgeries that cannot wait until school breaks.

Not only do you have to deal with those challenges, but you also have to experience the possibility of professors grading you less, saying cruel and discriminative things to you and being harassed because of your disability. Sometimes, these things occur in front of large groups of people, and nobody speaks up about it. 

I pay the same tuition as everyone else does at SPU. However, due to my genetics, which I had no control over, I am treated worse than my able-bodied peers. I show up to school every day in immense pain and exhaustion and still turn all my assignments in and attend lectures. You can become disabled at any age and at any point in your life. If it is a risk for all of us, we should all care. If you are a champion for other human rights, you should advocate for all of them, including disability.

We must compel Seattle Pacific University to do better. 

If you would like to be a part of advocating for disability justice, there are several ways you can help:

• Advocate for disability representation and considerations to ASSP
• Speak up when you hear other students or professors making harmful comments towards disabled students
• Do not park in disabled parking without a permit
• Be aware of harmful stereotypes such as it is always obvious if someone is disabled or not
• Be careful to not use ableist language such as “cripple” or the r-word
• Think before you share your opinion on something and apologize and take accountability if you say something that offends someone
• Report any and all discrimination to DSS and OSS

If you experience disability discrimination at SPU, please report it to DSS and OSS. 

Resources:

Home page – Disability Rights Washington

8 Ways to be an Advocate for People with Disabilities – Penn State PRO Wellness

Disability History: The Disability Rights Movement (U.S. National Park Service)

Discrimination and Harassment Grievance Procedure – Institutional Policy – SPU Wiki

*Dec. 18 – This article was updated for the sake of correctness.