Stephanie Woodward, a candidate for the Disability Cultural Center director position, spoke about her experiences with disability on Wednesday.

Woodward, an SU College of Law alumna, is currently the director of advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights in Rochester. She is one of three candidates for director of the DCC. The position opened after former director Diane Wiener accepted a new role at SU’s Burton Blatt Institute.

Office of Multicultural Affairs Associate Director Huey Hsiao is currently serving as interim director of the center.

Woodward said, she pushed for SU’s dean at the time to put a wheelchair accessible ramp where the stairs were traditionally situated at her graduation ceremony. The dean wanted to put the ramp at the back of the stage, she said.

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She said unplowed sidewalks around the university limited her ability to grab a bite on Marshall Street or stay up late studying when she was a student.

“I had to deal with snowy sidewalks and deans who preferred stairs,” Woodward said to the audience. “I want to know what you deal with.”

Candidates for the director position were asked to speak about disability culture during their presentations. In addition to the presentations, which included time for questions, candidates met privately with students and faculty members on campus.

Woodward said that she cannot define disability culture because it is different for everyone. She said disability is very different for a cisgender white male than it is for a transgender Puerto Rican woman.

She also said she wants to empower people with disabilities to be able to demand that their rights are respected by the university.

“We don’t live in a utopia where just because you have rights that means they’re respected,” Woodward said. “And I won’t pretend that this campus is a utopia just to protect an institution that signs my paycheck.”

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The university has taken students’ opinions into account in recent years, Woodward said. While she was a law student at SU, she lobbied the school to install a ramp on Irving Avenue, in between the College of Law building and the parking garage next to it, she said.

The plans to install a staircase were eventually scrapped and a long, winding ramp now exists there, she said, adding that there is still more work to be done to make sure that SU is truly accessible.

“I would be proud, if I were chosen as the Disability Cultural Center director, to help achieve that goal of achieving full integration (and) participation of people with disabilities on the Syracuse University campus,” Woodward said.

Candidate Kathy O’Connell, a licensed mental health counselor, spoke about ableism and her decision to continue collaboration between the DCC and other campus cultural centers on Tuesday. Elizabeth Sierra will give a presentation on Thursday at 11 a.m. in Bird Library.

Published on February 20, 2019 at 8:09 pm

Contact Patrick: pjlineha@syr.edu