Audio Story

The definition of disability has shifted to include a larger population.

VO: The term disability used to only refer to a physical impairment. 

VO: Now, however, a generational shift has occurred to include invisible disabilities, mental illnesses, in the definition. In college, many students experience mental illness, creating the need for mental health services. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, McBurney Disability Resource Center provides such services through individual accommodations and campus trainings. Ruben Mota is the Assistant Director at McBurney Center and in charge of accommodations. 

Mota: “Students used to be very apprehensive about coming to us. There is a stigma about associating, there is a stigma in sharing your accommodations. Now… it’s okay. It’s okay for people to know about you.”

VO: In the five years since Mota started working at the McBurney Center, enrollment has more than doubled, from almost one-thousand to 2,200 students. Of these students, about 1/3 have a mental health condition.

VO: But, with change comes challenge. Mota says that one of the largest challenges is how faculty and staff respond to students with mental illness accommodations. The McBurney Center holds campus trainings on the legitimacy of an invisible disability, in order to combat these challenges.

Mota: “A real challenge in our training is shifting the mindset of a disability- I need to be able to see it to believe it: you must have a sight cane, you must be in a wheelchair, you must be paralyzed, whatever, to disability actually can look like very many non-apparent or slash invisible form and that is legitimate enough.” 

VO: Mota believes many of these conflicts stem from uncertainty. 

Mota: “Anyone who presents a barrier to someone else, it’s based in attitude and almost a fear of the unknown.”

VO: One day, Mota hopes to implement an orientation that introduces incoming students to disability inclusion- both visible and invisible, reflecting the realistic, non-uniform nature of individual disability.