Why I'd Like to See an Accessibility Club on Every College Campus
Recently, I was asked by the student-run ABLE club at Fulton Montgomery Community College to present my mental health and disability advocacy program. “Able” is quite the understatement. Abilities Beyond Limitation through Education is “a club for students who wish to explore ways to make attending college easier for students with disabilities.” As soon as I met these students, I could see they more than exceeded this description.
I arrived on campus and was immediately welcomed by passionate student advocates, determined to create a campus community based on compassion and understanding — a campus that is clearly taking an empowered approach to mental health, standing up for their rights, and claiming their voices as young, fearless allies and leaders for all students. The ABLE group brought me to campus because they wanted to engage their peers in a conversation about mental health and make them aware of the wonderful accessibility resources available on campus. And for good reason — the resources available at FMCC were extremely impressive. With a range of housing options, warm and personable staff, and a range of activities, services and events, the question became what resources to learn about first. Both faculty and students were tremendously eager to tell me all about the various ways they are addressing mental health, wellness, and equal rights for everyone on campus.
Having quality accessibility services available to all is a cause very dear to my heart. As someone with an ostomy and various other medical needs, it’s even difficult for me — a gutsy, extroverted theater ham — to speak up for the accommodations I need. The students of ABLE are my new role models.
What did I learn speaking to FMCC? As Walt Disney once said, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” These students certainly have courage and a dream. Haley, the president of the ABLE club, described her dream of being a disability advocate as passionately as my dream of being on the Broadway stage. This is a campus with ambition. But more importantly, I believe this is a campus with the right idea.
Being able to reach out and find support is what helps us realize we’re not alone. Mental health resources can be the tools that create a path to a solution. When we ask for help, we can start to bridge the gap of communication between departments on campus — academia, career counseling, wellness resources, and student groups — and create a communicative, inclusive environment. Improving student mental health on campus is not a quick fix, or a one-size-fits-all job. We need to recognize that each student is unique, with their own set of needs, and each student needs to be heard. Let’s infuse our campuses with questions, start the conversation, and just keep listening. These are just a few of the lessons the Fulton-Montgomery Community College campus taught me this week. Thank you FMCC, for making us all aware that we are more ABLE than we know!
Amy is touring the country with her one-woman musical Gutless & Grateful. Learn more about her college mental health program and sexual assault prevention initiative on her site, www.amyoes.com and see where she’ll be next.
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Amy Oestreicher is a PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, writer for The Huffington Post, speaker for TEDx and RAINN, health advocate, award-winning actress, and playwright. As a survivor and “thriver” of nearly 30 surgeries, a coma, sexual abuse, organ failure, and a decade of medical trauma, Amy has been challenged with moments of extreme difficulty. But, as an artist, actress, college student, and overall lover of life, Amy eagerly shares the lessons learned from trauma and has brought out the stories that unite us all through her writing, mixed media art, performance and inspirational speaking. Amy has headlined international conferences on women’s leadership, entrepreneurship, mental health, disability, creativity, art therapy, and domestic violence prevention. She is a regular lifestyle, wellness, and arts contributor for over 70 notable online and print publications, and and her story has appeared on NBC’s TODAY, CBS, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen Magazine, Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, MSNBC, among others. She has devised workshops for the Transformative Language Arts Network National Conference, the Eating Recovery Foundation, the 40th Anniversary New England Educational Opportunity Association Milestones Conference, the Annual National Mental Health America Conference, and others, and was this year’s keynote speaker for the Hawaii Pacific Rim International Conference on Diversity and Disability. To celebrate her own “beautiful detour”, Amy created the #LoveMyDetour campaign, to help others cope in the face of unexpected events. To creatively engage others in improving mental health , Amy developed a program combining mental health advocacy, sexual assault awareness, PTSD education and Broadway Theatre for college campuses, organizations and conferences, launching a Detourist Network, and Detourist Workshops to creatively fight stigma in society. “Detourism” is also the subject of her TEDx Talk and upcoming book, My Beautiful Detour, available December 2017. As the 2014 Eastern Regional Recipient of Convatec’s Great Comebacks Award and WEGO Health 2016 “Health Activist Hero,” Amy is a passionate voice in the ostomy community, founding the online community Fearless Ostomates, speaking for National and Regional WOCN conferences, and writing for the official print publication of the UOAA. Her presentations on alternative medicine, and patient advocacy and healthcare have also been accepted to international conferences on patient care, internal medicine, medical trauma and therapeutic humor in healthcare. As a playwright, Amy has received awards and accolades for engaging her audiences in dynamic conversation on trauma’s effects on society, including Women Around Town’s “Women to Celebrate 2014, BroadwayWorld Best Theatre Debut, and Bistro Awards New York Top Pick. Amy has written, directed and starred in a one-woman musical about her life, Gutless & Grateful, touring theatres, schools, festivals, conventions and organizations since it’s 2012 New York debut. Her original, full-length drama, Imprints, exploring the effects of trauma on the family and the healing power of creativity, was a finalist at Manhattan Repertory Theatre, and is currently in development for a full New York production. Amy’s collaboration with Beechwood Arts on “Resilience and the Power of the Human Spirit”, has traveled around the world, using her monologues, art, writing and recipes to express the life-altering detours and ultimately the invaluable gifts of her resilient journey. She is also a passionate arts advocate, a successful mixed media visual artist, a continuing education studio arts teacher, and an active member of the League of Professional Theatre Women, League for Advancement of New England Storytellers, Fairfield County Cultural Alliance, Theatre Artist Workshop, and several art guilds throughout Connecticut and New York. Amy is currently touring the country with her one-woman musical, Gutless & Grateful, her keynote presentations, workshops and signature talkbacks, which she has devised specialized versions for corporations, college campuses, survivors, healthcare professionals, and artists. She is leading mixed media creativity workshops to promote creativity as a mindset, an essential survival skill. Amy also offers creative coaching and consulting services help others navigate their own “life detours,” and prides herself most on ending each night with a gratitude list. Together, we’re stronger.
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