We’ve compiled a brief list of key campus disability-related resources to check out. It’s acronym time!
1) UC Berkeley DSP
Start here! The UC Berkeley DSP is the central hub for disability resources on campus. Here is a link to their website: Berkeley DSP (Disabled Students’ Program)
From the DSP website’s “About” page: “The Disabled Students’ Program (DSP) provides services to meet the unique educational needs of regularly enrolled students with permanent or temporary disabilities. Our staff includes disability specialists, service providers, and accessibility experts who serve our students with disabilities throughout their educational career. DSP is under the umbrella of the Equity and Inclusion division, as disability is a part of the diversity fabric. While the primary focus and mission of DSP is to serve documented disabled students, DSP staff also work closely with faculty, administrators, and staff to build a more accessible learning environment. DSP outreach also works to benefit students who may not have self-identified a need for accommodations and who may not even be aware of their disability rights”
2) UC Berkeley DAC
The UC Berkeley DAC (Disability Access and Compliance) provides resources to support equal access to non-course-related university activities. Here is a link to their website: UC Berkeley DAC
From their “About Us” page: “Disability Access & Compliance (DAC) connects the UC Berkeley community with the resources, training, evaluative tools, and services that support equal access to students, staff, faculty, and visitors with disabilities to participate in university-sponsored non-course-related programs or activities”
A resource of note is the DAC’s Access Violation or Disability Discrimination Grievance Procedure and Complaint Form, which can be accessed here: DAC’s Access Violation Form
Also of note is their Lending Library, which is a library of products available to UC Berkeley departments across campus to support accommodations. Here is a link: accomodations lending library
3) The CforAT (CAT)
The Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT, or CAT), is a non-profit organization in the city of Berkeley focused on access to technology for people with disabilities. Here is a link to their website: CAT
From their “About Us” page: “CforAT’s focus is on access to computers and technology for people with disabilities. We do this so children with disabilities can succeed in school, adults with disabilities can find (and keep) jobs and all people with disabilities can use the internet, email and benefit from the digital revolution. CforAT also provides business consulting services to corporations, libraries and government entities. We provide assistance on creating accessible websites and have a test bank of users with disabilities to test products and services. CforAT supports use of technology to promote independent living for people with disabilities, providing information via online resources, and engaging in advocacy work to support policies that expand access to technology for people with disabilities, including the many people with disabilities who are low-income”
4) The Disability Cultural Center
Introducing the Disability Cultural Center! A brand new community space on campus. Read more about the fight for the Disability Cultural Center here: link to Berkeley News article
Located in the Hearst Field Annex @ UC Berkeley (nearby our lab!)
5) Undergraduate Disability Studies Minor
UC Berkeley is unique in offering an undergraduate Disability Studies minor. The minor takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of disability history, rights, culture, and more. Learn about the program here: Disability Studies minor
From the UC Berkeley Disability Studies website: “Disability studies provides a space to explore questions like these: How has disability been defined in various historical moments, in various cultures and eras? While impairment has unquestionably been a frequent experience throughout human history, has disability—the construction of impairment as a generic social category — been a historical constant, or is it a modern invention? What social ideologies, cultural systems, and societal arrangements have shaped the meaning and experience of disability? How has disability been defined or represented in cultural and artistic productions, public laws and policies, modern professional practices and in everyday life?”