Thomas McDevitt

Major: Psychology

Subplan/Concentration: Biological/Cognitive

Minor: Interdisciplinary Disability Studies

Advisor: Rebecca Schwartz-Mette

Reply to question: How have the IDS courses shaped your perspective of disability?

Since taking DIS I’ve learned valuable information regarding what it means to be disabled. Disability mostly stems from the environments someone finds themselves in, creating a state of disjuncture. Someone unable to ride a roller coaster due to their height, is at no more of a disadvantage than someone unable to ride due to an atypical body. Numerous areas are created with the idea of serving the typical bodied individual in the most conventional way. Though with minor changes most of those areas can usually become accessible towards atypical bodies, a great example of this can be seen with wheelchair ramps. If we put more thought into the environments we create for the people, we can prevent a ton of challenges from occurring in the future.