Accommodations are helpful, but advocacy and awareness are driving factors in erasing stigma behind disability

http://video.videolicious.com/ccfec8fb-0f09-402c-a3d1-7e4ffafa19ad

Bridging the stigma of disability through identity at the University of Maryland

One out of every ten students in college during the 2011-2012 school year had a disability, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

It is safe to say representation for college-aged people with disabilities has grown over the past few decades: Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 specifically prohibits public entities like universities from discriminating against disabled people.

Specifically at the University of Maryland, on-campus services and events help to foster support for the local community. But students and members in the community feel there is still a need for more advocacy on campus to combat the stigma behind disability.

The Shoemaker Building is home to UMD's Disability Support Service, 
as well as the Counseling Center. Photo by Mike Siegel.

The University of Maryland provides the standard accommodations for disabled students

Through UMD’s Disability Support Services, students can find the appropriate accommodations required for their situations. Located in the Shoemaker Building, DSS provides testing accommodations like extended exam time and computer access during an exam; reading accommodations; dead and hard of hearing services like interpreting and transcription services and other miscellaneous accommodations like early course registration.

Like many college students, senior journalism and American studies double major Shannon Gallagher dozes out in class from time to time. Between balancing good grades and a social life, the likelihood of getting those seven to eight hours of sleep is slim. But unlike most college students, Gallagher has a legitimate excuse: she has narcolepsy and cataplexy.

Gallagher was diagnosed with narcolepsy and cataplexy about four years ago. She is just one of many students registered through DSS, but besides the small talk chatter and the occasional plea for assistance from professors, her disability isn't something she commonly talks about or chooses to talk about.

Stephanie Cork, a doctoral student with a background in disability studies, feels the university has emphasized disability greatly for a while, but there is still more of a need for advocacy and awareness.

“I think [the university] approach[es] it from a rehabilitative model, versus the social justice model and therefore focus[es] on accommodation where awareness and advocacy are also necessary,” Cork said over email. “We need more collaboration between the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, DSS and the President's Commission on Disability Issues to really facilitate the success of students here at the university and beyond.”

Cork also feels there needs to be more conversation regarding specific issues within disability studies like visible versus invisible disabilities; those with "invisible disabilities," or disabilities that are not visible by simply looking at someone, have much more privilege, she said.

Alyson Lynch, a senior government and politics major who has Lyme disease, feels the university’s accommodations for disabilities are up to par with what is required, but there is room for more.

“I think they have everything that they have to have to follow the law...but I don’t think they take extra steps to make the campus more accessible. They have wheelchair ramps because the law requires it of them, but they are totally out of the way usually,” Lynch said. Her Lyme disease makes it difficult to walk long distances without resting, often resulting in chronic pain; she often relies on a wheelchair to get around campus, even though she is able to walk on both legs.

“Every time I go out in my wheelchair and people realize I can walk, I’m questioned and attacked,” Lynch said.

The DSS did not respond for comments.

Through events and policy, the university is slowly but surely fighting against the stigma behind disability

To help fight against the stigma of disability and promote representation, the University of Maryland celebrated Disability Awareness Month this past October with weekly events to continue the conversation surrounding disability. Some events included a Disability Studies Roundtable and a webinar on how to maximize accessibility of course materials.

The university also advocates for disability awareness through its Rise Above campaign, which “focuses our University community on assumptions and biases that we need to overcome and values that we need to embrace in order to create an inclusive campus,” according to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Specifically, the Rise Above Ableism campaign featured panels where professors discussed disability studies research, yoga sessions for “all body types” and a traveling and interactive photo booth where students could share their experiences and thoughts on how ableism has affected their lives.

The university has also joined in on the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights’s Defying Definitions campaign, which asks students to reflect on identity and diversity by sharing how they perceive or are perceived by others and themselves.

 

Beyond campus events, UMD has also taken a policy approach to promote representation for disabilities. The university revised disability procedures after a professor "retaliated" against a student by "failing to implement academic adjustments," essentially making him disclose his dyslexia in a lecture hall full of students, The Diamondback reported in March.

The university agreed to revise its complaint procedures to confront disability discrimination by Oct. 1, 2015 to include:

• "notice to students of procedure, including how and where to file a complaint;
• application of the procedure to complaints alleging disability discrimination carried out by students, employees, or third parties;
• adequate, reliable, and impartial investigation of complaints, including the opportunity to present witnesses and other evidence;
• designated and prompt timeframes governing and major stages of the grievance process;
• notice to the parties of the outcome of the complaint, and the basis for the decision;
• the right of the parties to appeal the findings, remedy or both; and
• an assurance that the University will take adequate steps to prevent the recurrence of any prohibited actions and to correct discriminatory effects on the complainant and others, if appropriate."

Like the student involved in the aforementioned university case, Lynch has also had some issues with how professors address her accommodations.

"[Professors] will think they’re being kind or helpful when they say, 'oh well I don’t care about that!' or 'I already do that' when I give them my accommodation forms, but they’re only increasing the invisibility of my illness by minimizing it," Lynch said. "Think colorblind racism. Saying 'everyone’s the same in my eyes' only erases my hard experiences."

The need to educate able-bodied people about issues people with disabilities face is becoming more and more prevalent. In light of this, professors Carolyn Fink and Peter Leone were awarded $15,000 grants last fall to develop a disability studies certificate or minor program, The Diamondback reported.

Alex Martocci, a junior kinesiology major and able-bodied student, agrees with Cork on the need for furthermore advocacy and awareness on campus.

"As an able-bodied person, I think that the fact that I am unable to give any information [about disability identity on campus] other than what DSS does for exams is quite telling," Martocci said.

Assi Azar sheds light on the Israeli gay experience to University of Maryland students

After a casual stroll down the rows of Stamp Student Union’s Hoff Theater, a short introduction and a smack to turn on the microphone, there is one thing Assi Azar first wants to let us know: “I really hate my voice.”

On Nov. 3, the openly gay Israeli television personality visited the University of Maryland to talk about his experience coming to terms with his sexuality, discuss Israeli politics and ultimately shed some light on problems the LGBT community faces.

Azar, 36, is best known in Israel for hosting the Israeli version of Big Brother, along with other television programs. 

He is also the second Israeli celebrity to come out as a gay man, and was noted by OUT Magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential gay people in 2009.

Azar knew he was different from a very young age and learned how to hide it

Azar formally came out of the closet at 24 years old, but he knew he was gay ever since he was a young boy.

He had been confused and experimented primarily with trying on his mother’s clothes. Ultimately, he found it wasn’t his thing, but he still felt different.

“I felt that I’m not like other boys,” Azar said. Back then, you couldn’t go on the Internet to find out if anyone else was feeling like you. “When I was younger there was no way to understand what you have...today it’s so easy to write ‘I think I’m gay’ or ‘I’m attracted to boys. What does that mean?’”

Azar asked the audience to try to imagine how it feels to not be understood “so deeply” by anyone.



Along with his feelings of confusion and curiosity, Azar says a clear sign he was gay was his choice in television shows, namely Dynasty and Beverly Hills, 90210. “Can you get more gay than that?” Azar joked.

Still, he didn’t really know what gay meant or what to call it; his family didn’t even know he was gay despite the fact that he used to talk like a girl and dress somewhat feminine as a kid, Azar said. He eventually decided he would only wear black, blue and grey to evoke more masculinity.

Azar decided he would ‘be in the closet forever’ when he got older because of his parents

Growing up, Azar found solace in relating to gay TV characters like the football player who rejected Kelly as a girlfriend on Beverly Hills, 90210, but he had to hide any outward expression of it because of his family.



It was his parents’ reactions, mostly his father’s, to homosexuality that made Azar want to stay in the closet forever, happily marry a woman and ultimately die in the closet. But in the back of his mind he had a dream-like plan: after the army at 22, he would move to the United States, find a boyfriend and disappear to his family.

Post-Israeli army Azar, 22, has his first gay, embarrassing experience in the U.S.

Just like he had dreamed, Azar finished the army and traveled to the U.S. Though he didn’t find a boyfriend, he did find something that would similarly assimilate him into the gay world: his first gay, sexual experience.

“Wait, let me take off my jacket. It’s gonna be weird. It’s gonna embarrass some of you,” he said.

Most people would fear for their life upon joining the military, but Azar’s biggest fear was showering with other men. During his four years serving in Israel’s military police, he avoided the other men and showers, going to the empty section like a robot. “What a stupid fear,” he recalled.

His complete dissociation with being gay during his time in the army led him to the utmost of curiosity when he finally trekked to the U.S., specifically New York City. He set out a mission to go to the first gay club that he could find in a Google-less era.

He recognized a building’s rainbow flag outside and decided to go in after 30 minutes of waiting outside nervously. But it wasn’t a gay club: it was a sex store. Azar couldn’t even finish the story without constantly reminding the audience how embarrassed he was.

“It’s important you will know this story. It’s gonna change your life...no it’s not. It’s just plain gossip,” he joked.

After 22 years of suppressing his sexuality, Azar had gotten a piece of what he wanted, or at least he thought. After sitting down at a booth, looking down to see a small hole in the wall and seeing “something pop out,” he immediately ran away. It was an embarrassing, and ultimately unfulfilled, first gay experience.

Azar informs the audience about the Israeli gay experience and politics today

It’s easy to be a gay person in the central part and big cities of Israel, Azar said. Gay people have a fairly easy time integrating into society, but there still exists struggles coming from religious sects like his Yemenite father.

“It’s a very weird experience to come out,” he said, “like a car accident.” Israel has a strong gay male scene, almost Mafia-like, Azar added, but the other members of the LGBT community like lesbians have less of a presence.

Gay people cannot get married in Israel, unlike the U.S., which Azar explained he thought would never happen. The country does recognize gay marriages from outside countries, though. Still, Israeli gays still face struggles with surrogacy.

Though he noted it’s not an easy time for “us in Israel” right now due to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, he wishes the two sides could see past their differences.

“It can be beautiful if Jewish organizations try to work together with Palestinian ones...we can get along,” Azar said.

Yigal Dozier, a graduate student at UMD, was surprised to hear of such a comfortable first-hand experience of being a gay person in Israel.

Julia Ring, the president of UMD’s Jewish Student Union and senior English and secondary education major, decided to bring Azar to campus because of his broad appeal.

“He is a professional performer, so we knew he would be a great speaker,” Ring said. Her favorite part of the event was how comfortable Azar was with the audience and topics.

“I loved that he casually sat on the edge of the stage and made conversation with the audience...he really knows how to work a crowd,” Ring said.

Nicole Gutierrez is proud to be Greek at University of Maryland

Global, mobile markets call for more diverse advertising: Indian consumers favor mobile ads over Americans, study finds

The mobile market is booming in both the United States and India, two of the world’s three biggest smartphone vendors. Yet, smartphone users in India have more favorable attitudes toward mobile advertisements than their American counterparts, according to a study by Southern Methodist University and Korea University researchers.

A study of smartphone users in America and India compared attitudes toward mobile ads, uses of a mobile device and cultural differences in phone activities

There is little to no advertising information available about the average smartphone user in India. 

Advertisers may recognize India’s flourishing mobile market as an opportunity to attract new consumers, but will not be able to fully gain their attention without knowing how and why Indian consumers use their phones.

Southern Methodist University’s Sidharth Muralidharan and Carrie La Ferle and Korea University’s Yongjun Song worked with a marketing research firm and recruited 158 Indian adults from major metropolitan areas. Factors like age, gender and household income were considered.

These individuals then responded to a series of statements ranging from “I like to look at mobile advertising” to “I feel that receiving mobile advertisements is enjoyable” based on a 5-point scale; options were strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree or strongly disagree. 

Researchers then recruited 114 American adults and administered the same survey. 

The researchers proposed there are four main factors that affect attitudes toward mobile ads:

• entertainment
• informativeness
• credibility
• irritation

The study found that Indian smartphone users find mobile ads to be more entertaining, informative and credible than Americans. Researchers did not find any significant differences for irritation.

India is an emerging mobile market, home to 900 million mobile phone users

India is quickly surpassing the U.S. as the second biggest country in smartphone sales globally, according to the study. 

There is clearly power behind numbers: mobile devices in India account for 72 percent of all web traffic and Indian companies spent over $49.9 million on mobile ads in 2013, according to the Mobile Marketing Association and Business Week.

Gregg Apirian, the managing director at ad agency Vignette and CEO of consulting firm DVELOP, is not surprised by the study's findings.

“For many years, places like India and Asia, specifically Korea, have been heavily well ahead of us in terms of the functionality, technology and use of mobile. They had bigger screens before we did...they do things we can’t even do here yet,” Apirian said.

India is a collectivist culture, meaning its society emphasizes the importance of the group over the individual; this groupthink plays a role in increasing social media use and likely affecting how people view ads, the study argues.

Mobile ads attract Indian smartphone users, while American smartphone users are less than impressed. What other types of demographics have conflicting views?

This study looked at differences between adults in India and the U.S., but leaves room for curiosity about other demographic differences.

A recent survey of 20 students at the University of Maryland found that women generally favor mobile ads and find them more entertaining and informative than men. 

The male students responded to mobile ads with more irritation.

Senior accounting and management double major Drew Friedman is one of the few men who answered with a favorable attitude.

"Humor in general definitely helps [an ad]," Friedman said. "Sometimes I think playing off of pop culture is funny to people." 

Natasha Paulmeno, vice president of UMD's Public Relations Society of America chapter and senior communications and Spanish double major, feels like mobile ads are generally trustworthy.

"I trust ads about sales or special offers on social media. Those are messages that will usually catch my attention," Paulmeno said. 

She added that Starbucks is a noteworthy company on mobile because of how it encourages users to directly interact with the brand by sharing photos of purchased drinks.

Examining different types of demographics like gender and age is all a part of demographic or target marketing, an aspect of the industry with which Apirian has helped many clients. 

"Audience segmentation is a process to break down differences in audiences, targeting them with the right messaging and content so that when it’s delivered to them, it feels relevant, meaningful, contextual and very much about them,” Apirian said. 

Years ago, the one-message-to-all typical method of advertising worked for some groups, but not all. 

Target, a client of his, likes to cater to women because of the mom's societal role as shopper, whereas tech brands may want to cater more to men, Apirian added.

Twitter released its 'Personas' feature this summer which provides advertisers with key demographic information about consumers. 

From there, advertisers can easily tailor campaigns to cater to these specific groups. Some personas include baby boomers, Generation X and millennials.

Millennials are starting to heavily influence framework of mobile ads

Like nationality and gender, age is another influential demographic for advertisers. Specifically, millennials are a huge market. These 18 to 34-year-olds are constantly on their mobile phones and staying in the know.

"One big brand [that caters to millennials] is Old Spice because of their virality," said senior journalism and government and politics double major Kevin LaFrancis. "They know how to make headlines and they know how to make people talking, especially our age."

A huge force bringing millennials and mobile ads together is BuzzFeed. Senior journalism major Nicole Dei feels the site's listicle format is perfect for people her age that don't take the time to read long-form news articles.

"BuzzFeed does a great job because many people in our age group have terrible attention spans," Dei said.

Native advertising, or advertising in the form of the medium in which the ad takes place, is a huge source of revenue for sites like BuzzFeed. Its sponsored articles take the form of cool-looking editorials and attract more young readers than a traditional ad.

Mobile ads are certainly reaching millennials at a higher rate than other age groups who do not surf the Internet as often. This leaves this age group much more susceptible to advertising ploys, LaFrancis said.

Should advertisers pay attention to India's mobile market? Indian consumers favor mobile ads over Americans, study finds

Photo by XYZ

The mobile market is booming in both the United States and India. Researchers from Southern Methodist University and Korea University compared samples of smartphone users from both countries to see if culture affects attitudes toward mobile devices and mobile ads. After participants answered statements based on a 5-point Likert scale, researchers found that Indian smartphone users find mobile ads more informative, entertaining and credible than
those in the U.S.

• Researchers from Southern Methodist University and Korea University sought to compare smartphone users in America to smartphone users in India in terms of their attitudes toward mobile ads, motivations for using a mobile device and cultural overall differences in phone activities. 
• India is an emerging mobile market, home to 900 million mobile phone users.
• Researchers worked with a marketing research firm and recruited 158 Indians and 114 Americans, who answered statements based on a 5-point Likert scale.
• The study found that Indian smartphone users find mobile ads more informative, entertaining and credible than American smartphone users.

News Outlets Struggle to Make Profit From Mobile Devices

The overall structure of the journalism industry over the past years has heavily shifted to favor mobile devices as news outlets. The mobile format provides journalism with a large consumer base; average daily use of mobile phones in the U.S. has increased over the past few years to 177 minutes, superseding the average 168 minutes Americans spend watching TV per day, according to the slideshow presentation “Dial ‘M’ for Mobile Revenue.” Social media platform Facebook earns 70 percent of its revenue from its 500 million mobile users, the presentation reports.

The profitability of mobile news is staggering, as only five percent of total global adspend is produced from mobile internet, the presentation reports. In order for mobile to remain a successful format, journalism industry leaders need to examine current financial concerns and consider alternative methods of generating revenue from mobile news.

Nearly half of all digital news traffic comes from mobile, but mobile news generates less than 10 percent of digital revenue. Apps are a main facet of mobile, and media outlets like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal offer paid apps; however, people only spend three percent of their time using news apps, as opposed to the 32 percent of time spent using gaming apps. This poses a major burden on the overall industry, as fewer and fewer consumers are paying for news apps. And even if people decide to pay for apps, users will delete half of all downloaded apps after three months, the presentation reports.

The intersection of social media and journalism is also a huge factor in gaining readership and getting mobile users. Many social media platforms are finding themselves interconnected and almost competing with the news industry; Facebook controls social traffic of news articles, Snapchat incorporates content from different media outlets on its Discovery feature and YouTube provides mainstream and crowdsourced news, among other platforms. Revenue can be produced from social media platforms often through advertisements in the form of an editorial, otherwise known as native ads. Native ads are key for the success of mobile news, as they have a high yield of revenue and reconnect consumers with advertisers in a direct manner.

As industry leaders struggle to generate revenue from mobile, they must focus on the quality and uniqueness of the content their product produces and analytics to gain insights on viewer traffic; analytics platforms and software provide useful information about how many people are reading articles, what time they are consuming them and others. From there, leaders can find consumer patterns and behaviors to increase overall news consumption, the presentation reports. 

Ultimately, they are left with maximizing either mobile apps or social media to generate revenue. While apps provide a lot of revenue and overall engage users better, leaders will need to spend big money in marketing and acquisition costs to ensure there is a strong access to the product, the presentation says. If leaders decide to focus on social media, they will generate news traffic from search and social and generate a more transparent, tech-savvy product.