Definition. Naming this Guide, and Cal Poly Organizations and Support
In researching how to name this guide the author examined Cal Poly's support structures and organizations for our disabled students, staff, and faculty. This lead the author to the current name of this guide to align with Cal Poly's naming conventions.
Cal Poly Student Organizations and Support
Cal Poly Faculty and Staff Organizations and Support
Ableism
"Ableism is a set of beliefs or practices that devalue and discriminate against people with physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities and often rests on the assumption that disabled people need to be ‘fixed’ in one form or the other. Ableism is intertwined in our culture, due to many limiting beliefs about what disability does or does not mean, how able-bodied people learn to treat people with disabilities and how we are often not included at the table for key decisions." - Center for Disability Rights.
Sanism
Sanism is "a term to describe the discrimination that arises from... the stigma of mental illness." "Sanism may take the form of subtle 'microaggressions' that contribute to general oppression. Discrimination is common even among healthcare professionals, which can help reinforce the status quo." - "Sanism and the Language of Mental Illness" by Iva Cheung.
Neurodiversity
"Neurodiversity is an approach to learning and disability that argues diverse neurological conditions are result of normal variations in the human genome. This portmanteau of neurological and diversity originated in the late 1990s as a challenge to prevailing views of neurological diversity as inherently pathological, instead asserting that neurological differences (including Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Dyscalculia, Autistic Spectrum, Tourette Syndrome, and others) should be recognized and respected as a social category on a par with gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability status." - "Neurodiversity," Disabled World