Interesting article about a Brother & disabled participation
 

Louisville Cardinal
University of Louisville
November 6, 2007

U of L Greeks attempt to diversify

By Heather White

With one semester to go, Jeremy Watts, academic chair for Lambda Chi Alpha,
hopes to raise awareness regarding the issue of disabled students' lack of
involvement in Greek life. According to Watts, accessibility and
stereotypes are the greatest factors altering their involvement.

"Ask me a year ago if I would've done this, and I would've told you no. I
didn't think it was possible," said Watts, a senior communication major.

Between helping new recruits get accustomed to fraternity life and taking
the time to have lunch with friends, it seems there's never a dull moment.

What makes things different for Watts? He does it all from an electric
wheelchair.

At the age of seven, Watts was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.

However, Watts does not let that stand in his way, especially when it comes
to his commitment to Lambda Chi Alpha.

"[He] helps us improve our grades by publicizing academic resources on
campus, pairing up new members with older brothers who can offer advice on
their courses and organizing study sessions for those that need extra
help," said Lambda Chi Alpha President Bill Norton Jr., a senior mechanical
engineering major.

Currently, there are only three disabled students participating in Greek
Life-all of which belong to the same fraternity.

"Before the new Phi Kappa Tau house on Community Park, Lambda Chi Alpha was
the only accessible Greek building," said Watts.

With this in mind, the members of Lambda Chi Alpha had a game plan as to
how they would handle events so that everyone could participate, something
that Watts believes all fraternities and sororities should start doing.

For example, Lambda Chi's basement was inaccessible for disabled
individuals. Due to this, events were held upstairs so that Watts could
attend as well.

"Throughout the whole initiation, anything I did the people in my class did
with me," said Watts. "If I had to go across campus and do something, they
made the whole class go as well, and they wouldn't let them get in a car
and go. It made me feel I was a part of it."

Planning such as this could enable fraternities and sororities to reach out
to a wider, more diverse group of people.

"I think many [disabled students] may be discouraged by the intramural and
social activity requirements some organizations have," said Norton.

"The way around this is understanding and planning for events that can
incorporate the widest group of people possible.

"Disabled students may not realize that a lot of these same organizations
would be willing to make exceptions to accommodate another brother or
sister that exemplifies their ideals," he said.

The stereotypical thoughts of both disabled and non-disabled students may
also stand in the way.

"That's what I want, for people that are disabled to realize they can be
apart of it and to not think of the typical stereotypes," said Watts.

Former vice president of external affairs in Lambda Chi Alpha, Matt Selm,
said, "I really don't believe that Greeks in general are apprehensive to
disabled students, rather, it is the other way around.

"Disabled Students generally hold the same negative stereotypes that their
non-disabled counterparts do," said Selm.

"When you compound that with self-isolation, such as not coming out to
Rush, they don't present themselves with the opportunity to join," said Selm.

A senior psychology major who is visually impaired, Selm is another one of
the three disabled students participating in Greek Life.

Whether disabled or not, a student seeking to participate in Greek Life
shares some of the same principles with one another.

A disabled student "would want to participate for the same reason any
student would. They would want to form social networks with people of
similar interests," said Cathy Patus, director of the Disability Resource
Center.

"It's great when students seek involvement. That's when attitudinal
barriers begin to dissolve," said Patus.

Norton said there are a number of ways one can benefit from taking part in
Greek Life, especially the sense of camaraderie a student can gain.

"I've heard countless students tell me their fraternity or sorority becomes
like a family they can lean on in times of crisis. Bonds that close are
hard to make in today's fast-paced society."

© Copyright 2007 Louisville Cardinal

During my time as active at Gamma Zeta we had a "disabled" brother; quadrapalegic. (how the hell do you spell that?)

That pisses me off: a "disabled" brother. NO BROTHER IS DISABLED! That's what us BROTHERS are HERE FOR. To HELP each other out so NO ONE is ever "disabled". It makes no difference if a brother is deaf or needs help in a subject. We're here to help each other out to overcome whatever there is.

Plain and simple; we treated him exactly like any brother. He got made fun of. We went out drinking. He was in ritual. He held chapter offices. He did EVERYTHING he was capable of. We treated him no different, because he WASN'T different.

"The way around this is understanding and planning for events that can
incorporate the widest group of people possible."

We never "planned around" him. We never thought "we can't do this because it's not accesible" or "we should try to accomodate him more". Never.

He was going to be a part of the event. We didn't care if it took 3 brothers to carry him up the stairs. We made the necessary plans.

He is one HELL OF A BROTHER and has earned my eternal respect.

I don't like the word disabled either, but the phrase 'differently abled' is a bit awkward. The article used the word disabled, too. I've often wondered how we would perform ritual if someone were deaf or blind. There is a blind brother that I see at national events and I really do need to chat with him about this for my own edification. I always seem to be scurrying off somewhere else when I see him and I need to set aside some quality time to chat with him.

At some campuses the lack of inclusion may be used against us and I believe that we need to take a sincere look at how we present ourselves to this largely un-recruited group.

John,

I belive that Matt Selm is that Brother at the International events.

ZAX,
Eric

Eric, I think you're right and I believe the name of his beautiful dog is Jessica

GZ, I appreciate your passion but I question your rhetoric. Jeremy is a great brother who participates in as many activities as possible but there are some things it simply isn't possible for him to do. Jeremy's condition keeps him from staying overnight with us so he isn't able to go on multi-day road trips with us. His electric chair weighs several hundred pounds so we can't just carry him upstairs and magically wish his mode of transportation up there. Jeremy understands that there are some things he can't do with us but that's no reason why we should have a formal at an inaccessible restaurant or hall!

I don't pretend to know the circumstances of the brother you speak of from your chapter so I would hope you could extend the same courtesy to your brother at another zeta and not presume we hold him to some sort of lower standard than any other brother. He and the other brothers in my zeta with disabilities have all held High Zeta positions and are some of the most highly regarded brothers we have. I don't appreciate your attempts to twist my comments into suggesting I expect any less of MY brothers, officers, and friends.


On a lighter note:
Eric and John, you're right, Matt Selm is a blind member of Zeta Sigma who has held a number of positions in our chapter including High Rho and High Theta. He's been to the past 3 Leadership Seminars / General Assembly. No doubt you remember him from the 2006 Gen Assembly when he gave our case for staying open as a chapter. He's always had a passion for this fraternity that's driven him to seek out new ways and ideas from alumni and other chapters to help us grow and improve. I only hope to have the devotion he's shown this fraternity.

Oh, and FYI, his dog is our mascot Janelle!

I knew her name started with a "J"

Zeta-Sigma is Louisville?

It's not rhetoric.

I did say he did everything he was capable of.

Obviously there are some things that are impossible.

But we always did what we had to do to make him a part of as much as we could.

I also wasn't targeting YOUR specific brother.

I was making more generalized statement about society and how they treat the "disabled" as a whole.

I hate the word handicapped.

The etymology of the word makes me believe it is demeaning to those
with disabilities, Brothers included.

I wish everyone would learn of the root and change their use of it in
such a common manner: parking spaces, legislation, etc.

Putting aside the discussion of words . . .
 

The article does raise an interesting viewpoint and one that we need to address as a Fraternity. Just how inclusive are we as a group? Individual chapters may do well, but how do we do as a group?

I read this in an email but had no link to it.

I admire not only this Young Brother, but all of the Brothers there!

John, as I remember, LXA is very inclusive about how we handle many people with either persuasion, or physicla ability.

I am proud of the leadership that LXA has been and done with.

Now, the Chapter level may be different and while they should not be, This Zeta has to be admired for what has been done by them!

Whoa John!!!!!!!!

"The article does raise an interesting viewpoint and one that we need to address as a Fraternity. Just how inclusive are we as a group? Individual chapters may do well, but how do we do as a group?"

I remember a few months ago I raised the question about diversity and how inclusive we are as a fraternity and I got bitched at to no end.

So fair warning John, you may have stirred the pot.

It's more a reflection of the numbers geek that I am. I made my living as a stat guru for Texas Instruments back in the early eighties.

I'm not aware of a comprehensive list of accommodations that have been made to facilitate things like ritual. I'd be interested in seeing the list if we ever get one together. Having that list might somehow raise the awareness of our Brothers with respect to the pool of potential recruits out there that may be invisible to us right now.

Since I don't have the Phi Manual in front of me, I'll have to go from memory. I believe it had a good-lenghted section devoted to alterations to ritual that can be made for those who are blind, deaf, etc. It's been a while since I've gotten my hands on it. (That is, until it's in my posession next year as Phi) I don't know what other type of list of accomodations could be made or if any of the sort have been.

It does have a description of accomodations, but I'm not sure how useful it would be.

My house does have an ADA compliant room but I'm not sure there is a ramp to get into the house. I have no doubt that it could be changed, though.