An Inclusive Club at Cape Fear Community College
Michael Friant Mr. Patterson English 112 D16 May 1st 2019
An Inclusive Club at Cape Fear Community College
Imagine a life cooped up an apartment on the weekends or stuck at home staring at some type of screen void of socialization and human connectivity. Unfortunately, this is the reality for many students living with disabilities. Research shows that individuals who are socially included, are successful in other aspects of their lives, for example academically. Maggie Brogan, the President of the Best Buddies Chapter at UNCW, says the experience within her high school Chapter was educational, life changing, and beneficial for not only the students with disabilities but also for their able bodied peers. Cape Fear Community College should implement a Best Buddies chapter because it would educate able-bodied students on how to interact with their peers with disabilities and enhance the social lives of their students with and without disabilities by bringing the two groups together.
College students with disabilities struggle to find friends and acceptance from their able bodied peers. This is due to a lack of familiarity with how to interact with them. Best Buddies is a worldwide friendship organization which pairs individuals with and without disabilities together based on their interests for the length of an academic school year. The individuals are then encouraged to hang out and communicate with each other on a regular basis. Brogan says, “I knew that not everyone was comfortable enough or kind enough to go out of their way to talk to these individuals” when referencing the IDD program of her high school. This was her motivation to join the local Best Buddies Chapter. Although this occurred in a High School setting, individuals with similar mind sets graduate high schools annually and go on to attend community colleges. Cape Fear is one of those colleges. Cape Fear would be providing a safe environment for these individuals to learn how to engage and interact with their peers with disabilities.
However, once these individuals are equipped and familiarized on how to communicate with their peers with disabilities, barriers come down. Brogan says, “It was so crazy to me to see the "popular" jock types of students talking and laughing with the Life Skills students so frequently during my senior year because it was such a drastic difference from my earlier high school years.” Although this was in a high school setting, it could be applied to the social campus life. A Best Buddies chapter would be the launching pad from which friendships could be formed. Imagine students with and without disabilities talking to each other before and after classes. Imagine them meeting up for lunch or going together to the social events on campus like the fall and spring flings. Imagine them hanging out with each other on the weekends.
College students with disabilities are often cooped up at home in their free time while their able bodied peers are out having fun. Mary Dolan, in, “The State of the Nation’s Disabled,” writes of the surveys taken, the social lives of individuals with disabilities are less than half on a weekly basis when compared to their able bodied peers (48). Dolan also asserts one of the reasoning behind this harsh reality is possibly due to “negative public attitudes” (48). Cape Fear would be playing a role in changing not only the students’s perceptions but also the close associates of the students. In doing so, they would also be making a more positive inclusive environment for people with disabilities to have opportunities to socialize and make friends.
Likewise, college students with disabilities often are not shown the decency and respect they deserve by their typically abled peers. According to Karen Myers et al. in “Saving Face,” individuals with disabilities have voiced their concerns about their typically abled peers feeling not at ease around them. They also expressed their desire for the students without disabilities would value them as individuals and for the things they can do (101). This certainly applies to students with disabilities at Cape Fear. They deserve to be shown decency and respect. Cape Fear would be ensuing mutual respect among the two groups with such a program. Also the friends of the students involved would learn how to show decency and respect to students with disabilities by observing their peers’s interactions.
In addition, college students with disabilities often struggle with depression as a result of being isolated. In the video entitled “Matt and Evan” Matt’s parents talk about how he struggled with finding a place to fit in and would have depressive moments before joining Best Buddies (00:01:17). College students with disabilities also struggle with depression as a result of being socially isolated. Later in the video, Matt’s parents talk about how they almost always see Matt in a happy mood as a result of him being part of the Best Buddies program (00:03:04-00:03:13) Cape Fear would be creating a atmosphere where students with disabilities could find friends to hang out with. In doing so, they would be diminishing the depression that their students deal with on a regular basis.
College students with disabilities who have social support systems have a greater likelihood of succeeding academically. Annemarie Vaccaro, Meada Daly-Cano, and Barbara Newman in “A Sense of Belonging among College Students with Disabilities,” writes when students with disabilities feel like they have a place to fit in, they are successful in their scholarly endeavors (670). A Best Buddies program at Cape Fear would be a way to foster an environment where students with disabilities can find their sense of belonging among their peers. The students would then start excelling in their studies which is ultimately what Cape Fear’s end goal is.
Similarly, students with disabilities are more likely to be honest about their struggles and needs when they have a community around them. Christopher Murray et al. in “Social Support” writes asking for specialized assistance in their scholarly endeavors comes more readily for individuals with disabilities when they have social network surrounding them (279). A Best Buddies program at Cape Fear would be good for those students who might have invisible disabilities and are afraid to be candid about their struggles. It would give them the environment to feel safe and become more confident in their own skin. The club would be a beacon of reassurance, acceptance, and validation.
Likewise, students without disabilities benefit academically from being involved with extracurricular activities. In “High-achieving students identify the top reasons behind their schooling success” Dr. Noella Mackenzie says:
“It gives them that sense of belonging, that sense of I'm not just here for the academic learning, I'm part of teams, groups, music and art experiences... we know creative processes get the brain working in ways that support academic learning and support social development, it's about being a well-rounded human being (The Sydney Morning Herald).
A Best Buddies program would be a place where students of all abilities have a place to call their own. It would also serve as a method of mental stimulation which would benefit them in their academic studies. The program would also serve as a way to expose students of all abilities to different groups of individuals, thus helping them to gain a greater perspective on the world in which they live.
In addition, the relationships between the two groups of students within the organization extend far beyond their membership within the chapter. Brogan says, “It truly builds lifelong friendships that those individuals would otherwise have a hard time building and maintaining.” Many Cape Fear students with disabilities often find it difficult to form friendships with their peers naturally. Having an environment where those relationships could be formed would be vital to their social networks both while they are pursuing their academic studies and after they are long done at Cape Fear.
College students with disabilities, who are part of the program, make more friends than just the people who they meet within the Best Buddies chapter. In the video “Best Buddies Indiana...” we meet Carson and Jeremiah. Carson met Jeremiah, who has autism, in the IDD program at their high school. It is revealed that Carson and Jeremiah are still friends even though Carson has left their High School program and is going to Purdue University. They are even shown hanging out with other guys in the basement (00:03:33). The Best Buddies program would enable students with disabilities to meet the friends of the students who are involved with the organization, thus expanding and enriching their social lives. The students without disabilities would also benefit from the program because they would also be expanding and enriching their social lives.
These sources have both shown the need and value of social inclusion for individuals with disabilities especially in the post secondary setting. Cape Fear Community College would be acknowledging this need of acceptance and human connectivity by initiating such a program as Best Buddies. While Best Buddies programs are usually implemented at 4 year universities, Cape Fear would be providing invaluable opportunities for individuals who have no plans on furthering their education. These programs would foster and expand the community of those who are going off to four year universities.
Works Cited
“Best Buddies Indiana Mission Moment 2018- Carson & Jeremiah.” YouTube, uploaded by Best Buddies Indiana, 27 November 2018, https://youtu.be/kPp2x4v438U .
Brogan, Maggie. Personal interview. 24 Apr. 2019
Dolan, Mary. "The State of the Nation's Disabled: Among Hte Young, Modest Improvements." Civil Rights Journal, vol. 5, no. 1, 2000, pp. 46. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.cfcc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.cfcc.edu/docview/215212432?accountid=9875 .
”Matt and Even- Best Buddies Indiana.” YouTube, uploaded by Best Buddies International, 10 March 2014, https://youtu.be/qEc8lshYtJ8 .
Murray, Christopher, et al. "Social Support: Main and Moderating Effects on the Relation between Financial Stress and Adjustment among College Students with Disabilities." Social Psychology of Education : An International Journal, vol. 16, no. 2, 2013, pp. 277-295. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.cfcc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.cfcc.edu/docview/1365003600?accountid=9875, doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.cfcc.edu/10.1007/s11218-012-9204-4
Myers, Karen A., et al. "Saving Face: Inclusive Communication with College Students with Disabilities using Politeness and Face Negotiation." Journal of Diversity Management (Online), vol. 7, no. 2, 2012, pp. 97. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.cfcc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.cfcc.edu/docview/1418717230?accountid=9875 .
Singhal, Pallavi. “High-achieving students identify the top reasons behind the schooling success.” The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 Apr 2019. https://www.smh.com.au/education/high-achieving-students-identify-the-top-reasons-behind-their-schooling-success-20190425-p51h6h.html . Accessed 30 Apr. 2019.
Vaccaro, Annemarie, Meada Daly-Cano, and Barbara M. Newman. "A Sense of Belonging among College Students with Disabilities: An Emergent Theoretical Model." Journal of College Student Development, vol. 56, no. 7, 2015, pp. 670-686. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.cfcc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.cfcc.edu/docview/1731521409?accountid=9875 .