On dorm room doors, Bennett Stankovits ’19 saw name tags that said Deerfield welcomes every race, religion, and ethnicity, and couldn’t help but notice that “ability” wasn’t included on it. As a person with Tourette’s syndrome, he hoped to improve disability accommodation at Deerfield. So he took initiative to found Deerfield Academy Disabilities Alliance (DADA) with the goal of addressing the stigma around getting accommodations or having a disability. Specifically, he hoped to educate students about disabilities that weren’t immediately visible.
Since then, DADA’s purpose has evolved to encompass all disabilities, including physical disabilities, and adopted increasing accessibility as a key goal. DADA has also started educating adults and other community members alongside students. However, the essence of the alliance’s goals has stayed the same: to make sure campus is accessible, to make sure those with disabilities are receiving fair accommodations, to destigmatize disabilities, and to educate the Deerfield community on disabilities.
This year, DADA has created an email template forstudents to communicate to their teachers about any disabilities they might have and how they best learn. Alliance Co-Chair Gracie Spencer ’25 said, “Even if you don’t have a classified disability, if you still have some sort of learning difference that you want to be addressed to your teachers, you could still use this template.” Spencer wanted to emphasize that the template is a resource for every student. She expressed her worry that many students might not know the template exists or that they think only those with diagnosed disabilities can use it.
DADA has also created an accessible tour route for those with physical disabilities, which made navigating the Deerfield campus easier for students and visitors with mobility challenges. The Disabilities Alliance has also held many club meetings and block parties. In these spaces, students can both learn about others and their experiences as well as share their own experiences.
11th Grade Class Dean and Student Life Office Member Brian Barbato, who serves as the DADA faculty advisor, emphasized that they allow students to be heard. Spencer’s description of the discussions was similar. She said, “We want to create a strong community of people so that you have other people to talk to about things, or just other people who either know what you’re going through or are interested in learning from your experience.”
Block parties are another way DADA educates the greater Deerfield community on disabilities. They include snacks, food, fidgets, learning sign language, or activities that can challenge students’ perspectives on disability or sensory experiences. Additionally, DADA has put together a display in the Boyden Library with different books about and relating to disabilities so that Deerfield students can easily begin to learn about them.
DADA has many plans for the future. In the next 20 years, the Alliance plans on talking with members of school administration to discuss how to renovate buildings on campus, such as the dining hall, the Main School Building, and Arms, to be more accessible. Furthermore, they aim to continue allowing special accommodations in classes as fairly as possible. While students with learning disabilities might receive extra time on tests, they don’t receive extra time on homework (in which time limits are placed based on class level and apply to all students). They may have to spend an unfair amount of time on their assignments, and this is an aspect current accommodations don’t address.
Finally, continuing efforts to destigmatize disabilities is another ongoing goal. While the Deerfield community has made great progress towards understanding accommodations, it hasn’t been entirely successful yet. “I think we’re better than we were,” said Mr. Barbato. “But you will still hear a student say, ‘Oh, if I had extra time, I’d get the perfect score on the SAT, right?’ And that student who says that is not really trying to be negative towards somebody. Most of the students who get extra time would love to give it back and love to not need it.”
Mr. Barbato also expressed his hope that the Deerfield community can get to a point where people can start seeing disabilities not as a handicap but as a unique part of an individual that may allow them to see things in ways others might not— their very own unique power.
YONG DING/DEERFIELD SCROLL