ASB rejects proposal to make accommodations for visually impaired students

Recently the Associated Student Body (ASB) at the University of Mississippi rejected a bill to make accommodations within the ASB available to students with disabilities. The bill, authored by journalism senator Courtney Powell, requested that the ASB offer its code and constitution along with the senate rules in both large-print and audio format for visually impaired students. According to Powell, she submitted the piece of legislation in an effort to ensure that all students, regardless of disability, have equal opportunity to participate in student government.


When the legislation was presented to the floor at a regular Tuesday night meeting, many questions were raised about the cost and practicality of providing such formats. There are 25 students who currently qualify for the accommodations. "Who are we as the governing student body to say we dont want to make these accommodations for them?" said Powell. "They should feel as involved in their student government as any other student." However, Powell said she somewhat taken aback by some of the criticism of the bill, particularly by one fellow senator who asked, "Can we not just provide them with reading glasses?".

Currently there are three copies of the ASB code and constitution available in the J.D. Williams Library, the law library as well as the ASB office. Powell says she will pay for the large-print and audio formats out of her own pocket to ensure that all students, able bodied or not, have an opportunity to participate in student government.