WWU Give Day 2026

Disability Pride Flag on the WWU University Flagpole during Disability Pride Month 

This year, we are focusing our support on the Disability Outreach Center, a program of the Disability Access Center.

Disability Outreach Center
The Disability Outreach Center (DOC) is a disability cultural center and resource hub centering the needs and experiences of disabled students and community allies. The DOC connects students with community, provides education and outreach, and advocates for disabled students.

Led by a team of student employees and a professional staff member,

• We build community by
  • Promoting disability identity development, community, culture, and pride by creating spaces where disabled students can connect, celebrate, and share experiences across the disability community including
    • Facilitating community spaces such as the disability affinity groups, 
    • Coordinating disability affinity event programming including 
      • DisOrientation (part of Western Welcome),
      • Disability Action Month (October),
      • Disability Day of Mourning (on or around March 1),
      • Autism and Neurodivergence Celebration Month (April),
      • DisCo (Disability Community) Graduation and Awards Ceremony (part of Commencement), and
      • Disability Pride Month (July), and
    • Coordinating the Disabled Peer Mentorship Program,
• We provide education and outreach by
  • Providing peer-to-peer support and referrals to students as well as to faculty, staff, and community members and 
  • Providing educational programming, trainings, classroom visits, and information about disability topics such as accessibility best practices, disability community and culture, and disability history to the campus community.
• We support individual and collective advocacy by
  • Serving on councils, committees, and working groups to advocate for increased accessibility, equity, inclusion, and belonging for disabled students and to center the lived experiences, perspectives, and expertise of disabled students.

Founded in March 2010, this year we are celebrating our Sweet 16 anniversary! 

The Disability Outreach Center is one of the less than 20 Disability Cultural Centers (DCCs) on a U.S. college or university campus. We are guided by Disability Justice principles, developed by “disabled Black, Indigenous, and people of the global majority, and queer, trans, and nonbinary disabled people," the Disability Cultural Center Charter developed by the DCC Professional Network, and student leadership.

Highlights from 2025-2026:

• We build community.
  • We have hosted and co-hosted 50+ events, activities, and programs including
    • 1st annual Disability Day of Mourning,
    • 2nd annual DisOrientation, Disability Action Month, Autism and Neurodivergence Celebration Month, and Disability Pride Month (upcoming),
    • 3rd annual DisCo Graduation and Awards Ceremony (upcoming),
    • Mask4Mask event series,
    • Affinity groups including Spoons and Knives, BIPOC x Disability Affinity Space, and Fat and Queer,
  • We have launched the first full year of the Disabled Peer Mentorship Program, a mentorship program for first year, transfer, and recently self-identified or newly disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, Blind and low vision, d/Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing students at WWU to receive individual mentorship from upper-level peers to increase the retention, success, and wellness of mentees,
  • We have conducted outreach to community organizations in Bellingham and Whatcom County to launch a campus and local community Disability Coalition,
• We provide education and outreach.
  • We have provided consultations, facilitated trainings, and shared educational information about disability, accessibility, and universal design to the campus community, 
  • We have facilitated classroom visits focused on STEM and business departments, 
• We support individual and collective advocacy. 
  • We served on councils, committees, and working groups including the Neurodiversity Inclusion Collaborative, Disability Employee Resource Group, Intersectional Experiences Committee, Trans Week, ASWWU Legislative Affairs Committee, Transportation Advisory Committee, and Information Technology Accessibility Committee to advocate for disabled students, staff, and faculty, and
  • We engaged in student leadership and professional development opportunities including the NASPA Certified Peer Education training. 
    
    

Help support our current and future projects!

• Expanding our capacity for DOC student employees to create more events and programming including signature events and additional affinity groups,  
• Continuing and improving the Disabled Peer Mentorship Program after our start-up funding runs out at the end of this academic year,
• Launching the Disability Coalition made up of campus and local community disability organization,
• Purchasing disability affinity cords in the colors of the disability pride flag, 
• Creating a community mural in the Disability Outreach Center community lounge, 
• Developing an art gallery that showcases student and local disabled artists and celebrates disability culture through visual and tactile art,
• Reestablishing and improving our Disability Studies library, 
• Creating an allergen free pantry and microwave in the Disability Outreach Center community lounge, 
• Establishing a sensory friendly space in the Disability Outreach Center community lounge, 
• Increase outreach to graduate students and students on the Peninsulas and Everett campuses,
• Developing an individual and collective advocacy series focused on skills, strategies, and collective access,
• Exploring options for disability and neurodivergence affinity housing,
• Establishing a disability community student scholarship, the only identity group under the Centers for Student Access, Community, and Intercultural Engagement to not have a community-focused student scholarship, 
• Establishing an emergency financial assistance fund to help students stay enrolled and succeed at Western, especially in times of unexpected hardship or disability-related barriers.

The Disability Outreach Center is funded solely through student fees, and all funding goes to disability affinity programming and student employee wages. We need your support to grow and best serve disabled students.

Disabled students make up 21% of the student population at Western. Disabled students make tremendous accomplishments in scholarship, art, and beyond while navigating disability-related barriers and challenging experiences in their lives. Disabled students have identified challenges that pose barriers to their personal well-being and academic success. Disabled students face a significant gap in retention and graduate rates. Disabled students at Western also experience rates of basic needs, housing, and financial aid insecurity significantly higher than the overall rate. Disabled students also report struggles with finding connection or community. Disabled students of all identities, backgrounds, and experiences deserve accessibility, equity, inclusion, belonging, and support. Through building community, providing education and outreach, and engaging in advocacy, the Disability Outreach Center strives for change by working to address barriers and promoting equitable access to all aspects of education and university life. The DOC uses your donations to help alleviate some of these challenges.

Student Perspectives:

I was an incoming transfer student to WWU in Fall 2024 and have been working for the DOC as a student employee for a little over a year now. Initially, I was planning on only staying at Western for a quarter, as I was worried about finding community and support here in Bellingham. However, attending DisOrientation events and Spoons and Knives in my first quarter at WWU connected me with disabled community in a way I had never experienced before. Before making these connections, I didn't realize how isolated I had felt as a disabled person. Having community who understands that part of my life, who I can laugh with and learn from, has been so important to me. The DOC is the primary reason I decided to continue attending WWU. I have benefited immensely from working for the DOC. Working here has given me financial stability, especially as a student who has experienced homelessness. This has allowed me to take care of my needs and actually plan for my future, instead of constantly scrambling to figure out how I would make it through the month. Additionally, working for the DOC has given me a supportive environment to develop skills I will need for my future career. Working with fellow disabled people has helped model ways to complete necessary work tasks in ways that are feasible for me. My coworkers and supervisor have an understanding of disability and access needs that allow me to work together with them to figure out how to approach tasks I struggle with. In this role I have had a unique opportunity to develop skills in student leadership, professional judgment, resource navigation, communication and more. -Oscar Hastings, DOC Intersectional Community Building Co-Coordinator, transfer student second year at Western, environmental science major

This is my third and final year at Western, I have been so lucky to work at the DOC for this past school year. As a disabled full-time student, there aren’t that many accessible jobs that I can currently access. Working at the DOC has granted me larger access to the disabled community and ensured that I could complete my education. Most of my college career, I have been living out of my savings due to the barriers I experience with finding work. Having a steady and stable income from the DOC means that I could continue studying what I am truly passionate about rather than what I could finish fastest. The DOC provides so much opportunity to both students and staff.” -Harley Stringham, DOC Disability Coalition Coordinator, Fairhaven Interdisciplinary College Senior, Cripping Pleasure 

The DOC is an incredible resource for students on campus. As an employee within the Centers, I find myself recommending the DOC as a resource to many student that I serve and interact with, and have had many return and comment upon the community, belonging, and support they found at the DOC and with DOC staff. This office is such an important resource to students and integral to community-building at WWU. -4th year undergraduate student and Centers student employee 

This is my first year at Western and when I first started here, the DOC made me feel instantly welcomed into Western as a community. I am autistic and have never felt like I belonged anywhere but from the moment I entered the DOC, I felt welcomed. On the first week of school, they held a speed friending event and I met one of my best friends there. At every event I go to from movie nights, to powerpoint night, to silent disco, every person there has been welcoming, friendly, supportive, and non-judgmental. Like many other disabled space, I need to be in a place free from ableist bias where I don't have to worry about masking or if my eye contact is right or if there is something off about me. -1st year undergraduate student  

When I first transferred to Western in Fall 2024, I was so anxious about whether I would be able to find a community here, especially as a disabled person. I ended up going to a “Glam Up Your Mobility Aids” event and accessibility tour of campus that was run by the DOC, and so many of the people that I met there are still very close friends who I know I will continue to spend time with, even after I graduate. The accessibility tour was also truly one of the most helpful things that I’ve ever been to, as the DOC staff and other students were able to show me exactly how to get to my classrooms for the quarter, what the main accessible routes are on campus, and what support resources are available to me as a disabled person. The past couple quarters have been especially rough for me health-wise, and events that the DOC runs (like Spoons & Knives, Mask4Mask, etc.) have been such a huge part of the reason why I’ve been able to push through and continue my education at Western. The support that disabled students receive from the DOC is invaluable, and I truly don’t think that I would have been able to continue my education at Western, let alone be graduating soon, without the DOC, its wonderful staff, and their dedication to high quality events that support students. -Kai Brown, transfer student, College of the Environment Senior, Urban Planning and Sustainable Development major

I am a disabled student who attends a lot of the larger DOC events. These are important to me because they provide me with a space to be around other disabled students. They are especially accessible to me because of the meals and snacks they provide, which help me be able to just share a meal with a community that is accepting of me and understands the unique challenges of being a disabled student, without having to think about where my next meal will come from. -Mo, BNS Major

As a disabled WWU student, I feel constantly marginalized and left out on campus. The DOC provides connection to my community in a society that otherwise isolates us from each other. The work they do is vital to ensuring Disabled voices are heard and represented; besides the DOC, there is no space on campus that is truly designed with disabled people in mind. -Juno, undergraduate senior, psychology major and critical disability studies minor 

The DOC is such an important resource here on campus. I am a DAC employee, and I often recommend folks connect with the DOC if they are looking to find community or need a safe space to exist in. I, myself, like to sit in there when I need a moment to decompress. The folks that work there are always incredibly helpful and a calming energy that I can't imagine being without. The DOC can sometimes feel like the silent, behind-the-scenes pillar of support/foundation that often gets overlooked, but any folks that know anything about theater can tell you that the show does not go on without the behind-the-scenes folks. DOC constantly does incredible work and does not have nearly enough support for all the things that they do." -4th year undergraduate Biology major and Chemistry and Psychology minor student and DAC student employee 

We appreciate your donation of any amount. Thank you for supporting disabled students at Western Washington University!

We also encourage you to consider supporting the rest of the Centers for Student Access, Community, and Intercultural Engagement, Multicultural Student Services and LGBTQ+ Western, and our friends at the Institute for Critical Disability Studies and Adaptive Sports Club.