51AV

By GRACE HOGGARTH '22 on March 11, 2024

From the moment she took her first psychology class in high school, Robyn McCray '92 knew she wanted to spend her time unraveling why people think and behave the way they do. Reflecting on 15 years at TU, and two years as the director of Accessibility & Disability Services (ADS), McCray has found what brought her to 51AVis very different from why she stays.

After receiving her master’s degree, McCray spent much of her career in social work, working with Kennedy Krieger and the Children’s Guild of Baltimore with students with autism and medical and physical disabilities.

As the director of ADS, McCray works with her team to create an inclusive campus for students with disabilities and neurodiverse students.

The office provides students with affirming resources and raises awareness across campus about how 51AVcan create a more inclusive community, including accepting the biases we hold.

“We are educating the campus that we do have biases and we need to talk about them so they don’t stop us from doing what needs to be done,” says McCray, “[We do this] to ensure people with disabilities have the same access to what they need—so we aren’t closing any doors on a population that already has enough doors closed to them.”

Biases makes inclusion and community building a challenge. Although a natural human tendency, biases can create untrue and harmful assumptions about an individual’s lifestyle, accomplishments and experiences.

In many cases, biases lead people to miss out on getting to know incredible people they could have a great deal in common with— something McCray is no stranger to.

When McCray first met her husband, she admitted she initially wrote him off romantically. She noticed his wheelchair and made blanket assumptions about how their interests and lifestyles wouldn’t match.

But when McCray spoke with him, she found him to be incredibly witty and charming, and when she listened to him, she realized he led a very active lifestyle and had career goals just like her. She learned his paraplegia presented many challenges, but it made him strong-willed and determined to achieve.

Learning about his life with paraplegia offered McCray space to confront her own biases and accept that she held them—a step she views as vital in creating more self-aware and inclusive communities.

Whereas many years ago ADS focused primarily on building accommodation services, it is focused now more than ever on inclusion - a pillar of TU's strategic plan to create a community where people from all backgrounds, identities, abilities and life experiences are valued and supported to achieve their fullest potential. 

McCray believes inclusion can be pushed forward by listening intently to the campus community.

“The conversations we have with students are so important because students are more than the application or documentation they submit,” says McCray. “You’re not going to know a person’s story by looking at them. You never know what they’ve experienced, where they come from or what has happened to them.”

For McCray, it has become impossible to separate what she has learned from her husband from the work she does at TU.

“What got me here to 51AVis now very different from why I stay. My husband has a lot to do with that.”

Going through 12 years of life together, they have faced many challenges with ableism, from barriers to physical accessibility to the prejudices others carry. Yet her husband’s optimistic outlook on life has remained strong.

His experiences empower and inspire her to be a better advocate for others. She has seen the other side of barriers to accessibility firsthand and understands how frustrating they are.

“He’s a big part of my world and a good reminder to me, every day, to give it your best and to live life to its fullest.”

DIVERSITY AT TU

Celebrating Tigers with Disabilities

March is Disability Awareness Month. Build connections, access resources and support services, and celebrate a resilient community. Learn more.