Unlocking Club Doors: Raising awareness for invisible disabilities at U of C
By Reyam Jamaleddine, February 9 2025—
Invisible disabilities can often be dismissed, misunderstood and the subject for skepticism. At the University of Calgary (U of C), the Invisible Disabilities and Education Advocacy Association (IDEAA) is determined to change that. IDEAA is not only challenging the current atmosphere for how invisible disabilities are viewed, they are also connecting the campus community with an initiative and plan through fundraising, education and community-building.
An invisible disability is a condition that is physical or mental, it is not visible to others but it can limit or affect an individual’s quality of life. In an interview with the Gauntlet the clubs president Maryse Hendi a fourth year Sociology major and the clubs communications coordinator Shae McRae-Marlatt a fifth year double major in Linguistics and Law and Society major discussed how individuals with invisible disabilities have to navigate their lives as well as how the club raises awareness to these issues.
“There’s a common misconception with people who don’t understand that there are young people who have chronic conditions, or chronic pain, or other invisible conditions. They still think that they would know if the person has it so they think of the sort of judgment that people make without realizing, like thinking ‘Oh, that person just took the elevator up one floor. Why did they need to do that? That’s lazy, or why are people walking so slow?’ Sometimes they’re just walking slow, but sometimes it’s because they can’t walk any faster,” said McRae-Marlatt in an interview with the Gauntlet.
Through hosting fundraising events, this group raises awareness and creates spaces for education for students on campus. Each month members of the club look into what disability is broadly being made aware of, such as Braille Literacy Month in January.
“The format of the club is that we select an invisible disability every month to focus our fundraising and education efforts. We try to raise awareness and discuss the lived experiences of the people affected by it. We do that in sort of two ways, we have our external facing side of the club, where we host fundraisers and educational events like information nights and seminars. Then we have sort of our internal side where we have events for club members with invisible disabilities, to create a safe space and community for people who are going through these difficult misconceptions on campus,” said Hendi.
The club finds that the most successful way to fundraise for their initiative is raffle events. Citing that this method has maintained student engagement and interest.
“The raffle fundraisers are probably the most effective for bringing in people who aren’t already aware of invisible disabilities or aware of the club. The most recent raffle fundraiser we did, we raised $300 for a local group that does activities and other safe programs for adults and younger people who have disabilities, invisible or otherwise,” said McRae-Marlatt
In the past, the club has mainly focused on external advocacy through their events with the intention of raising awareness. However, the club intends to establish more internal events for its members in order to create a safe space and community for those who have invisible disabilities.
“What we are planning on doing more of in the future is working on the internal component of the club. So being more of a support space for people who are living with these conditions because we noticed that the most of the people who are joining were joining because they were looking to connect with other people going through similar things,” said McRae-Marlatt.
The clubs founding principles are ones that take root in creating a better life not just for students on campus but also in the broader community. For them, this doesn’t just apply for those who currently have invisible disabilities, but rather everyone as a whole.
“We want students on campus and in Calgary to be able to live their lives easily, even if they are disabled. They don’t have to be healthy to live their lives easily. This is one of the core missions that we have is that we want for people to be able to live an easy life without the obstructions of ableism and infrastructure that isn’t accessible,” said Hendi.
To learn more, become a member, or be a part of one of IDEAA’s events check out their linktree.
This article is a part of our Voices section and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gauntlet editorial board.