SCRIPPS COLLEGE STUDENT LEADS DISABILITY ADVOCACY 

There’s nothing about Maddy Ruvolo’s appearance that would tip off the autonomic nervous system disorder she deals with on a daily basis.

Ruvolo has dysautonomia, an illness that causes extreme fatigue, bouts of pain and what’s described as a mental fog. It was enough to keep her bedridden for most of her high school experience, and it still shapes the way she deals with her day-today routine.

Like countless others who deal with an illness that isn’t physically apparent, Ruvolo’s condition was met with the unflinching cynicism that she was either just faking it or lazy – a byproduct of ableism, or discrimination toward people with disabilities.

Growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland, Ruvolo’s illness began her sophomore year in high school. That was the year, she said, that she crawled into bed - a bed she wouldn’t come out of until a few years later.

Though Ruvolo’s parents and brother provided a huge deal of support, she still felt upset. She still felt frustrated. She even felt guilty about her condition.

But all that would change one day.

“When I discovered the disability community, that completely changed my life,” said Ruvolo. “Realizing that I wasn’t alone, when I had that perspective, it made me feel better about myself, I didn’t feel guilty anymore and made me feel empowered to advocate for myself and other people with disabilities.”

Today, the 21-year-old American studies student at Scripps College does just that.

Ruvolo is the president of the Claremont Colleges Disability, Illness and Difference Alliance, which she helped cofound in the spring of 2012.

DIDA holds weekly discussions that bring disabled students and their allies together, and arranges events that advocate for change.

Most recently, her work and advocacy has helped shaped the direction of Scripps Student Disability Resource Center that is set to open later this year in the Robert E. Tranquada

Student Services Center.

Originally intended as an academic resource, Ruvolo and her colleagues saw an opportunity to make the center much more.

“We thought it was really important that there is a cultural component to the center,” Ruvolo said. “That it would be a place for students not just to get academic services but also to meet other disabled students, talk about disability issues and that it would also be a social place for disabled students and allies.”

Ruvolo’s advocacy extends beyond campus. Last summer, she went to Washington DC for an internship with the American Association of People with Disabilities, working with Representative Alan Grayson.

Together, they researched and drafted constituent response letters addressing healthcare issues. She also partnered with other interns and put together a photo project depicting life as a disabled person.

Though Ruvolo’s dysautonomia has eased its grip since her high school years, it’s still a daily process. She has to plan out her day accordingly and prepare for the fatigue and the aches, but it’s not her primary focus.

“I don’t really have that much control over my health so I try to focus on the things I do have control over,” Ruvolo said.

“That’s why I’m more interested in working for equality for disabled and disability justice than I am in working for a cure for my illness.”

For updates on the Student Disability Resource Center and more information, visit www. scrippscollege.edu/ or visit Claremont Colleges Disability Illness and Difference Alliance online at www.facebook.com/ ClaremontDIDA.