West Virginia has the highest number of people with disabilities in the country - almost one in 10 West Virginians are disabled. Those who are college-aged and disabled might turn away from going to the state’s land-grant university because of the lack of accessibility on campus.

Amanda Hutchison was not like that.

The junior sport and exercise psychology student from northeastern Pennsylvania decided to come to West Virginia University even though she knew it would be hard to use a wheelchair on a geographically challenging campus.

“I love this school, and I love the opportunities WVU gives its students,” Hutchison said. “But there can be strides taken to make it better.”

An involved Mountaineer, Hutchison is taking on that position of improving campus-wide accessibility. As a Student Government Association Governor, she has already impacted the future of WVU students with disabilities.

“It started out with campus accessibility like roads and sidewalks; now it’s more inclusion and education of any kind of disability,” Hutchison said. “I can’t change how (the land) is, but there are little things that can be done.”

The SGA Governor recently gained a lot of attention for her accomplishment in adding Americans with Disabilities seating in Milan Puskar Stadium. However, Hutchison said the focus on her disability has become overwhelming and sometimes uncomfortable.

“To a good portion of the population here, I’m just a girl in a wheelchair,” Hutchison said. “There are so many more things to me than my disability. I’m a WVU student; I’m a sister; I’m a friend. I can do almost everything everyone else can.”

Since she has taken on a huge advocacy role, Hutchison has dealt with a variety of people who are curious to know more about her but go about it inappropriately.

“If I can educate one person on how to interact with a person with a disability so they don’t make them feel uncomfortable, they can educate someone else,” Hutchison said. “There’s not a lot of exposure here. I just want to educate them.”

Hutchison, who faced a spinal cord injury in 2007, receives plenty of positive feedback from peers who admire her passion, but her journey to this point was and is not easy.

“The first day of freshman year, I was going into a huge lecture hall, and being the only one in a wheelchair was so scary. Three months into freshman year, I packed my bags and applied elsewhere,” she said. “But then I felt like I was supposed to come here and be the one to start the change.”

Accessibility issues on campus are stuck in a cycle, Hutchison said: Students with disabilities do not come to WVU because they do not receive any help here, but the University does not have enough students with disabilities to draw attention to the

existing problems.

“I wouldn’t really be doing this if I didn’t see all the problems and injustices here. There’s a reason I’m here, and that’s to make it better for future students,” she said. “None of these things I’m working on are going to happen till I’m gone. I see the problem, and I want to change the problem even if it doesn’t personally affect me.”

The University provides students with disabilities an ADA van to take them to classes, but Hutchison said it is not enough. She missed two weeks of classes last winter because the van could not always run in the harsh weather.

Another point Hutchison made is riding ADA vans takes away the independence all students seek in college. This year, Hutchison has been driving to her classes and, if handicap spaces and student lots are full, she just takes the parking tickets.

“(Students with disabilities) are a visible community, but no one sees them,” Hutchison said. “They’re discriminated against every day.”

For example, one of Hutchison’s classes last year moved locations from an accessible place to a building that was “a pain” to get to. As she put it, “classrooms changing locations makes life 10 times harder.”

Though the environmental barriers cannot really be negotiated, Hutchison proposed “little things around campus,” like cutting out curbs in sidewalks and making buildings more accessible.

“Showing how passionate I am about my platform has gotten me a long way,” Hutchison said. “But I didn’t obviously do this all on my own. The constant support from my SGA family makes me want to work harder.”

When she is not in the SGA office or being interviewed for her achievements, Hutchison keeps up with a hectic schedule. She is a member of the Sport and Exercise Psychology Club, involved in Greek life, a student ambassador, a member of the College Republicans, involved in a national honor society, plays guitar, hangs out with friends and enjoys sports such as football, basketball and softball.

“I just feel like I could be more successful here if I could get around easier,” she said. “I do it anyway because I love my major and I love my school, so I push through it every day.”

With a minor in disability studies, Hutchison said if being a sport and exercise psychologist does not work out, she would want to work in rehabilitation counseling and help people through physical and emotional trauma.

“I want to find the best way to counsel someone who’s gone through some type of injury. I want to help people find coping mechanisms,” said Hutchison, who plans to merge the disability and athletic sides to rehabilitation counseling.

“A disability can happen to anyone at any time. I just feel like I have to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves.”