N.B. law grad frustrated after being unable to cross stage at his own graduation
While university graduates around Canada are celebrating their accomplishments, one University of New Brunswick law graduate said he was “humiliated” during his graduation ceremony.
“When I started law school, I said it myself, ‘When I cross the stage, I know I’ve made it.’ But I didn’t get to cross the stage,” Blair Curtis said.
He has a wheelchair.
In December, he said he filled out a form indicating that he has a wheelchair and a service dog. In February, he started discussions with the law grad committee, and in March, those discussions moved to the university-wide committee.
That’s when he was told he’d have an accessible ramp, but that he couldn’t test it until May 14, two days before the ceremony.
When he did test it, he discovered it was too steep to wheel up on his own.
“Which was my fear right back in December when I submitted the request, was that I wouldn’t be able to get on it. And it was kind of arising in front of me, which was terrifying,” he said.
He says the university then gave him three options: stay at the back of the stage for the full ceremony, have someone push him, or receive the degree from the floor.
He didn’t want to miss watching his friends cross the stage and wanted to be visible, so he did not accept the first option.
Curtis also didn’t want someone to push him up the ramp. He has a progressive syndrome called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
“So being able to maintain my independence for as long as possible is really important for me,” he said.
Instead, he crossed the floor.
“When Blair crossed on the carpet in front of the stage, those of us sitting really couldn’t see him cross, we had to watch on the monitors,” Mindy Parsons, his friend and another graduate, said.
“Several accommodation options
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