After an amazing week in Glasgow, we made our way to Edinburgh. After just spending three days here, I’ve determined that I’m going to travel here in the future. The views and the city are beautiful and there’s so much more to do in Edinburgh. Especially with the Fringe Fest going on, there’s always something to do.

The first day we checked out the Fringe Fest for a wee bit and the first thing I noticed was how inaccessible it is. There’s just a massive amount of people everywhere and its really hard to get around places. Especially with all the cobblestones and really steep stairs that never end.

Today we visited the University of Edinburgh and we spoke to people about disability services on their campus. It was interesting to hear about all the accommodations that the university can provide for students with disabilities and compare them with the services that UMass provides. The university does a lot to provide support for their students and staff. I love that they have a transition event for students to attend before coming to the university to help them become more familiar with the campus to aid the transition. I also like the fact that the university only informs professors about a student registered with disability services on a need to know basis. It is much better that way because not every student wants to disclose their disability to their professors. the university is also doing their best on making all their buildings accessible, but some of the building cannot be made accessible due too the city not wanting to have construction done on older buildings.

I had an AMAZING time at IASSIDD!! Even though it wasn’t my first conference, it was my first science conference. It was very different from any conference or convention I’ve been to, but it was definitely one of my favorites.

On the first day, I was overwhelmed by how many presentations there were on each day. I couldn’t decide what presentations I was interested in seeing so I just decided to follow a group and hope for the best.

After experiencing the first day, felt a little more comfortable and I figured out how to navigate myself through the conference. On the remaining days of the conference, I focused on talks about Autism. I was really interested in the research being done with autistic people because I hope to do similar research in the future. As a nerdy autistic person, I got to learn a lot more about the support that I could get in a sciencey way. I do a lot of research related to autism in my free time, but it was really interesting to see different perspectives from people all over the world. Something that I noticed was that a lot of the research was being mostly done on children and adolescents, but the researchers didn’t seem to have people with disabilities in their teams. The researchers meant well, but it would have been nice to see more representation of people with disabilities conducting the research rather than just being the test subjects.

My favorite part of IASSIDD was the Project Ability table. I love art and it was so fun to have my portrait done by one of the artists. Maybe in the future IASSIDD will consider having more presentions done by people with disabilities like the last keynote. I really enjoyed how they finished it off with questions for the audience to answer related to the conference and accessibility. I even participated and said that research being done should be shared on social media because its a better way to have a conversation about this topic without having to be face to face.

I had so much fun at IASSIDD and I’m sad it’s over. I definitely would want to attend another IASSIDD conference.

-Sam Costa

In continuation from my previous post, I was surprised to see so many signs around the city that promote accessibility. When I went to the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow, I immediately noticed a sign on the front entrance that said “Autism Aware.” That made me so happy because that was the first time I ever saw something like that. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that the sign had a puzzle piece pattern. The puzzle piece is the most common symbol to represent Autism, but many autistic people are against the symbol and prefer the infinity sign.

I also didn’t feel like the museum was actually autism aware. I felt overwhelmed. I didn’t find a map to take so I didn’t know where I was going and it made me nervous. There was also a lot of people and it was noisy, some parts were quieter. There was also a whole section of the museum that was closed off but we didn’t know until we went looking for it. I wish that the museum had a notice sooner than later. The gift shop was also very overcrowded with souvenirs and gifts that it wasn’t wheelchair accessible. I looked really quick and had to quickly leave because I needed space. I think that quiet areas in places are really useful. The only place that I have noticed them was at IASSIDD. I wish that I had more information on how the museum was “autism aware” because maybe they have special hours that they are more sensory-friendly. I would love to see more autism aware locations!!!

-Sam Costa

It’s our last night in Glasgow!! This was my first time traveling pretty much all my own and it was also my first time in Europe!! I’ve been having an amazing time since day 1.

When I arrived in Edinburgh, I was the first person from UMass there. I spent about 3 hours waiting for everyone to arrive. While I was waiting I had to use the restroom and I noticed something that the US doesn’t have. I was so happy to see the bathroom labeled as “accessible toilet” instead of using “handicap toilet. Underneath the bathroom sign, there was another sign that read “Not all conditions are visible with everyone using these facilities.” I was so happy to see that! I feel that a lot of people don’t realize that invisible disabilities are real and valid disabilities.

I also noticed a few other signs that expressed accessibility in Glasgow. When we went to the Bridge of Allan Highland games, I saw a poster advertising a Disabled Persons Railcard for the train. The Disabled Persons Railcard gets 1/3 of your fare off for you and another person. I thought this deal was amazing because some people with disabilities might get overwhelmed when traveling alone or they are unable to travel alone and might need a companion. The only thing that was surprising is that the train station and the train itself was not that accessible. I only remember seeing one ramp, on one side of the station. There was also a really big gap between the platform and the train, it was kinda scary. Not only was there a gap, but the train was also about a half-foot taller than the platform. I saw an individual with a cane struggling to get off the train because of the gap and no one offered to help or did anything. I think that the bus was a more accessible means of transportation.

Besides that I love Glasgow, and everyone is so nice here!

• -Samuel Costa