Pulse Magazine

There are many clubs at UTRGV that help promote awareness and advocate for important topics at the university. One of them is the Student Accessibility Council (SAC). 

Abby Davila is a clinical rehabilitation counseling graduate student who has been a member of SAC since last spring and hopes that more students come and join their organization. 

1.Tell me, what is SAC?

Davila: “SAC is Student Accessibility Council. And our main goal is to accept anyone who has a disability or if you don’t have a disability, if you are willing to advocate for people with disabilities or have a family member that has a disability as well, we advocate for the community.”

2.In what specific ways does SAC help people with disabilities? 

Davila: “One thing that we do is have these mental health speakers and it’s more about letting people know what resources are out there as well. Also, one thing that we do is … we fundraise. … One of our main goals is to, at least one of these semesters, … donate to an organization. We haven’t done that recently, but that is one goal that we would like to accomplish.”

3.Despite the pandemic, in what ways is SAC trying to stay active as an organization?

Davila: “We also do fundraisers, and the way we did it in the fall, we would … raffle … a basket. Like, we did a Halloween-themed [fundraiser] and then we did a Christmas-themed raffle. And the way we did it … because … despite of not really being able to meet on campus and everything …. we gathered, like, money through CashApp. … Then, we chose a winner and we posted it on our social media. So, we also post things, events and stuff that go on through our social media. So, people, our students and the community are aware that there are events going to go on and just in case they’re not able to see the flyers or anything on campus. We don’t put anything on campus, but we do put it on our social media.”

4.If a student wants to join SAC, what kind of process would they go through?

Davila: “Yes, so if a student wants to join, they could … email sacorganization8@gmail.com. They could email us or also on our Instagram, they could DM us and the president or officer will get back to them. … The main place where a student should see us is through V–Link. There on V–Link, if they find us there, you could request to join us and the president … has the main access to that and will accept the student if they want to join.”

5.How has being a member of SAC changed you as a person?

Davila: “It made me learn a lot, like leadership skills, public speaking as well [as] communication. And learning a lot of skills on V–Link because a lot of students are not familiar with how V–Link works. … And then also joining all the training … the conferences that we had to go to, to learn a lot more about student organizations. I was the vice president … and now I’m just a member because I want others to also experience what I [experienced] learning how to become a leader.”

6.How do you think SAC has impacted UTRGV or our community? 

Davila: “I think the way we’ve impacted UTRGV or the UTRGV community is having a lot of … mental health speakers. I think those events … help people and students know more about disability-related topics. Not everyone knows, like, the first-person language or … rehabilitation topics. So, I think it’s really important for a lot of people to become more aware of that and to break the stigma of mental health.”