DREAM Club

I have served in multiple leadership roles within DREAM, including Secretary, Vice President, Treasurer, and President. In these roles, I manage both the organizational and community-facing aspects of the club—overseeing social media and communications, handling funding and budgeting, maintaining annual club registration, recruiting and training officers, and planning events and workshops. Through this work, I help ensure that DREAM remains a sustainable, accessible, and supportive space for disabled students across campus.

Building a disability-centered community on campus is deeply challenging. Disability is often stigmatized, and many students are hesitant to self-identify, socialize, or seek out community spaces—sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of exhaustion. Outreach is further complicated by confidentiality concerns, limited institutional capacity, and ongoing budget cuts, which make it difficult for offices like the DPRC to broadly circulate information. Despite these barriers, DREAM continues to show up. We do our best to remain visible, consistent, and welcoming for those who may not yet feel ready—or safe—to step forward.

One of the most significant transitions for DREAM occurred when the Paul K. Longmore Institute—our largest supporter—left campus. Emily Beitiks, who served as our advisor and was a central advocate for disabled students at SFSU, played an irreplaceable role in sustaining disability culture and access on campus. Before her departure, she ensured that DREAM would still have a physical space, even if it meant relocating to the Administration Building. The loss of a permanent, familiar home required us to rebuild nearly everything from scratch. While the lack of a consistent event space continues to be a challenge, we remain deeply grateful for the office we have and for the groundwork Emily laid for DREAM and the broader disabled community.

Over time, the disabled community has become inseparable from who I am. There are moments when this work feels uneven—when I am giving everything and receiving very little in return—but I know it matters. Disability justice work is rarely visible, easy, or immediately rewarded, yet it is essential. I continue this work for those who have been silenced, those who are scared to take up space, and those who have not yet found where they belong. Even when the impact feels small, showing up consistently is how trust, safety, and community are built.