A Carleton graduate has become the first African with a disability to be accepted to Oxford University. Eddie Ndopu attended Carleton as an international student from South Africa, and graduated in 2014 with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with high distinction.
According to an article in the Mail & Guardian, Ndopu will study public policy during his masters at Oxford, for which he was awarded a full scholarship. However, he has started an online fundraising campaign to cover the costs of his full-time caregiver when he goes abroad, according to Metro Ottawa.
Ndopu uses an automatic wheelchair due to his spinal muscular atrophy and requires care that was not factored into his scholarship. The campaign, called “#OxfordEddiecated,” aims to raise around $42,000 (CAD) for his nurse in order to cover his caregiver’s living expenses. The campaign has raised around $4,900 (CAD) as of Aug. 23.
The Administrative Coordinator for the Carleton Disability Awareness Centre (CDAC), Céline Brown MacDonald, said in an email that CDAC is “ecstatic” about Ndopu’s success.
“At different times, [Ndopu] worked on campus at both the Gender and Sexuality Resource Centre (GSRC) and CDAC,” MacDonald said. “The full-time staff here remember him as being driven, well spoken, and amazing to work with.”
MacDonald said people with physical disabilities face many challenges that other students do not.
“The main challenges . . . tend to be locating an accessible campus, housing and attendant services. Often universities with older buildings can be challenging to navigate.”
CDAC, which operates as one of Carleton University Students’ Association’s student service centres, works to combat these issues in daily student life, according to MacDonald.
“[The centre] advocates for disability awareness on campus to improve accessibility, address stigma, and provide resources such as resume building, tire pumping, [and] providing a safe space for students,” she said.
Ndopu cited that he specifically plans to focus on creating a nonprofit organization focusing on changing minds about disabilities, according to the article in Metro.
“[The acceptance] means everything. It means possibility, it means that we have an opportunity to validate the full humanity of people with disabilities,” Ndopu told Metro.
