Tomas Ponzilius, a third-year social work student at Carleton University, says he’s been advocating for change since he was 12 years old.
As someone with non-verbal learning disorder, he says he knows what it’s like to feel like he doesn’t belong.
This year, Ponzilius decided to bring his advocacy to the Carleton community.
He put together a Discord group as a community hub for students with invisible disabilities like chronic pain and learning disabilities. At the end of January, he said the group reached around 15 people.
Now, he is hoping to expand the group and become an official Carleton University Students’ Association club called Disability Now!, for students with invisible disabilities and advocacy initiatives. He says he is aiming to launch the club by Fall 2025.
The Charlatan sat down with Ponzilius to discuss Disability Now! and spaces for people with disabilities on campus.
The Charlatan (TC): What is Disability Now! and what will it offer?
Tomas Ponzilius (TP): Disability Now! will have a focus on invisible disabilities: think about learning disabilities, chronic pain and bipolar disorder. I feel there is room to grow with how we perceive disability. It’s not strictly something visible.
I want us to form a community, a place where you will find some belonging and acceptance where we can grow and nurture ourselves. I hope the community also expands to people who wish to be allies and supporters. By networking, connecting and growing, this is how we can become a permanent fixture of the university.
The advocacy part is also important to me personally. Advocacy that is future-oriented. While this will be a space for people to air their grievances, what I desire is that when we work with the institution, we can grow together.
What does that look like? Maybe policy changes, education changes and improvements. We are not a space for retaliation in any way. Our goal will be growth.
TC: Where did the idea for Disability Now! come from?
TP: I wanted to understand how equity is on campus. I recognized that disabilities are often relegated to either the Paul Menton Centre or the academic sphere and regulations.
But disability is in all environments. People have disabilities when they’re doing their job, while they’re a student or even while they’re trying to play a game. To me, there are interactions that miss that disability component.
That’s why I think disability must be now, and it must be part of every equity discussion.
TC: Why is it important to offer a community and space for people with invisible disabilities?
TP: I have lived my life never feeling like I belong anywhere — something like a cloud that has never really found its island. I initially tried to adapt, but it’s really hard. Many people with disabilities feel like that.
But together, we are a lot stronger than apart.
If there could be a certain organization that’s formed, then maybe there could be a birth of something that creates an evolution. We need cohesiveness, and then we can feel we’re at least welcomed among one another.
TC: What do you hope students can learn from Disability Now! and your initiatives?
TP: That to be disabled is not to be broken. We are in almost all spaces. We can enrich your community and offer a different way to see the world.
I just wish people would give us a bit of a chance. People who say we’re socially disabled, I will say, that thought is rooted in ignorance. Many of us have a lifetime of being treated very poorly.
It would be wonderful if the rest of us could know that there is something brighter, better and hopeful that comes out of that.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Featured graphic by Alisha Velji/the Charlatan.
