SMC plans disabilities week week
NATALIE BAILEY
News Writer
Beginning today, Saint Mary's Student Diversity Board will sponsor a variety of activities designed to increase understanding of special needs as part of Disabilities Awareness Week.
Today, students have the opportunity to wear silver ribbons that were provided in several campus buildings to signal their support of disabilities issues, said Francis Bruder, Students with Disabilities Representative.
"Students need to understand that there are 50 million Americans with disabilities, both apparent and non-apparent," Bruder said.
This year's planning committee for Disabilities Awareness Week decided to focus
on physical as well as mental disabilities, organizers said. Mary Depauw, director of
counseling and career development at the College, will speak about the topic of depression today and discuss anxiety disorders on Friday.
In addition to growing in their knowledge about people with disabilities, the committee also wants students to come to an understanding of what it is like to have a disability by addressing their natural curiosity about disabilities.
"Everyone probably knows someone with a disability or ha[s] come into contact with a disabled person. We may just not realize it or understand it completely," said Sara Mahoney, president of the student diversity board. "Being disabled [myself], I realize that people are curious about disabilities [and] this week gives students the opportunity to understand disabilities better."
The committee will be posting signs around campus to make students think about disabilities, said Mahoney. On Wednesday, organizers for Disabilities Week have planned for a wheel chair rugby team to come to the College to demonstrate their skills. On Thursday, some Saint Mary's students will use wheelchairs and crutches to travel around campus in an attempt to discover what it is like to be disabled and to get around campus.
"On a scale of one to 10 I would rank Saint Mary's as a five for physical handicap accessibility," Mahoney said.
Improving the accessibility of campus is a concern for both students and visitors, explained Mahoney.
"An admissions counselor told me of a tour she gave to a student who had a grandmother in a wheelchair," Mahoney said. "They had to enter all of the unattractive parts of campus so that the grandmother could get in and eventually they had to leave her behind."
Bruder said she hopes this week will increase awareness for accessibility.
"Since the 1990 Disabilities Act, the campus has done more for mental disabilities, but the campus is working at a pace that will show change and improvements for physical handicaps as well," she said.
All News Stories for Monday, February 3, 2003
