STORY BY CORIE LYNN
The final week of March marked Disability Awareness Week: three days of events and discussion designed by the FHSU Honor Society to better educate students about various disabilities.
Each day of DAW focused on a different type of disability, including mental, physical, and learning disabilities.
“Today, obviously we focus on spreading awareness about physical disabilities,” said Paulyna Alcorn, the lead coordinator of DAW, “and so this morning we had a table outside of the Union where students could participate or volunteer to participate in a physical disability for the whole day.”
The disabilities that students were able to simulate included mutism, hand or arm amputation, being wheelchair-bound, and walking with a limp.
According to Cassidi Hickson, who assisted at the table that morning, these options were put into a jar for students to choose from. However, the Honor Society hoped that students would see this as more than a simulation.
“We thought that it would be a really cool opportunity for students to see what people with these disabilities have to go through every single day and how difficult it is for them to do regular, everyday things that we take for granted,” Hickson said.
Physical Disability Day expanded beyond the morning sign-up to include an evening event with more simulations and opportunities for students to learn about physical disabilities in different forms.
“We’re going to have a panel of a couple students who are both wheelchair-bound who are going to share their stories and ask some questions from the audience,” said Alcorn, “Then we also have Caren McCoulough who is a parent of a child with physical disabilities who’s going to serve on the panel as well.”
Following the panel, the students also hosted a group discussion to talk about ways to better accommodate those with disabilities.
During the evening, the Honor Society set up additional simulations that, according to Alcorn, they were unable to run in the morning. One of which is a station where students watch commercials that will help simulate deafness.
“There’s no captions, no sound and it’s actually to simulate what it’s like for individuals who try to go to movie theaters and there’s no captions, so it really restricts people who are deaf to just go to the movie theater,” she said.
Other simulations two obstacle courses: one designed to teach students about navigating a space in a wheelchair and the other to simulate navigating an environment while blind.
Also included was a second mutism simulation where students had to answer questions without speaking or writing.
Lastly, there was a simulation for a single-arm amputation. According to Alcorn, this was created to give students an idea of what it would be like to work (in this case, wait a table) with this particular disability.
“[S]tudents can only use one arm to load a tray with silverware, plates and stuff, go to a table, put it back down, pick it back up, and go back through,” she said.
For the four years that the Honor Society has hosted Disability Awareness Week, the student panel and the disability simulations have always been included. However, Alcorn said that over the years they have tried to make the experiences more realistic for the students who volunteer.
Like Hickson, Alcorn hoped that students would use the event to gain a better understanding of others.
“I know for physical disabilities we have no idea how difficult it is for students who are wheelchair bound to get across our campus or just in the buildings,” she said.
She went on to explain that this is important so that students can be better accommodated and have others who will speak out for them. This expands beyond physical disabilities.
“I think that also goes with mental health because the stigma of mental health is still there even though mental health has become more talked about,” said Alcorn, “With learning disabilities, I think that also holds a heavy stigma.”
For Kate Rockey, who was one of the student volunteers, Disability Awareness Week was important for another reason.
“As a future teacher,” she said, “I need to be aware and sensitive to various disabilities my students could have.”
The disability Rockey spent the day simulating was mutism. According to her, this didn’t pose too many problems during her classes, but it did outside of the classroom.
“I did have to cancel a meeting with a friend today because I didn’t want it to be a mostly one-sided conversation. If I were permanently mute, I’m sure I would find ways to get around that, but it was difficult today,” said Rockey.
Her experience was an example of how the FHSU Honor Society wanted to us DAW to open student’s eyes to what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes.
“It’s so important that we put this event on,” Alcorn said, “so that we help people understand more about others around them[.]”
