Center for Academic Excellence celebrates Disability Awareness Month
by Tyler Comeau
October is Disability Awareness Month and the Center for Academic Excellence will be hosting a series of events and workshops to celebrate.
(Photo: disabilityawareness.us)
According to Tracy Cohen, Coordinator of Student Accessibility Services, “On October 10th at 3:30 in the [Center for Academic Excellence] I’ll be presenting “ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) and College”. On October 21 at 1 p.m. and again on October 24th at 3:30, I’ll be presenting “LD: Learning Disability or Learning Differently?” in the CAE.” Cohen stated that these workshops are open to all students, staff, and faculty.
According to Cohen, there was also a table in the glass foyer from on October 3rd from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to “share information about Disability Awareness and accommodations and accessibility here at Franklin Pierce University.”
Cohen stressed the importance of the event and its potential to spread understanding and acceptance of individuals with disabilities. She addressed the concept of “neurodiversity,” saying, “Some of our greatest scientists, entertainers, writers, athletes, academicians and so forth have neurodiverse conditions. We are in a world now that has challenges different than any faced before. To fix out-of-the-box problems, we need out-of-the-box thinkers.”
According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, 19.4 percent of all undergraduate students in America reported having a form of disability. Additionally, 11.9 percent of graduate students reported having a disability.
According to Cohen, Disability Awareness Month started in 1988 to encourage employers to hire individuals with disabilities. Cohen also stated, “The roots of the idea go back further, to 1945 when the first week in October was declared ‘National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week’.”
