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Beth Ramsey | The
Appalachian
Sophomores Alissa Bramlage (c)
and Justin Sorrels (r) wear sunglasses that imitate severely
impaired sight during Monday's Trading Spaces workshop. Alaina
S. Walker led the two through crowds at Crossroads Coffeehouse.
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by Elizabeth Ashford
Staff Writer
Students hobbled on crutches, became blind, wheeled themselves in
wheelchairs and lost the ability to hear while “Trading Places”
during the last segment of Appalachian State University’s
Diversity Series for this semester.
The March 29 workshop was composed of a panel of students with different
physical or learning disabilities who showed workshop participants
what it is like to live with different disabilities.
J. Bates McKinney, who is legally blind, said the program helped
increase awareness.
“They can get an appreciation, but until it’s you, it’s
hard to truly appreciate it, and just the things that are taken
for granted,” McKinney said.
Learning Assistance Program Coordinator Suzanne T. Wehner explained
how her office helps students with learning disabilities.
“Accommodations that I offer only level the playing field.
I’m not going to give any of these students up here an advantage
over anyone else,” Wehner said.
Wehner said students can get time and one-half on tests and can
be tested in quiet areas by themselves so they will not get distracted.
The first activity was letting students understand what it might
be like to have writing disorders. The students put note cards on
their foreheads and had to write their names on it.
Sean T. Barlow is a junior psychology major with Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder and Dysgraphia, which is a handwriting disorder.
“I think, especially with a lot of the mobility and visually
impaired students, it gives you a greater appreciation of what they
go through on a day-to-day basis. I think our eyes are something
that we definitely take for granted,” Barlow said.
The second activity was a mobility, vision, and hearing challenge.
Serena R. Rector is a junior communication disorders major in the
mobility and hearing challenged group.
Rector said she wanted to gain a better understanding of what students
with disabilities went through.
“I’m interested to see how other people are going to
react. It hurts me to see when other people are negative towards
people that have disabilities,” Rector said.
The group traveled around Plemmons Student Union, experiencing how
being physically disabled limited their movement and activities.
The workshop ended with students discussing what they had learned
from the different activities.
Sophomore communication disorders major Megan A. Rogers said she
learned more about individual disorders, like dyslexia, when her
group participated in the note card activity.
“It’s one thing to hear about it, but to actually go
through it and we still haven’t fully experienced it, but
it made me have more respect for those people,” Rogers said.
“I was kind of embarrassed walking around doing that, and
I was like, imagine really being like that, that would be really
kind of awkward,” Rogers said.
Rector said the evening was really eye-opening for her at the end
of the workshop.
“If you want to take that extra look around at your surroundings
and go out of your way to be of any assistance that you can to other
people, and to move your backpack out of a walkway when you’re
walking through,” Rector said.
Rector said she would encourage others to come to programs of this
nature.
Barlow said the workshop helped show how students with ADHD operate.
“I think it just shows that we’re just a little different
in the way we operate, so yeah, I think it gave them a greater appreciation,”
Barlow said.
“Hopefully what I said gave people a greater appreciation
that I can function, I just need the proper setting to do so,”
Barlow said.
Wehner said she would love to do this workshop more often.
“I love doing this workshop more than anything that I do.
I think the students that do come get a lot out of it and right
now I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback,” Wehner
said. |
