Western Courier

Issue date: 10/21/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Kevin O'Connor Students find out what it´s like to have a disability by using wheelchairs at a Disability Awareness Day event in the Spencer Student Recreation Center.

One male Western Illinois University student who wished to remain anonymous said he feels sorry for the students with disabilities, but said he cannot help treating them differently, sometimes even giving them a cold look.

A lot of students acknowledge there is sometimes an invisible barrier between able-bodied students and the students with disabilities.

Ryan Kuro, Western alumnus with a degree in broadcasting, is a volunteer for Promoting Rights of Individuals with Disabilities Everywhere and said he has never felt inferior to others because of his visual impairment.

"I am not influenced by things around me. I have had a lot of people who won't or are afraid to talk to me because they don't supposedly know how to deal with me." Kuro said. "There is almost nothing out there I haven't done, I don't think. I have tried to do every thing at least once. There are people who don't even do one thing in four years. Everybody is busy. I know that. If I can do it, what is preventing you from doing it? But, we all are given something, whether it is one thing or more than one thing to do, give your best to it. There is an invisible barrier that we are aware of. A lot of students are self-absorbed. That disappoints me."

Kuro said facing the destiny of being a person with a visual impairment does not let him down.

"It's not if I can do something. It's only how. My goal is to influence the people by the best way I can. I give the best of my ability. I think that's very much possible," Kuro added. "(The way I enjoy my life is) "by being out there and doing everything available to do. That's why I do as many things as I do."

Western's annual Fall Disability Awareness Week, sponsored by PRIDE and Disability Support Services, celebrated its 20th week of bringing these issues to the attention of the campus community. Participants were encouraged to take part in various activities so they could put themselves in the shoes of students with disabilities. Activities included simulations of hearing, visual, memory and mobility disabilities in order to provide participants with practical opportunities of living with impairments.

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