Panel event to highlight students with disabilities
Going to class is hard. Comprehending material can be challenging. Extending beyond personal comfort zones to become a student leader or thriving citizen often requires confidence, hard work and an energetic attitude. The obstacles only multiply and heighten for students with disabilities.
Eric Alvarez
ASUI Senator
Through the efforts of ASUI Sen. Eric Alvarez and the University of Idaho Disability Support Services, members of the UI community with disabilities have an opportunity to share their stories at a panel discussion at 7 p.m. Oct. 21 in the Vandal Ballroom in the Student Union Building.
The panel will include five undergraduate students with disabilities, a UI professor and an employee of DSS, each of whom will share negative and positive first-hand experiences of living with a disability. The event will close with an open question and answer period for the panelists.
Alvarez, who first envisioned such an event, said the idea is to shed light on the challenges students with disabilities face and how they overcome the daily struggles that are foreign to most.
“We want to recognize students with all kinds of disabilities,” Alvarez said. “Not only physical handicaps, but also cognitive problems that aren’t apparent when you look at them. Students who struggle mentally and fight internal battles, who can’t read easily or retain information, all of these students have strengths and, no matter the odds, are driven to complete higher education.”
Coordinated through DSS Department Coordinator Gloria Jensen in correlation with National Disability Employment Awareness month, Alvarez said the panel members are student leaders and role models with important stories to tell.
“The panel members are people like me, in positions of leadership, and if we can do it, anyone can,” Alvarez said. “There are some college freshmen and high school seniors with disabilities who are nervous and think, ‘There’s no way I can get through college.’ One of our panel members, Bailie Welton, is 80 percent blind and will be graduating this year, so she’s at the end of the tunnel.”
Alvarez said stories of students with disabilities need to be told, including his own.
“Ultimately, I’m a student, I’m a senator and I have a disability,” Alvarez said. “The reason I’m so passionate about informing people and representing that office specifically because I am one of those students who battles a disability every day.”
Alvarez was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome at 7 years old. He continues to experience a less-severe form manifested in certain tics, such as continuous movement or rapid blinking. Not documented through UI DSS, Alvarez said he hasn’t revealed his disability because he’s been teased in the past.
“Now I feel that as an adult, I have to 100 percent accept myself to 100 percent be myself,” Alvarez said. “There are so many other people who experience a disability on different ranges, but society and the media create this one view on disabilities like dyslexia or autism, but each person and case is different.”
Vivian Gonzalez, director of diversity affairs for ASUI, assisted Alvarez in writing a bill to request funding for the event, as well as revising fliers and promoting the event. From a diversity perspective, Gonzalez said she thinks the event is a good avenue for students with and without disabilities to bond.
“This is a great opportunity to open communication between ASUI and DSS in order to fully appreciate and empower those students who live with disabilities everyday,” Gonzalez said. “This is a chance to see how these students are advancing in higher education and how to communicate, empower and connect with them.”
Alvarez and Gonzalez both said students with disabilities are often unrecognized, but participating students are undoubtedly inspirational.
“It’s important to see and recognize those admirable individuals,” Alvarez said. “I’m obligated to represent the entire student body, but I have a direct connection and understanding to those students registered under DSS. They’re amazing, and I just want to highlight their strength.”
Cara Pantone can be reached at [email protected]