Fall 2002 Disability Services Newsletter

Karen Flaxer, a junior from Englewood, Colorado, was the assistant chair for this year's Holocaust Awareness Week. She took on most of the planning and organizing, including contacting speakers, assigning jobs, advertising, meeting with media representatives, scheduling, and many other duties. Karen was even interviewed by the New York Times about events related to Holocaust Awareness Week.

In addition to organizing the event, she also was a presenter. Karen's video presentation included music and was well received that several people suggested she make it into a documentary film.

Karen spoke about her own personal experiences that motivated her to get involved in this week-long event.

In May 2000, Karen joined 6,000 other youths for a trip to Poland and Israel. This March of the Living exposed students to the experiences of the Jews during World War II by following their paths. Participants took buses to various locations in Poland. A psychologist, a rabbi, and a survivor of the Holocaust were on each bus to talk about their own experiences. Students visited the labor and death camps of Auschwitz, Birkenau, Trebilnka, and Majdanek. They also saw the remains of Warsaw, Cracow, and Lublin where many Jews once lived. The trip ended with a visit to Israel on Independence Day and left participants with more positive perspectives.

Karen said the experience made a strong impression on her. She stated, "I felt the hatred, the suffering, and the pain the second I entered each camp." Afterwards, she wanted to do something about this experience. She believes it is important to educate people about the Holocaust since many of the survivors are elderly now and dying. As antisemitism resurfaces in Europe, it is especially important that people learn about this horrific period in time so that they can make sure it will never happen again.

After Holocaust Awareness Week, several hate slogans appeared around campus. Karen feels that this reaction is especially sad since such actions only continue the hate. She is staying involved by joining a group called Education of Middle East Truth (EMET), which was started in September 2001 as a reaction to hate. She continues her involvement in Holocaust Awareness Week as committee chair next year.

Karen's experience with Holocaust Awareness Week has increased her understanding about the Holocaust and has made her even more proud to be Jewish. She also learned much through working on the committee, about team efforts, organization, planning, and interviewing. She encourages other students to get involved in their areas of interest!

At Disability Services (DS), student leadership is very important. We see leadership opportunities as a natural way to assist students in honing their own understanding of disability and its impact–not only in terms of academic access, but also in respect to social and cultural norms.

Disability specialists can show interested students an array of leadership opportunity options available on campus and beyond. Students can participate in our Buddy Program, assist us in outreach education, serve on advisory boards, take leadership training courses for credit, create their own independent study and internships, join diversity oriented groups, or serve in student government.

By taking the initiative on issues of disability and diversity, students with disabilities who take an active role at CU-Boulder help create a more welcoming campus for all students.

Many students with learning disabilities come to the university unfamiliar with assistive technology and its benefits. To support students with learning disabilities, DS offers two hands-on workshops and an introductory brown bag seminar during the fall semester. These programs, entitled Special Technology to Assist in Reading and Writing, teach students about available software and its direct application in their studies. Dates are set for September 18, 25, and November 13. For more information, check the DS special events calendar posted on our web site (www.colorado.edu/sacs/disabilityservices) or call 303-492-8671.

Get to know your professors and give them an opportunity to know you. You will be surprised how spending 10 or 15 minutes informally conversing with your professor or instructor, early on in the semester, can help you feel more comfortable with the course and the subject matter. Also, the professor may feel more comfortable working with you too.

Professors are required to keep office hours so they can meet with students. Most professors enjoy talking to students who are genuinely interested in their course. When you go, it is helpful to have a few questions in mind and to realize that their time is limited.

It also is advantageous to sit near the front of the class, not only because you can focus and concentrate more effectively, but your professor can see that you are interested enough to be sitting there.

Another tip is to ask a question or two and participate appropriately in class discussions. Let yourself be heard. Learning after all is an active process. All of these suggestions will help you be an active participant in the learning experience as well as be recognized by your professor as a student who wants to learn.

With any luck, by the time you read this newsletter, the year-long overhaul of the Disability Services web site will be completed. The reorganization was done by DS Web site Committee members Leslie Blankis, Jim Cohn, Howard Kramer, Jayne MacArthur, and Tom Younkerman in conjunction with the entire DS staff, and the assistance of Web Communications. The site has been improved for easier navigation to information.

From our home page, prospective and current students (and their families) can now click on information designed specifically for their needs. The home page also provides useful information for faculty and staff–much of it the result of feedback gathered by the campuswide Disability Task Force. Home page visitors will also find all the information they need on accommodations, auxilary aids, and services just one click away. There is also a page that consolidates valuable resources, training, and publications available through DS. Quick links to our assistive technology pages, our online Campus Accessibility/Interpreter Request Form, documentation requirements, disability parking information, and our DS e-mail have also been added. If you get lost, our resident programmer, Tom Younkerman, has added an A-Z list that should get you where you want to go. There is also a special events calendar that can keep you up to date on events, programs, and workshops sponsored by DS staff members. Let us know what you think of the changes. We are still at the same address: www.colorado.edu/sacs/disabilityservices.

The keynote speaker for this year's Accessing Higher Ground Conference: Assistive Technology and Accessible Media in Higher Education, is Dr. Ken Rutherford, Cofounder of the Landmine Survivors0 Network. Since graduating from CU-Boulder in 1985, Dr. Rutherford has worked around the world in the area of international aid and development. He has worked in Bosnia for the Department of Defense and Department of State, and in Africa for the Peace Corps (Mauritania), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Senegal) and the International Rescue Committee (Kenya and Somalia). It was while working for the International Rescue Committee in Somalia in 1993, that Dr. Rutherford lost both legs when his Land Cruiser hit a landmine.

Since then, he has traveled worldwide to speak out and promote awareness of the suffering caused by landmines. Dr. Rutherford has testified before Congress and published articles on the landmine issue. He was awarded the 1999 Leadership in International Rehabilita-tion Award presented by the Northwestern University Institute for International Rehabilitation. Rutherford cofounded the Landmine Survivors Network to raise awareness and to help landmine victims.

According to Dr. Rutherford, the high-water mark for the landmine issue was 1997. Princess Diana joined the cause, the Ottawa treaty [to ban land mines] was drafted, and the movement received the Nobel Prize. Dr. Rutherford invited Princess Diana to travel with him to Bosnia to assess the rehabilitation needs of landmine victims in this war torn country. The three days she spent with him in August 1997 constituted the last official act of her life [this paragraph from Oct. 99 Coloradan Alumni magazine].

Dr. Rutherford will conduct the keynote address on November 6 at the University Memorial Center where he will talk about his life and work. The Accessing Higher Ground Conference, in its fifth year, focuses on the implementation and benefits of assistive technology in the university and college environment for students with sensory, physical, and learning disabilities.

To read more about the three day conference (Nov. 6-8), visit the web site at www.colorado.edu/sacs/ATconference.

Kim Murphy, Receptionist: I first arrived on the CU-Boulder campus in 1998, working in the mechanical engineering department as the assistant to the chair. Before coming to CU, I worked for attorneys, research scientists, and in various fields of industry. Academia certainly is a delightful change from corporate America!

Julie Camen, Administrative Assistant: I have been with the university for three years and have worked in housing, continuing education, printing, and now Disability Services. My education includes a BA in music and science and a certificate in massage therapy.

Would you like to know what kinds of questions faculty are asking about students with disabilities? Are you unsure about what responsibilities faculty have with regard to accommodations? We have compiled many of the questions that faculty ask us most often and answered their questions as concisely as we can. These FAQs are now on our new web site and are easily accessible to everyone. You can find them under Information for Faculty and Staff and FAQs.