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Disablity center hosts workshops - News
At the San Jose State University Student Union on Thursday, the Disability Resource Center hosted a series of workshops called "A Retrospective on Disability." At one of the events, students could find out what it was like to have a learning disability.
The Interactive Disability Awareness Simulations workshop had stations where students could experience what learning disabilities are like to better understand them.
"The purpose of the workshop is to give people a greater awareness and understanding about disabilities in a hands-on interactive way." said Shauna Moriarty, retention coordinator at the Disabled Resource Center.
Michael Agnoletti, a junior majoring in liberal studies, said he thought that the workshop makes people more aware of disabilities.
"I thought it was good," he said. "It made people more aware of disabilities."
Moriarty said that stations included sign language and hearing devices for the hearing impaired, explaining perceptual writing disabilities, sight impaired simulations including Braille books and papers and a simulation where a wheelchair was used to illustrate for students what it's like to be in one and have to do office tasks.
The simulations also included a computer that magnified print on paper so that sight impaired people could see it better.
Amberly Rumrill, a senior majoring in English, was working at one of the simulation stations, which included drawing a shape from looking into a mirror and looking at a sentence on a piece of paper that was garbled, and another paper where it was stretched out.
"At this station we are trying to give people an idea of what it is like to be a person with a perceptual learning disability, such as difficulty reading or tracing lines," Rumrill said. "It helps give people an understanding of the difficulties that disabled students have in every life."
Katrina Koob, a senior majoring in child development and deaf education, was working at a simulation booth on deafness including sign language illustrations and stamps to stamp your name in sign language, and hearing assistant devices to try.
"I want to let people know that there are sign language classes here at SJSU and even deaf professors," Koob said. "Learning from a deaf professor can be very good because you learn through experience what it's like in a world without sound."
Also there was a TV display showing closed captioning for the deaf, so that they would be able to read on the screen what they couldn't hear.
Jennifer Tompkins, a senior majoring in nursing, uses some of the facilities open to learning disabled students, and she liked the workshop.
"I really enjoyed it because it gave me a sense of what it was like to be mobility impaired," Tompkins said. "Normally I can easily pick up the phone book, but in the chair, it took me almost five minutes. Now I know what that is like."
Richard Lee, a senior majoring in marketing said he went to some of the stations.
"It's really interesting," Lee said. "I learned that it's hard to communicate or to write with certain learning disabilities."
At the San Jose State University Student Union on Thursday, the Disability Resource Center hosted a series of workshops called "A Retrospective on Disability." At one of the events, students could find out what it was like to have a learning disability.
The Interactive Disability Awareness Simulations workshop had stations where students could experience what learning disabilities are like to better understand them.
"The purpose of the workshop is to give people a greater awareness and understanding about disabilities in a hands-on interactive way." said Shauna Moriarty, retention coordinator at the Disabled Resource Center.
Michael Agnoletti, a junior majoring in liberal studies, said he thought that the workshop makes people more aware of disabilities.
"I thought it was good," he said. "It made people more aware of disabilities."
Moriarty said that stations included sign language and hearing devices for the hearing impaired, explaining perceptual writing disabilities, sight impaired simulations including Braille books and papers and a simulation where a wheelchair was used to illustrate for students what it's like to be in one and have to do office tasks.
The simulations also included a computer that magnified print on paper so that sight impaired people could see it better.
Amberly Rumrill, a senior majoring in English, was working at one of the simulation stations, which included drawing a shape from looking into a mirror and looking at a sentence on a piece of paper that was garbled, and another paper where it was stretched out.
"At this station we are trying to give people an idea of what it is like to be a person with a perceptual learning disability, such as difficulty reading or tracing lines," Rumrill said. "It helps give people an understanding of the difficulties that disabled students have in every life."
Katrina Koob, a senior majoring in child development and deaf education, was working at a simulation booth on deafness including sign language illustrations and stamps to stamp your name in sign language, and hearing assistant devices to try.
"I want to let people know that there are sign language classes here at SJSU and even deaf professors," Koob said. "Learning from a deaf professor can be very good because you learn through experience what it's like in a world without sound."
Also there was a TV display showing closed captioning for the deaf, so that they would be able to read on the screen what they couldn't hear.
Jennifer Tompkins, a senior majoring in nursing, uses some of the facilities open to learning disabled students, and she liked the workshop.
"I really enjoyed it because it gave me a sense of what it was like to be mobility impaired," Tompkins said. "Normally I can easily pick up the phone book, but in the chair, it took me almost five minutes. Now I know what that is like."
Richard Lee, a senior majoring in marketing said he went to some of the stations.
"It's really interesting," Lee said. "I learned that it's hard to communicate or to write with certain learning disabilities."