In my now 13 years at Towson University, I have seen many wonderful initiatives and programs around campus. I am especially pleased to see that we now have a Center for Student Diversity in the division of student affairs. But I am puzzled about why it covers only race/ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation and doesn't have a student group for students with disabilities.
Many people with disabilities are "out and proud" these days (it's known in the disability rights community as disability pride), and I'll bet some Towson students with disabilities might want to form a student disability group.
One of our own Towson alums can be given credit for helping change attitudes toward disability in America. Artist Dan Keplinger, aka "King Gimp," has two degrees from Towson and was the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary "King Gimp" in 2000. But more importantly he told the huge Super Bowl audience in a Cingular wireless TV ad in 2001 how lucky he feels as a person with a disability.
In the ad, Keplinger, who uses a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy, confronted those who would dismiss him because of his disability. "There is an intelligent person inside this body," he explained.
After illustrating his talents as a painter in the ad, he also challenged those who might pity him. "I'm unbelievably lucky," he said with gusto.
In Cingular press materials, Keplinger said he appeared in the ad because "too often the media depicts people with disabilities as a disability, not a person. The Cingular ad, however, is about me as an artist and that's who I am." (You can see the ad on YouTube by searching: Cingular commercial express yourself).
People with disabilities around the country applauded the ad. Cyndi Jones, a wheelchair user who directs a mentoring program for teens with disabilities in San Diego, Calif., said the ad "showed that disability in and of itself is not bad. After all - I am unbelievably lucky."
Towson also has an up-and-coming program for adults with autism with its new Center for Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders. I went to its official launch in June and heard powerful presentations by speakers with autism who are working as self-advocates.
We also should be proud that our campus has a deaf studies major. There, students gain proficiency in American Sign Language and learn in-depth about deaf culture and the deaf community. It should be noted that the deaf community is separate from the disability community because deaf people have their own language and culture.
But my point is - many exciting things are happening on Towson's campus regarding visible and invisible "disabilities" and I hope to see students with disabilities (and their issues and concerns) become an important and meaningful component of the Center for Student Diversity one day soon.
Beth Haller, Ph.D., is Unit Coordinator and Professor of Journalism/New Media in the Department of Mass Communication & Communication Studies. She researches media and disability issues and writes a blog on the topic, Media dis&dat, http://media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.com/.
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