York University to Showcase Access Awareness for Persons with Disabilities; Demonstrations, Workshops and Sporting Events Celebrate Abilities and Accomplishment in Face of Daily Challenges and Adversity

TORONTO, Jan. 11, 1999 -- Imagine reading this news release using braille, writing your name without the use of your hands, or having to make your way through a crowded hallway in a wheelchair to get to your destination on time. It's daily challenges like these -- and the capacity and courage to overcome them -- which are the focus at York University during a week of activities entitled: Disabled and Proud: Raising Awareness Together, Jan. 11 to Jan. 21.

York University's eighth annual Access Awareness celebration aims to promote increased awareness of the issues faced in society by persons with disabilities, and to give people a better understanding of their abilities and remarkable achievements.

"It is an exercise to highlight what persons with disabilities can do," said Laurie Alphonse, a York alumna and employee in the Office for Persons with Disabilities who depends on a motorized wheelchair and one of the organizers of this year's event. "We have come a long way, but peoples' attitudes still need to change. I still hear people telling me that I should move around them in my wheelchair, and that's not always possible. People sometimes don't understand how difficult and time consuming it is for us to move through space. Changing peoples' attitudes towards disabilities and raising awareness are among the reasons we organize the Access Awareness event," she said.

Activities include: a hands-on technology and equipment demonstration; workshops covering a plethora of issues ranging from sexuality and disability to deaf culture to physical barriers; sporting and athletic activities such as wheelchair floor hockey and martial arts demonstrations; and a variety of display booths for community organizations and offices on the York campus to provide information about services for persons with disabilities.

A simulation event will give able-bodied participants the opportunity to briefly experience what it might be like to have a disability such as blindness or not having the use of their legs. Using special eyeglasses to temporarily diminish the participant's eye sight, participants will be asked to walk to the library to find a certain book. Participants will also be provided with a wheelchair as their sole means of mobility and asked to get to a specific place on campus and back.

"It's all the little things people can do that make a huge difference for people with disabilities," said Professor Paul Delaney, chair of York University's Access Awareness Committee. "That means something as simple as holding a door open or using the stairs instead of the elevator, freeing it up for those who really need it. "This series of events is intended to heighten awareness not only of access issues, but of the various services available to students and staff with disabilities throughout the year," said Delaney. "We have made a concerted effort to ensure York University, both as a learning and work environment, is seamlessly accessible for students, staff and faculty with disabilities, and for those without, alike," he said.

Some of these services include: an alternate exam procedure for persons with disabilities unable to complete their exams in a regular exam setting; a peer mentoring program to assist first-year students with their transition to university life; and a volunteer program where volunteers assist students with disabilities with everything from taking notes to reading course materials and textbooks into a tape recorder. The main library is equipped with work stations, braille printers, computers with screen enlargement software and a voice synthesizer. As well, the Ron Cope Gateway Resource Room, which opened last year, offers the deaf and hard-of-hearing a variety of learning supports.

This event is sponsored by York's Special Needs Office, The Office of Student Affairs, and ACCESS YORK (York University's Advisory Committee for Persons with Special Needs). More than 1000 students are registered with York's Special Needs offices.

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For more information or a schedule of events please visit us on the Internet at http://www.yorku.ca/admin/sa/offdis/index.htm, or contact:

Karen Swartz
The Office for Persons with Disabilities
York University
(416) 736-5140, tty users: (416) 736-5263

Sine MacKinnon
Senior Advisor for Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22087

Ken Turriff
Media Relations Officer
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22086
YU/001/99