The Battalion
T j
IFESTYLES
Students in wheelchairs
not constrained in activities
Friday • October 17, Frid;
Hearing impaired: th
misunderstood classificati
By Marujm Mohiuddin
Staff writer
F ranklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president
for four terms. He led Americans through the
dark days of The Great Depression and World
War II. He created many aspects of government still
recognized today as humane, good and right — and
he did it all from a wheelchair.
Russell Rawlings, a junior computer engineering ma
jor, said he was born with Erb’s Palsy, a nueral disease
that confined him to a wheelchair.
“I have never found my wheelchair to be a hin
drance,” Rawling said. “People know me for me, and
on a whole, people are aware of
students with disabilities. No
one treats me differently.”
Rawlings said people should
use The Golden Rule when in
teracting with others.
“One thing I want students to
know is to treat each other with
respect,” Rawling said. “Do not
treat people differently. I consid
er myself to be an ordinary Ag.”
At the age of seven, Kara Wil
son, a senior agricultural jour
nalism major, came down with
“We have developed an
overly sensitive society. I am
in a wheelchair and people
should not be afraid/’
Lyme Disease. At the age of nine, she needed a wheel
chair for mobility.
Wilson said she does not like receiving special
treatment because of her disability.
“I am the chair of five organizations such as MSC
Executive Lecture Series and Vice President of Class
of‘98” Wilson said. “I do not want to be separate. We
have developed into an overly sensitive society. I am
in a wheelchair and people should not be afraid. I do
not see myself in a wheelchair. I see myself educating
thousands of people.”
Wilson is from Oregon where her parents own a
17,000 acre ranch. Horses have always been an im
portant part of her life.
“I have ridden with the Parson’s Mounted Cavalry,
and I run barrels,” Wilson said. “[Riding horses! has
helped me overcome the wheelchair.”
Her disability is what brought Wilson to Texas
A&M University.
“In 1992 I came to A&M for hyperbaric oxygen
treatment,” Wilson said. “For three months I was at
A&M and I got to know Dr. Koldus and student lead
ers. I fell in love with Aggies.”
Dick Williams, the Associate Director for Facilities
at A&M, said A&M has always been in the fore front of
accommodations for students with disabilities.
“There are priorities A&M sets for students with dis
abilities,” Williams said. “[These priorities are] to keep
the road to their success clear and to make sure all pub
lic buildings are accessible.”
The Americans with Disabili
ties Act was passed in 1990 and re
quiring public buildings to ac
commodate persons with
disabilities.
“A&M handled these issues
before the Americans with Dis
abilities Act,” Williams said. “It is
difficult for us to equip all the
buildings. It would cost us mil
lions of dollars to fix eveiy build
ing. We do try to accommodate
all people. If a building does not
By Stephen Wells
Staff writer
have access, then we try to move the class so the stu
dent can attend.”
Wilson said the only building she encounters prob
lems with is the Military Science Building.
“I have one class in the Military Science Building,
and I have to be carried in," Wilson said. “A&M stu
dents are great about that. It does not make me feel
uncomfortable.”
Rawlings said he has found A&M to be one of the
best campuses in Texas for students with disabilities
“I chose A&M because it has the best facilities and
it is the easiest in getting around,” Rawling said. “I did
have difficulty getting into the Psychology Building.
On the first day of class, I had to have someone go get
a key for a little lift so I could enter the building. But
I n the Air Force, a crash is an “uncontrolled flight
into the ground.” A wild keg party held in a dorm
room is recorded for posterity on an “incident re
port.” In our culture, the hearing impaired are “dis
abled.” None of these labels accurately describe what
is taking place.
One of the myths about being hearing impaired is
the classification means to the layperson “deaf.” Some
people who are hearing impaired experience only
small loss in hearing.
Anne Reber, Interim Coordinator for the Service for
Students with Disabilities, said
the label “hearing impaired” is in
some cases an exaggeration.
“There are some people who
are classified as legally blind but
still have some functional vision,”
Reber said. “Just the same, there
are some people who still have
functional hearing who are clas
sified as hearing impaired. It’s
kind of a misnomer.”
Scott Getten, a junior me
chanical engineering major, de-
scribed his type of hearing loss.
“I’m hearing impaired toward the high-pitched
noises, but I can hear low-end noises,” Getten said. “I
can get along without a hearing aid.”
Sometimes, the stereotypes others impose when
they see a hearing aid can prove to be a nuisance to
those wearing them.
“People look at a hearing aid ,and they make an au
tomatic assumption of what you’re like, what you can
do,” Getten said.
Jenny Maki, Class of ’96, said that sometimes when
people try to help too hard it can become a problem.
Reading lips is made more difficult when the lip move
ments are exaggerated.
“Never assume that just because a person is hear-
“Because I just can’t hear all
of what anybody’s telling me,
I have to think more. I think
that translates to other things
like friendships.’’
JENNY MAKI
CLASS OF '96
ing impaired we know sign language,” Makisai;|
never over-enunciate your words because
used to it and it makes you harder to undersit
The routines hearing impaired studentsgoi
are not that different from a person who can
“When you are born with a disabilitylikefc
it’s just a part of life,” Reber said. “It’s just like
glasses is a part of my life.”
Getten said he is not embarrassed to asksoi
to repeat themself.
“I do miss some things said sometimes,
said. “But I can always ask them to repeatthei
if 1 want to know what they said."
Maki said she does not mind asking oft
help if she needs it.
“If I need to use the phi
just walk up to somebody
‘Hi, I’m hearing impaired,
help me make a call?',
“And 1 can say 99% of
they’ll help me out. Ithi
shows how enlightened
students are.”
Though she is not afcj
for help, Maki said studffl|
go out of their way to do
lier when she does not ask
ing more harm than good
“I want to be treated like everybody else ]
want any pity,” Maki said. “I’m really turnedoik
pie who try to pity me.”
Maki explained why she thinks collegestudf
more open-minded to the hearing impaired.
“When you get to college, the cliquesfioi:|
school are all gone,” Maki said. “You realizefe
new world and many people are alone fori
time in their lives, so they open up to newthii
Reber described how hearing impairedsl
use other cues besides language to help then
municate with others.
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Please see Hearing ok?j
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