SU Commemorates Disability History and Awareness Month in October

SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury University commemorates Disability History and Awareness Month with a series of October events ranging from workshops to a museum tour.

Rita Campbell of the Modern Languages Department inaugurates the series with the talk “An Introduction to Deaf Culture” at 1 p.m. Thursday, October 1, in the Pocomoke Room of the Guerrieri University Center. The discussion details the experiences, interests and values of deaf culture in the United States. Dr. Diane Allen, SU provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, provides opening remarks.

On Wednesday, October 7, Dr. Maarten Pereboom, dean of the Charles R. and Martha N. Fulton School of Liberal Arts presents “Wars Against the Disabled: Science and Violence in the 20th Century,” at 5 p.m. in Henson Hall Room 103. Pereboom discusses Nazi Germany’s brutal treatment of the disabled during World War II.

On Friday, October 9, SU students, faculty, staff and alumni are invited on a day-long bus trip to the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. The bus departs from the Dogwood parking lot at 7:30 a.m. and returns at 5 p.m. To register, visit the information desk in the Guerrieri University Center by 5 p.m. Thursday, October 8. Space is limited.

Poster series and multi-media exhibits are displayed on campus throughout the month. In the Fireside Lounge of the Guerrieri University Center, “The Evolution of Social Perceptions of People with Disabilities” highlights notable events which have contributed to existing attitudes, beliefs and feelings surrounding Americans with disabilities.

“Disability as a Dimension of Diversity” displays the medical and social models of perceiving disabilities in the Commons’ Link of Nations. The “Disability History and Awareness” interactive multi-media display in Blackwell Library features new resources from both biographical and autobiographical collections.
Dr. Diana Wagner of the Education Specialties Department presents the workshop, “Everyone Welcome in Our Universe: Universal Design, Not After-Thought” 3 p.m. Thursday, October 15 in TETC Room 253. Included is a scavenger hunt for universal design components in classrooms.

The month culminates with a screening of the Academy Award-winning film King Gimp 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 27, in Henson Hall Room 243. Created by the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine, the documentary follows the life of Dan Keplinger, an accomplished artist with cerebral palsy, beginning with his elementary school years through his graduation from Towson University.

Admission to all Disabled Awareness and History Month events at SU is free and the public is invited. For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.