A day in their shoes Multicultural Center raises disability awareness

The Multicultural Center Wednesday hosted Disability Awareness Day, giving students and faculty a chance to learn what life is like for people who have disabilities.

October is National Employment Disability Month, which prompted the event. Adriana Balcorta, the event director, emphasized why the Multicultural Center decided to host the event this year.

"We need to be aware of what it is like to have a disability," Balcorta said. "We are used to seeing people with disabilities, but don't really understand what they are experiencing."

The Multicultural Center focused on a variety of disabilities, Balcorta said. The most common ones are physical disabilities, but depression and dyslexia are disabilities as well.

The main speaker at the event was Larry Evans, who has had to learn how to live from his wheel chair since an accident made him a quadriplegic. Evans talked about what it is like to be disabled and how he has made the best of it.

"I'm still here and I'm still kicking —one-footed, but I'm still kicking," Evans said. "I still say where there is a will there is a way, and if you don't stand up, stand out." Evans said his experience of being confined to a wheel chair has not disabled him from staying competitive and active in wheel chair sports, especially wheel chair tennis.

"It was extremely eye opening to see some of the people that I have seen participate in wheel chair sports who were able-bodied athletes at one point in time," Evans said.

Senior Sendy Tamayo said she was touched by Evans' story and amazed at his positive outlook.

"A lot of times they are doing way better than some of us who don't have disabilities because they are having to experience life in a different way," Tamayo said. "They do what they can with what they have."

The event also had multiple booths that let students experience what it would be like if they were deaf or blind.

Freshman Isaiah Greer participated in an activity to experience what it was like to be deaf. Greer said that the task was very difficult.

"I guess you take it for granted that you can hear a lot," Greer said.