Event Offers Snapshot of Life with Disabilities

WINTERVILLE�Pitt Community College�s Disability Services Department held a program this month to offer the campus a glimpse of what it is like to face life with a disability.

Titled �Walk a Mile in My Shoes,� the event shed light on the different types of disabilities and functional limitations present in today�s society. It also provided insight on the needs of students with disabilities and the resources PCC has to offer them.

Throughout the Craig Goess Student Center, where the event was held, a number of simulations gave attendees firsthand experience of what it is like to have physical, sensory and cognitive disabilities. One simulation asked participants to wear glasses with lenses coated in a thin layer of Vaseline while others required blindfolds and earplugs.

Michael Bridgers, PCC's Director of Disability Services, explained that the simulations were intended to �build empathy, not sympathy� for people with disabilities. He said the April 16 program also gave attendees a better perspective of the misperceptions of persons with disabilities and the diversity of the PCC campus.

�I am very proud of the diversity among our students at Pitt Community College, and �Walk a Mile in My Shoes� is a good example of promoting that diversity, the success of students with disabilities and their determination to succeed in spite of their disabilities,� he said.

Bridgers said he�d received positive feedback from students regarding the event. One student, he said, called the program �very enlightening� and said it went a long way toward providing a better understanding of people with disabilities.

In addition to Disability Services, "Walk a Mile in My Shoes� was sponsored by PCC�s Multicultural Activities Committee, Student Government Association, Minority Male Mentoring program, Tutorial and Academic Success Center, and Occupational Therapy Assistant program. Also sponsoring the event were Vocational Rehabilitation, the N.C. Assistive Technology Center, the Division of Services for the Blind, and Wilson Resource Center.

04/21/2009