INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / JANUARY 8, 1991

 

 

People With Disabilities Fight For Access To
Education And Jobs

At Douglas College, staff and students work within the College and on the National front to help
disabled students participate on an equal footing with their non-disabled peers.

l, shouldn’t be unnatural to see a
person in a wheelchair on the
dance floor, a person with a dis-

ability taking a college course, or a

blind person work-

Among other things, they’ve pub-
lished an accessibility handbook of
colleges and universities,
produced a book profiling people

to participate on an equal footing
with their non-disabled peers."

Richard Marion is in the

second year of the Computer Infor-

mation Sys-

 

ing at the bank.
Every minority
deserves access to
education, jobs,

and leisure, includ-
ing people with dis-
abilities.

That they also
have a right to
higher learning is
the premise behind
the National Educa-
tional Association
for Disabled Stu-
dents (NEADS), a
nation-wide con-
sumer organization
with a chapter in
British Columbia.

 

 

tems Program
at Douglas Col-
lege. He has
2% of the nor-
mal 20/20
vision and he
requires mag-
nifications
aids, talking
books, and as-
sistance during
exams. "It’s dif-
ficult, but I use
whatever ser-
vices there are
to my ad-
vantage," he
says. "It puts
me on a more

 

 

Achieving in-
ternational recogni-
tion for promoting
better access to
post-secondary
education, NEADS
recently won the
prestigious Com-
monwealth Youth
Service Award.

"It was a really
high experience," says Gladys

Loewen, who helped start the B.C.

Chapter of NEADS in 1987.
Loewen is Coordinator of Dis-
abled Student Services at Douglas
College, and until recently, she
was the service provider repre-
sentative on the NEADS national
board.

And the organization is
having an impact, says Loewen.

(from left to right) Gladys Loewen, Co-ordinator of Disabled
Student Services, with Frank Jonasen, President of B.C.
Education Association of Disabled Students, and Richard Marion,
Douglas College Student Society Representative for Disabled
Students and Vice President of the B.C. Education Association of

Disabled Students.

with disabilities, and lobbied for
funds. "NEADS is definitely affect-
ing educational institutions," she
says.

At Douglas College, Loewen
says, "We try to make adaptations
within the classroom without
modifying anything to lower
standards. We want to provide the
missing piece that the disability
causes, thereby allowing students

even ground
for competi-
tion."

Marion is
also the newly
elected Vice
President of
the B.C. Chap-
ter of NEADS
(BCEADS) and
Coordinator of
the Disabled Students Association
on campus. He says that the
problems facing people with dis-
abilities don’t end with educa-
tion. "Employment is a big
problem. Employers need to know
that money is available to make
the necessary modifications for
physical accessibility, and to sen-
sitize their staffs." @

 

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