January 2007

Disability Support Services Launches Speakers Bureau

By Zak M. Salih

As a GW student in 1993, Jim Duncan never disclosed his disability to his classmates or professors. Despite visual impairment and chronic health issues due to cancer treatment, Duncan never took advantage of the opportunities provided by the Office of Disability Support Services (DSS) even though he was a student employee at the DSS office.

“I find it hugely ironic that it was so important to me and so important to others, but I wouldn’t admit that I had a disability,” he says. “I kick myself now as I look back and realize all the amazing services this office provides.”

To better inform the GW community about living with disabilities, Duncan, who currently works for the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, has teamed up with DSS Director Christy Willis to resurrect a speakers bureau composed of students with disabilities who will share their personal stories with various GW classrooms, organizations, and departments upon request.

The idea for a speakers bureau began 10 years ago, when Duncan and Willis assembled a group of students to participate in lectures and panel discussions on disabilities. The program was advertised to academic offices and student organizations and attracted a guest speaker: James Brady, the former White House press secretary who was paralyzed from the waist down after the attempted assassination of President Reagan in 1981.

“The discourse that took place with the students was great,” says Willis. “These people were really learning, and that showed me we were making a difference.”
When Duncan approached Willis late last year, they both agreed to establish a more formal, organized speakers bureau. Though the pair currently is focused on recruiting and training student speakers, they hope to extend invitations to public speakers in the future as well. So far, 10 students are part of the bureau, representing a cross-section of students with disabilities.

In December, the students honed their public speaking skills in a training session led by Elizabeth Kitsos-Kang, a part-time faculty member with the Department of Theatre and Dance. Together, they worked to move away from feelings of self-consciousness and focus on the goal of their speech; each student prepared speeches, which were critiqued by the group.

“I was really impressed with the students,” Kitsos-Kang says. “They were already very good at speaking publicly and each had a unique style.”

One student, Corbb O’Connor, hopes audiences will come away understanding that his blindness doesn’t make him different from other people. Involved with DSS since before coming to GW, O’Connor, who has spoken to audiences
at Loyola University, wants to dispel typical myths about people with disabilities.
“Sometimes, we just need materials in a slightly different format,” he says. “That doesn’t mean people with disabilities are any less intelligent or should be excluded from doing things that would be expected from anybody else.”

Junior Jesse Mayer, another member of the speakers bureau, agrees. “It can be a valuable way to reach out and connect with people who may be skeptical of working with a person with a disability,” he says.

Duncan has high aspirations for the project. “I would like to see it eventually become a high-profile group that’s very prestigious and almost competitive for students to join,” he says.

“I hope it’s infectious and that other students get excited as well. For me, what’s really important is making a difference.”

Students will be available to speak throughout the spring semester. A panel discussion is planned for a University Counseling Center staff meeting in March, at which students will describe their personal experiences at GW and address the needs and concerns of students with disabilities.

Established in 1978, DSS works to level the educational playing field for GW students with disabilities. The office provides both learning services, including help with organization, time management, and written expression skills, and accommodations such as interpreters, books on tape, and letters to professors informing them of a student’s particular disability. Last year, DSS assisted close to 750 GW students; student registration has grown 21 percent within the last two years.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu