Groups dedicate week to disability awareness

Disability Awareness Week’s events were kicked off with laughter.

Comedian Will Marfori, born with cerebral palsy, performed for about 50 people Monday in the Wilson Hall Auditorium. The booking was a joint effort of the University Program Board, the Council for Exceptional Children and Best Buddies.

Cerebral palsy, or CP, is a condition caused by damage to the brain during birth that affects body movement and muscle coordination, according to www.ucp.org. According to Marfori, he has learned to laugh at life and live with his disability in the spotlight.

“I think it’s great [that I came during Disability Awareness Week]. I hope people got more out of [the show] than just comedy,” he said.

Several JMU organizations collaborate to increase awareness of disabilities among students and faculty.

“The week’s activities will provide a realistic glimpse into the lives of people with disabilities and, hopefully, enable everyone to appreciate differences and value uniqueness,” said senior Sarah Bosler, a special education major.

Marfori loves making people laugh and has used humor to add normalcy to his life. As a self-proclaimed “class clown,” he was integrated into the regular classroom growing up, but always felt left out. Now he makes his disability a part of his show.

Although Marfori makes many jokes about himself, he also takes time to teach his audience about diversity. “The point of my show is [to demonstrate] that you probably have more in common with people with disabilities than those without,” he said.

Taylor Kennedy, director of Issues and Cultural Awareness, was enthusiastic about bringing Marfori to JMU because “disabilities is an issue that JMU is faced with. Disability Awareness Week is really important and needs to be addressed in more depth.”

Tuesday night, special education professor Cheryl Beverly spoke to a group of students at the College Center about the Americans with Disabilities Act. These two laws pertain to people with disabilities in the United States. These two acts are meant to make life for those with disabilities easier.

Through simulations, such as tying people’s feet together and asking them to cross the room (which represented a deficient range of motion), she tried to emulate what it may be like to have a disability.

“My goal is to raise awareness for the non-disabled population,” she said. “[The audience] will, hopefully, leave with an appreciation of the impact a disability has on ‘everyday’ functioning, and be more open to the issues of access for persons with disabilities.”

“If [Disability Awareness Week] is all we do, then I think the effectiveness is short-lived,” Beverly said. “It’s the same as with any diversity issue — if it’s not integrated into all aspects of education or life, it doesn’t have much impact.”

To make JMU students more aware of the impacts of disabilities, there also was a simulation and information booth set up in Warren Hall throughout the week. Senior Jen Wutka, a member of Best Buddies who worked at the simulation booth, said that it was “very educational and informative.”

“[Disability Awareness Week] is effective for the JMU campus, but would like to involve more JMU students and organizations in the process [next year]” Leigh Buckley, a member of CEC, said.