Many EC students feel out of place or disconnected on campus, without a sense of belonging. Imagine if you felt that kind of distant feeling for most of your life.
There are hundreds of students on campus with disabilities, both physical and mental.
“The first year I did not know anybody here, but as I started coming here in my second year, I started meeting more and more people,” returning EC student Jose Moreno, 40, said.
Moreno began using a motorized wheel chair after suffering a work injury.
He and fellow student Kara Watkins have restarted up the Future Disabled Leaders Association.
“I am pretty much his arms and legs. We work as a team.” Watkins said. “We are good friends and we both have classes with a lot of other club members.”
The FDLA had been a dormant club on campus for several years before Moreno and Watkins pioneered the club’s reconstruction as president and vice president.
“There wasn’t a club here at school when I came in two years ago,” Moreno said. “I asked around and found it wasn’t active, so I decided to get the club active again.”
FDLA adviser Russell Serr, who has used a wheelchair since he suffered a spinal injury in a car accident when he was 18, recognizes the hard work and dedication many of the club leaders have shown.
“Some of the people who wanted to get it back going are really enthusiastic and are doing a lot of things,” Serr said. “They just asked me if I wanted to be a part of it so I said ‘Sure.’ I did not think they would get it going like they have it going now, though.”
The club had more than 20 members at its first meeting in September, and has grown since.
“This is really the first semester that the club has really gotten going,” Serr said.
Last week, the club kicked off National Disabled Awareness Month with wheelchair games on the Library Lawn, which featured wheelchair races and a wheelchair obstacle course.
“It was awesome, everything went smoothly,” Moreno said. “It was a lot of fun.”
On Thursday, Oct. 27 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the FDLA will present an art display, which will feature works from numerous disabled students on campus. The gallery will be held in the East Lounge of the Student Activities Center along with a bake sale to support the club.
“There are some people here that do incredible work,” Serr said. “Some of the works make you ask ‘How can they paint that with their mouth?’ or ‘How can they do that with only one hand?”
One of the reasons Moreno helped restart the FDLA was to help give disabled students a sense of belonging on campus.
“A lot of disabled people just come to school and then go home. My main goal is to get them active in the activities in school and to help them meet new people, new friends.”
