Oread Disability Studies Section Ribbon Cutting part two

Ribbon cutting for disability-studies book section at Oread Books set for
April 6

Life Span Institute doctoral student Dot Nary always thought that there should be a disability studies section in the Oread Bookstore in the Kansas Union. She found that Lisa Eitner, general book supervisor at Oread Books, was enthusiastic about the idea.

The dedication of a section for books on disability studies and the disability rights movement will be 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, April 6, in Oread Books in the Kansas Union on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence.

A brief program at 2:30 p.m. will feature a ribbon cutting, speakers, a literature table and door prizes. Fifteen KU departments and organizations, including the Life Span Institute and several other Life Span affiliated centers, are co-sponsoring the event, which is free and open to the public.

Typically, bookstores designate sections devoted to books on group movements and issues, such as women and racial minorities, but it is less common for books on disability to be shelved together.

"It is important that we recognize the importance of the disability rights movement and of disability studies as an area of scholarship. This recognition can serve to promote greater awareness of the contemporary experience of disability in society and contribute to social change," said Dot Nary, doctoral student in applied behavioral psychology and co-coordinator of the event.

April 6 was chosen for the ribbon cutting to honor an event now considered by many to be the political coming-of-age of the disability rights movement. During the first week of April in 1977, people with disabilities began a 25-day sit-in at the federal building in San Francisco, the longest such event ever held in a U.S. federal building. A group of 120 activists with a variety of disabilities protested the fact that regulations to implement Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act had not yet been issued, thereby delaying discrimination remedies guaranteed by this federal law. Their protest was successful as 504 regulations were signed into law on April 28, 1977, without proposed changes that would have significantly weakened this landmark legislation.

Speakers at the event will include Kathryn Nemeth Tuttle, associate vice provost for Student Success; Glen White, professor of applied behavioral science, who teaches an undergraduate course on independent living for people with disabilities; and a representative of AbleHawks, a campus group for KU students with disabilities.

Cosponsors:
AbleHawks
Assistive Technology for Kansans
Beach Center on Disability
Counseling and Psychological Services
Department of Applied Behavioral Science
Department of Special Education
Disability Resources/Academic Achievement & Access Center
Kansas Audio-Reader Network
KU Center for Research on Learning
KU Professionals for Disability
KU Workgroup on Community Development and Health Promotion
Life Span Institute
Multicultural Resource Center
Research and Training Center on Independent Living (RTC/IL)
School of Social Welfare
Student Health Services

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