{"id":14234,"date":"2010-11-10T12:09:24","date_gmt":"2010-11-10T19:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=14234"},"modified":"2013-10-10T14:40:25","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T21:40:25","slug":"instructor-new-minor-dispel-myths-about-people-with-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/instructor-new-minor-dispel-myths-about-people-with-disabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Instructor, new minor dispel myths about people with disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew Wangeman<\/strong>\u00a0welcomes students to his class with sparkling blue eyes and a big smile. Dressed in black slacks and a dress shirt, he also wears a bicycle helmet fitted with a long pointer as he sits in a wheelchair equipped with a letter board.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/a>
Matthew Wangeman, center, uses a letter board while lecturing with interpreter John McDermott, left, and co-teacher Katherine Mahosky during an Introduction to Disability Studies class session.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe world of disabilities is still very hidden so with this class we hope to uncover it,\u201d Wangeman said. \u201cWe want to show that people with disabilities are not that different and it is the society that puts assumptions on people with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

With little control over most of his body, Wangeman uses his head and helmet to point across the letter board to form sentences and communicate with his students. Interpreter\u00a0John McDermott\u00a0<\/strong>vocalizes his sentences, but Wangeman engages students through eye contact, smiles and grunts of approval.<\/p>\n

Wangeman is very visible as an instructor for DIS 201, Introduction to Disability Studies, a 20-year disability advocate and an individual with cerebral palsy who uses a wheelchair and a nonverbal form of communication. By teaching he hopes to not only afford students real life interaction with a person who has a significant disability but also give them insight into what he wants out of life and how he is achieving that.<\/p>\n

Katherine Mahosky<\/strong>, Wangeman\u2019s good friend and colleague, co-teaches the introductory course with him and coordinates a new disability studies minor offered through NAU\u2019s Institute for Human Development.<\/p>\n

Mahosky, who also is a doctorate student at NAU, brings more than 30 years of speech pathology experience to the program. She wants to show that \u201cif you expose students to the capabilities of people with disabilities, attitudes will start to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pair hopes to \u201cdispel the myth that people with disabilities are tragic\u201d by increasing students\u2019 understanding of the world of disability.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow better to do that than to have a person with a disability contribute and share their experiences,\u201d Mahosky said. \u201cPeople are fearful of what they don\u2019t know or understand. This isn\u2019t something to fear. Yes there are challenges, but you can still get a job, have a good time, have a family and just live life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Letter<\/a>
Wangeman\u2019s letter board is a series of words, letters and numbers that allow him to communicate by pointing across the board with his modified helmet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Institute for Human Development created a disability studies minor to encourage students to explore the historic and legal treatment of people with disabilities, acquire an awareness and understanding of the role disability plays in today\u2019s society, and examine their own attitudes toward disability while reflecting on the construct of \u201cnormality\u201d and the ways this concept has shaped the understanding of disability. Wangeman is a prime example. With a master\u2019s degree in city planning from UC Berkeley, his position with NAU and good health, he is able to share a comfortable life with his son Elijah and Elijah\u2019s mother. And his disposition exudes that happiness.<\/p>\n

The minor was designed to address \u201cattitudinal\u201d barriers\u2014an area needing attention based on a 2006 Arizona survey of people with disabilities. It is just one part of a two-tier approach to heighten the community\u2019s awareness and understanding of disability and bring about a level of comfort for individuals interacting with people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

Mahosky and Wangeman encourage all majors to consider a disability studies minor. The 18 unit minor has a face-to-face introductory and capstone class, three online classes and an elective. Students also are welcome to take the introductory course as a liberal study.<\/p>\n

Almost every profession, from journalists to police officers, historians to lawyers, web designers to financial advisers, will encounter people with disabilities, Wangeman said. This class and minor present the issue from multiple perspectives, preparing students to interact comfortably with all people.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeaching together provides a really a nice interplay,\u201d Mahosky said. \u201cI can talk about disability from my professional experience, as an expert looking in, and Matthew can talk about disability from his professional and personal experience, from the inside looking out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew Wangeman\u00a0welcomes students to his class with sparkling blue eyes and a big smile. Dressed in black slacks and a dress shirt, he also wears a bicycle helmet fitted with a long pointer as he sits in a wheelchair equipped with a letter board. \u201cThe world of disabilities is still very hidden so with this…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}