Disability class reaches out to community

[Guest guest]

Disability class reaches out to community

College Seminar combines interdisciplinary studies with service at

South Bend's Logan Center

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Sixteen Notre Dame students will join the growing field of

disability studies this semester in a seminar on disability that

will supplement interdisciplinary academic study with community

service.

" Disabilities studies is very new … and there are very few courses

dedicated to it in the U.S., " course instructor Essaka

said. " When I got here I was really excited with the reaction I was

getting from people within Notre Dame. "

In addition to attending traditional classes, students in the Arts

and Letters College Seminar on disability will spend time each week

with disabled persons at the Logan Center in South Bend. This weekly

service will allow students to expand upon traditional studies

through interaction with the disabled, said.

Students have backgrounds in a wide variety of studies, including

medicine, anthropology, English, history, American Studies and

psychology.

" [The course] attempts to look beyond seeing disability in a medical

context, " said.

The seminar, which is filled to capacity, looks at various disabled

communities, attitudes towards difference, the history of disability

and cultural representations of disability through literature. The

course will also examine government policy, the politics of charity

and issues surrounding medical insurance.

Students will draw on their weekly volunteer experiences for class

presentations, discussions and projects.

" The students will be helping with all sorts of recreational

activities for people of all ages, learning about the lives of the

clients, and about the ways in which institutions of this type can

make a difference, " said.

Students will work with a Logan Center representative to select

their service placement. Some students may work in the Center's

newly opened Regional Center of Autism, where they will assist

clients with developing their social skills. The volunteer aspect of

the course is self-directed, so the students will have the option of

moving around the Logan Center and interacting with people with

various disabilities.

said students will engage both in group activities and one-on-

one time with Logan Center clients.

" Volunteering is very much part of the culture of Notre Dame, "

said. " It's good to be able to reward that interest and to

integrate it into a study program through volunteer placement. "

said that she had no problems obtaining University approval

for the course.

" The College Seminar has lots of freedom and covers topics that

might appeal to students, " she said. " I had quite a lot of freedom

to do what I wanted. "

said the Center for Social Concerns was instrumental in

helping her create the course.

Beckman, the Center for Social Concern's director for academic

affairs and research, said the disability seminar is one of three

College Seminars offered with a community-based component to it. The

other two classes address poverty issues.

" Students tell me that when they have experiences in the community,

it gives them a sense of urgency about the issues and shows them how

important it is to address these issues, " Beckman said. " Having that

experience in the real world, gives them much more of a sense of the

complexity of the issues. "

Students have requested more service-learning opportunities in their

academic schedule, she said.

The disability course has attracted interest among alumni and

faculty as well.

" I've even been contacted by Notre Dame alumni who are interested in

the issue, and are pleased that Notre Dame is pioneering a course on

this topic, " said.

, who is currently researching a book on disability in the

Romantic period, said she hopes students will find the course

personally as well as academically rewarding.

" I hope the students will broaden their horizons and think more

deeply about questions they are interested in, " she said