Disability fair to give students resources

The IU Disability Awareness Fair will offer resources for students who are facing disabilities such as blindness and impaired hearing.

The fair will go from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today in the Herman B Wells Library lobby as part of disability awareness month in Indiana. Student groups as well as organizations from both on and off campus will have information booths at the fair.

Aaron Spector, disability services coordinator, said the fair’s goal is to reach out to the Bloomington community because disability month is about raising disability awareness and challenging stereotypes about disabled people.

In addition to information about different disabilities, the fair will include interactive booths such as hearing screenings, depression screenings and adaptive technology demonstrations.

Organizations such as the American Sign Language Club, IUB’s Disability Roundtable, the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community and the National Center on Accessibility will also participate in the fair.

Misty Kienzynski, president of Students Talking About Disabilities at IU Monthly said she hopes the fair will bring people’s attention to disabilities, as well as take the focus off of student disabilities and put it on what disabled students are capable of doing.

S.T.A.D.I.U.M. will also have a booth at the fair where members will hand out informational flyers and display posters with the Braille alphabet and biographies of
several group members.

Kienzynski said education and outreach are two of the group’s goals and added that she hopes the fair will increase interest in the group.

Spector said the fair is one way for disabled students to connect and network with each other and resources. The fair will feature quote books, photography and drawings by students.

The fair is sponsored by IU’s Office of Disability Services.