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Going into college, UNM alumna Amira Rasheed wished to pursue a double major in the sciences. As a student with cerebral palsy, she said she didn’t let her condition keep her away from her goals.
“It was a big change, to take what (my family) taught me and kind of build my advocacy skills, where I can advocate for services for things I needed and wanted,” she said. “I wanted to be treated with dignity and respect like everyone else.”
In 2009, Rasheed graduated with a double major in chemistry and psychology.
Rasheed was one of the speakers in a discussion panel Monday at the Student Union Building as part of the campus Disability Awareness Day.
The discussion panel, which featured UNM students and alumni with disabilities, was the first part featured in the daylong event.
The group talked about accessibility on campus, barriers to achieving accessibility and opening up to students and staff about their disabilities.
Rasheed, who now works as a public speaker, said the theme of her presentation that day was positivity. She said she hopes the event will inspire students and help promote acceptance of people with disabilities on campus.
“We are people, just like anybody else and we can accomplish anything we put our minds to,” she said. “No matter if you are a student with a disability or not, do not treat people differently just because they’re disabled.”
Connor Lites, UNM senior and president of Accessible Campus Community Equals Student Success (ACCESS), said his organization and Public Allies New Mexico organized the event.
Lites has Sensory Processing Disorder, a disability that likely contributed to his difficulties with paying attention in class, he said.
“It’s kind of difficult to describe, but it’s where your senses may not always function properly,” he said. “It’s kind of a physical learning disability, if you will.”
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Lites said he did not fully accept his disability until he met someone else at UNM who also had SPD.
“I felt it was a very negative aspect, and it wasn’t until I met this guy that I realized, ‘This can be a positive thing,’” he said. “I can use this to change other people’s lives.”
Lites said he hopes the event will help students realize having a disability is a “factor of diversity.”
“(Having a disability) is not a bad thing,” he said. “It can be a good thing. You can have many strengths that come with disabilities. You are experiencing a very interesting life.”
Katryn Fraher, a UNM alumna who helped organize the first Disability Awareness Day when she was a student, said she was “blown away” by the events.
“I came here this morning, and I’ve been walking around all day and when this first started, years ago,” she said. “I never thought it would come to this.”
Fraher, who has Crohn’s disease and helped found ACCESS, said she hopes the day will raise awareness of students with disabilities and their community.
“I wanted people outside the disability community to be aware that we are on campus,” she said. “We are here, and we have our own concerns. We can do things just as much as anyone else.”
