Inspirational speaker Jonathan Mooney kicked off disability awareness week on Sunday with a discussion dealing with mental disabilities.
Mooney's words about the tyranny of normalcy, empowerment and cognitive diversity reverberated through the auditorium, and all those who came ot hear it.
Mooney, a Brown University graduate, is the author of "The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal" and "Learning Outside the Lines."
Mooney was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD; he reads at a seventh grade reading level and spells at a third grade level.
His childhood experiences inspired him to travel to 45 states in a converted short bus to learn and write about other disabled children's battles with normalcy.
"We are all impacted by the concept of normalcy, and we must commit part of our education to challenge what norm we are told to fulfill," he said. "We need to come to an authentic definition of ourselves."
During his speech, Mooney advised the audience not to strive to be normal. He said we should "ditch the idea of intelligence as a stable, unchanging quality" and define disability as diversity, because disabilities are advantageous in different environments.
"Jonathan Mooney's passion for children and a change in the education system for people affected by disabilities left me with a passion to do the same," said Tyler Erdeljac a junior early childhood education major.
Disability Awareness Week continued Monday with a presentation on American Sign Language. Victoria Frisch, who teaches an ASL class, discussed deaf culture and taught some basic words in sign language.
She addressed through her lectures that sign language is fun and that we should not be afraid to break the barriers and have conversations with the deaf.
On Wednesday, philosophy professor Charles Zimmerman spoke to faculty about his "passion for accommodating students with mental disabilities."
Zimmerman puts extra time and effort during his classes, to work with special needs students. He looks for ways to play up their strengths, including using different formats for tests or providing help after class.
He said it is crucial that everyone understands that "LD (learning disability) students are just as smart as anybody-sometimes smarter."
Disability Awareness Week will conclude, with a reception today at 3 p.m. in Roush Hall. It will recognize and thank the Otterbein community for supporting special needs students throughout the year. t&c;
