Disability Awareness
...What Can You Do?
Awareness Information
The theme for the Disability Awareness campaign at Sacramento State is "I CAN... What Can You do?"
This theme captures the idea that what people with disabilities CAN do makes a difference:
- We can achieve.
- We can excel.
- We can knock down barriers.
This campaign aims to raise campus awareness of the contributions and skills of individuals with disabilities.
Recent Honors
Jake White
The Sacramento Regional Builders Exchange (SRBX) – the region's oldest and largest building industry-related association – awarded scholarships to eight students enrolled in the Construction Management Programs at Sacramento State and Chico State in November 2011. These students represent some of the brightest and most committed students in their programs and will make outstanding additions to the construction workforce. Each student received a $1,000 scholarship.
The award process involved a written application and an oral interview before a panel of industry experts. These experts included representatives from local general and subcontractors, architects, engineers, suppliers, and other industry-related professions. Other criteria for awarding the scholarships comprised of community involvement, academic achievement, school involvement, future goals, letters of reference, and industry knowledge.
Jacob (Jake) White, an SSWD student, was one of the scholarship recipients. Jake is a senior in the Sacramento State Construction Management Program. He is a take-charge person who steps up when the opportunity arises. Examples of Jake’s extracurricular involvement started during his freshman year as he successfully volunteered to be Sac State's CMSA (Construction Management Student Association) Secretary. The following two years he continued his officer roll as the CMSA Volunteer Coordinator – encouraging and helping volunteers at all of the CMSA events. His passion for mechanical construction also prompted him to join the new Sac State MCAA (Mechanical Contractors Association of America) chapter and he is currently helping to solve his fourth year of MCAA national problems. Jake has helped on the last five Rebuilding Together projects that Sac State has been involved with and has also been involved with Sac State's DBIA (Design-Build Institute of America) Club for the past three years.
Over the past year, Jake has been attending the Sacramento chapter of ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers), where he enjoys networking and learning from design contractors. Jake has participated in the ASC Reno Competition the past three years with the multi-family team, the heavy civil team and the mechanical team – the team with whom he is continuing for his fourth year of competition. Also during the past three years, Jake has interned for companies such as Malcolm Drilling, Teichert Construction Heavy Highway Division, and Performance Mechanical, Inc.
In athletics, Jake was on the Sac State Men's Crew team in 2008-2009 as a starboard sweep rower. He just celebrated his two and a half year wedding anniversary to his wife, Krista White.
Congratulations, Jake, on your continued success!
Bryant Ho
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers held their Regional Conference for California and West Coast College Chapters at Stanford University from April 1-3, 2011. As part of the conference, a business proposal
competition was held and the engineering team from CSUS earned First Place. The student team consisted of SSWD student, Bryant Ho, and colleagues Ariana Castillo and Sergio Tapias.
The guidelines for the completion were to find an engineering problem in society and come up with a solution with an aim towards venture capitalists. College teams submitted written proposals from which five teams were selected to do formal presentations. Business representative judges were from Lawrence Livermore Labs, Chevron, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft and Proctor & Gamble.
The proposal Bryant’s team developed was for a new type of electrical outlet that would shut off vampire loads when not in use (i.e. televisions, radios, etc.). They presented a PowerPoint that consisted of their marketing plan, product research and development, and a five year financial projection.
They beat out teams from Stanford, Fresno State, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly, Skyline Community College, and others. Each won an X-Box for their outstanding endeavor in this competition.
Congratulations, Bryant!
Anthony Strazdins
Anthony Strazdins, an RPTA major in his last semester at Sacramento State, received the honor of being placed on the Dean’s Honor List recognizing his superior academic performance during the Fall 2010 semester. The Dean’s Honor list is recognition of high academic achievement that is part of a student’s permanent record. Semester honors are awarded and the notation “Dean’s Honor List” is posted to the permanent academic record for first-year students earning a 3.00 GPA and other undergraduates earning a 3.25 GPA. Students must complete a minimum of 12 graded units with no “I” grades and no grades lower than “C-”.
Anthony related this about his success: “I resigned from my job two years ago to pursue my major. The only thing I can say to help others is that I never gave up and I always kept my eye on the prize. In the ten years I was going to [night] school, I took a class or two at Sac City College. I started in basic math and basic English and worked my way up while holding a full time job. In the time I was going to night school, I was able to buy a house, get married and have two children. During this time I never took a break and worked hard. Without the help of SSWD, I would not be where I am today. The SSWD office has been behind me the whole way and making accommodations to help me succeed. The SSWD office staff is the best and should be recognized for my success of being on the Dean's Honor List. It was not only my success, but SSWD’s as well.”
Congratulations, Anthony, on your well-deserved achievement!
Did you know?
Students with disabilities represent about 10% of all undergraduate students nationwide.
Leadership Begins Here: Stories
Stories that showcase the talents and abilities of students, staff, and community members with disabilities are being featured.
Janice's Story: Competitive Archery
|
Gene's Story: Barrier Free Environments
|
Shannon's Story: Traveling the World
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
Jenny's Story: Adaptive Sports
|
Erik's Story: Making a Difference
|
Patricia's Story: Always a Way
|
IN THE NEWS
True beauty defined through art collages--SSWD teamed up with the Multicultural Center to present an interactive workshop for Womens' Herstory Month etitled "Women & Ability: Challenging Social Norms of Beauty and Perfection." (article published in The State Hornet, March 17, 2011 edition).
Wheeling To The Basket--Sac State's Adaptive Sports and Recreation Club's first event is a big success as students with and without disabilities participate in 3-on-3 wheelchair basketball. (article published in The State Hornet, December 2, 2009 edition).
Videos:
Michael Davis: Sacramento's Blind Black Belt -- YouTube clip of a news report about Michael Davis, Sacramento State student and black belt in Judo.
Timely Adoption of Textbooks: Information about the importance of timely information about textbooks and a description by students of the various alternate ways to read a book.
Resources
- CSU Public Affairs: Advocating for Ability (article)
- What Can YOU Do? Campaign for Disability Employment
- I AM PWD Campaign - Inclusion in the Arts & Media of People with Disabilities
- National Disability Employment Awareness Month
- Job Accommodation Network
- Disability Etiquette brochure (pdf)
- Making Your Campus Event Accessible
- Instructional Materials Accessibility Information for Instructors
- Download a Printable PDF Disability Awareness '09 poster (for alternate formats contact sswd@csus.edu)
The Disability Awareness Media Campaign is a collaborative effort between Services to Students with Disabilities; TRIO Student Support Services; Academic Technology & Creative Services; University Enterprises, Inc. Project Activity Grant; Accessible Technology Initiative; and others.
Download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDFs
Feedback
If you have any questions or concerns or would like to share a story of what YOU can do, please contact us at sswd@csus.edu.
Survey:
We are hoping you will take a moment to complete a short (3 questions) assessment of the disability awareness media campaign. Your participation is appreciated and your feedback will help us to continue to improve disability awareness training. The URL of this survey is as follows:
http://skylight.wsu.edu/s/ebcb9644-5c86-4629-814a-32ed5ef4acef.srv