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A New Perspective: Students experience life with a disability
For most students, getting around Mizzou is easy. While making it to class from opposite sides of campus on time can be tough, students in one MU class now know firsthand that navigating campus in a wheelchair or on crutches creates a completely different set of challenges.
Physical Therapy student Lindsey Penick, class of 2010, helps instructor Karen Wingert by explaining which route students with wheelchairs should take to Jesse Hall. Photos by Cheri Ghan.
To help students develop a better understanding of these challenges, Clinical Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Karen Wingert had her Introduction to Physical Therapy class step into the shoes of a person with a disability. The students were either given a wheelchair or crutches and a set of tasks to complete around campus. To make sure everyone stayed safe, the students set out in groups of three.
If the student was in the wheelchair, their task was to go from Lewis Hall to Jesse Hall, go into Jesse Hall and use the restroom and then return to Lewis Hall. For many students this task was more difficult than they could ever imagine.
“All of the assigned tasks were daunting,” says sophomore Bryan Bortfeld. “The amount of endurance needed to scale hills and inclines and the finesse needed to slow down and turn the wheelchair is evident after many failed attempts by those in my group and me.”
“The physical aspect was extremely strenuous,” says sophomore Andrew Kirby. “Every task was made more difficult because the world is based around walking people.”
Besides the physical strain, the students witnessed first-hand the psychological challenges of being in a wheelchair. “At times I felt like people were staring at me, particularly when I was struggling,” says Kirby. “At other times it seemed like people were purposefully avoiding eye contact with me. All I wanted was to be treated like a regular person and I’m sure that is how those with actual disabilities feel.”
The students on crutches were required to go from Lewis to Stankowski Field, do one lap around the track and then return to Lewis. The main complaint of students was how tired their arms were after just a short period of walking.
“It was like a workout without going to the gym,” says freshman Sara Barnes. “This experience has shown me that we should go out of our way to help those that are less fortunate than us to make their life a little easier,” says sophomore Michael Cruise.
The overall consensus from the students is that they gained a new perspective on people with disabilities, which Wingert says was the purpose of the experiment. “I wanted to give them a 10 minute taste of what it might be like to have a disability so they can better understand the population they will be treating,” says Wingert.
— Karen Hecksel
Related Links
Clinical Associate Professor Karen Wingert gives instructions as students prepare to use either crutches or wheelchairs to navigate campus.
Students traveled in teams to ensure safety for the students using wheelchairs.
Page last updated on: August 25, 2009
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