DISABILITY AWARENESS: Success stories and resource fair

by Dave Jones
October 03, 2012

Next week’s Disability Awareness Fall Symposium presents two UC Davis “success stories”: a Ph.D. student in chemistry who is blind, and a medical student who has profound hearing loss — both of whom receive assistance from the Student Disability Center.

They are scheduled to speak from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 9) in Freeborn Hall amid the Accessible Technology and Resource Fair, which runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.

With these annual events, UC Davis observes National Disability Employment Awareness Month and California Disability History Week.

The chancellor’s Disability Issues Administrative Advisory Committee and the Office of Campus Community Relations sponsor the symposium and resource fair.

The symposium is titled College to Work: Two Success Stories from UC Davis Students with Disabilities. The speakers:

• Henry “Hoby” Wedler, who is in his second year as a Ph.D. student in organic chemistry, talking about his graduate education and career choices and how he set goals to achieve success. Accompanied by his faculty adviser, Professor Dean Tantillo.

• Amanda Mooneyham, talking about her educational journey and decision to pursue a medical degree. Accompanied by her mentor, Professor David Wisner.

In May, the White House honored Wedler as one of 14 Champions of Change for leading the way for people with disabilities in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

“The leaders we’ve selected as Champions of Change are proving that when the playing field is level, people with disabilities can excel in STEM, develop new products, create scientific inventions, open successful businesses, and contribute equally to the economic and educational future of our country,” said Kareem Dale, special assistant to President Obama for disability policy.

Inspired by programs offered by the National Federation of the Blind in high school and with encouragement from professors, colleagues and others, Wedler gained the confidence to challenge and refute the mistaken belief that STEM fields are too visual and, therefore, impractical for blind people.

In his comments at the White House ceremony, Wedler notes the disability services that he receives: Braille transcriber-reader-lab, and research assistant — funded by the Student Disability Center.

Mooneyham, who has 90-decible hearing loss in both ears, is in her fourth year of medical training, and also this year is due to complete her work for a Master of Public Health.

She uses hearing aids and reads lips — and did not have any significant challenges until her surgical rotation came along.

“Amanda can pretty much take care of herself in every circumstance,” Wisner says in a School of Medicine video about Mooneyham’s surgical rotation. She uses hearing aids and reads lips — but, Wisner said, Mooneyham needed extra help in the operating room, where everyone wears masks and where people often mumble behind those masks.

The Student Disability Center¹s captioning team, led by Denese Harlan, transcribing what everyone said in the operating room. The captioners worked remotely, via the Internet, listening in on surgeries (via a tablet computer) and sending the transcription to be displayed on a screen on a wall in the OR.