DUNMORE, Pa. — Penn State Scranton’s DREAMers Club and Student Disability Services hosted "Project Acceptance By Learning Experience," or Project ABLE, an activity-based learning event that provides opportunities to students to understand what it is like to live with various disabilities.
The program was organized by My Center for Independent Living (MyCIL), an organization based in Scranton, which has been providing help for people with disabilities to live independently since 1988. It offers five core independent-living services and coordinated service plans to 10 counties in Northeast Pennsylvania.
The DREAMers Club (Disability Rights, Education Advocacy, and Mentoring), which originated in Fall 2022, is a collaborative ally club consisting of students with and without disabilities whose purpose is to raise awareness and lower stigma surrounding disabilities.
The Project ABLE event enabled participants to increase their knowledge and experience with various disabilities by setting up a series of stations that simulated particular disabilities. Participants progressed through each one to learn about and become sensitized to some of the barriers encountered by persons with disabilities. Participants experienced simulated disabilities in the areas of mobility loss; manual dexterity challenges; visual disabilities; and learning differences.
Keith Williams, manager of Independent Living Services at MyCIL, said that Project ABLE has been coming to Penn State Scranton regularly for over 10 years.
“Our hope is to help sensitize and make people aware of what it’s like to have various disabilities. I think it’s important to note, after people are done completing the exercises, we are not looking for sympathy, we’re looking for empathy, for awareness, to understand,” Williams said.
MyCIL Outreach Coordinator Keith Loughney said, about students at Penn State Scranton: “These students are our next leaders, so instilling that mentality in them will help them as they go out in the community to advocate for this population.”
Another issue Project ABLE addresses is the tendency for some people to think that if they cannot see a disability, then it’s not there, said Loughney and Williams, who make sure to offer exercises surrounding "invisible" disabilities as well, such as dyslexia.
“It’s very important,” Loughney said. “At our Center for Independent Living, you may walk in and see a few people with physical disabilities, but at least 51% of them have some sort of disability.”
Additionally, mental illness, while often invisible, is considered a disability, said Loughney.
“Mental illness can be very severe and debilitating, which limits one’s quality of life, so it’s important to bring awareness to these types of invisible disabilities as well,” Loughney said.
Disabilities do not discriminate
“Disability is one phenomenon that doesn’t discriminate — it can cut across any gender, socioeconomic, race and national origin, and it can happen in a heartbeat,” Williams said. “Colleges, universities, high schools, businesses, post offices, government agencies and all buildings across the board, need to work through these barriers to help make facilities as accessible as possible.”
The Center for Independent Living supports services and advocates for buildings, parking lots and other spaces to be more accessible for all kinds of needs.
“When we push for more services, we want people to understand why,” Williams said.
DREAMers Club builds a community for those with and without disabilities
Disability and Learning Services Specialist Matthew Smith, said that Project ABLE was a perfect fit for the DREAMers Club, as its whole purpose as a club is to raise awareness.
“That is exactly what this project does. I believe that the exercises they offer, such as trying to unlock a door with a glove and learning what a disability is like, is education,” Smith said. “I think if we can create that understanding, then we can achieve our goal to lower the stigma that there’s something negative involved with having a disability.”
Members of the DREAMers Club said they relished the opportunity to host Project ABLE this semester and to give their fellow classmates a wider perspective of what some people around them may be living through.