Disabilities Awareness month is October. The SWAs, in league with the Coordinator of Disability Services for Students, put together a series of events and productions during October to raise awareness about disabilities. These efforts are listed below.

The term "disability" can seem very vague to some people, and that is intentional. Disabilities include all of the following types:

• those that affect the musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, genitourinary, endocrine, or multiple systems
• disorders of speech and special senses
• hematological disorders
• immune system disorders
• skin disorders
• neurological disorders
• mental disorders

SWAs use productions during Disabilities Awareness month to focus on how disabilities affect everyone - in two ways.

• First, at some point in everyone's life, they will themselves be affected by some type of disability. One common example of a disability that affects almost everyone is visual impairment; most people will need glasses or some other form of visual aid at some point in their life. 
• Secondly, it is important to realize that we live in a community and are affected - sometimes in unnoticeable ways - by the disabilities of those around us. For example, the cutout in a sidewalk (that enables people to travel from street to the sidewalk without stepping up or down) is rarely recognized as an aid to physically disabled individuals, but rather as an aid to many populations (e.g. people with strollers, bikers, etc.). That little modification to sidewalks, however, is one example of a larger effort towards Universal Design - designs of physical and learning spaces that are accessible to all individuals, regardless of disabilities.

During the 08-09 academic year, the SWAs put together several productions for Disabilities Awareness Month. Due to time and financial constraints, not all of these items will be produced during the 09-10 academic year. However, the information below provides ideas and methods for trying to spread awareness about disabilities:

• This is My Story
• Universal Design Campaign: The SWAs put up a poster around campus advertising the concept of the physical component of Universal Design. In addition, they posted stickers around campus: red dots signified something (i.e. building entrance, hallway, water fountain) that is not accessible, and green dots signified things that are accessible.
• Wheelchair Basketball/Rugby: The SWAs invited a couple of teams from the cities come down to Carleton. There were two teams: one that played basketball and another that played rugby. Both did a presentation and demonstration of their wheelchair capabilities and their games. The event was held upstairs in the Rec Center.
• "Murderball": The SWAs collaborated with SUMO to show Murderball, a documentary about full-contact wheelchair rugby.
• Adaptive Yoga: The SWAs invited Andy Lear to come to Carleton to teach an adaptive yoga class. Adaptive yoga is designed to be useful to all individuals - those with disabilities or not - but is particularly helpful in the rehabilitation process.