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I B heMihianDaly - edesdy, ebrary 6 00
A quick wit andimpeded speech
hen I was 16, I attended
a meeting in an unfamil-
iar town. I got lost on the
way, so I stopped at a gas station
for directions. Instead of getting
help with directions, the cops were
called on the suspicion that a men-
tally retarded man was disorientat-
ed and z was told to go home.
Situations like that happen to me
several times a year.
In a typical day, I'm asked to
repeat half the things I say. I've
been laughed at for just trying to
ask a question and not laughed at
while trying to tell a joke. Any sim-
plerequestcantake severalminutes
to communicate, and even then, the
person I'm talking to might only be
pretending to fully understand.
Some days I had wanted to end
my life - or at least kill the part
of me that has the speech impedi-
ment.
For a long time, I thought my
disability was an ugly part of me,
something that would go away if I
only wished and prayed. I remem-
ber watching an episode of "Full
House" in grade school where one
of the characters talked about wak-
ing up one day and miraculously
havingno more pimples. For awhile
afterwards, I would lie in bed in
the morning imagining that it was
finally the day that I had woken up
with perfect speech. It never was.
The doctors said I would grow
out of it by high school, but high
school came and went, and I stayed
the same. By "it" I mean apraxia
and dysarthria, terms I have avoid-
ed using for most my life because
they seemed to smack of the stigma
of being disabled. Apraxia is a neu-
rological disorder concerning the
loss of the brain's ability to cue cer-
tain learned movements, while dys-
arthria is a disorder in the nervous Earlham College in Indiana when
system that impedes control over I helped plan Disability Awareness
the tongue, lips, throat or lungs. Month. By organizing this event, I
Speech therapy helped me over- had to face the fact that I live with
come the worst manifestations of a disability. It is who I am. It has
these conditions. But ultimately, shaped my life. It is a factor in all
what made the greatest difference my decisions and all my relation-
ships. But also I realized it can only
.iyd sso be a disadvantage if I let it be. Right
now I live a full life with numerous
-icrm .aton friends and a loving family. At 23
years old, I have seen much of the
because of world and have a B.A. in saving it
- I studied Peace & Global Stud-
a speech ies. Without my disability, I don't
Y know what my life would be like,
impediment but I know that I wouldn't be the
same person. And I would never
want that.
Of course, even with this self-
was when I said fuck it and decided realization, the obstacles are no
to live my life. less real. I know I won't ever be
Thischange inattitudehappened able to hold a job that involves
during my first year of college at public speaking. I am still scared
about finding that special some-
one who will look past the initial
garbled pick-up line. And ordering
a pizza will never be as simple as it
sounds.
I'll never completely lose my
apprehension about encountering
new situations and people, but I've
proven able to overcome the worst
of it. After just a month of living in
Ann Arbor, I've made friends and a
comfortable life for myself. Partly, I
think that it's the openness of Ann
Arbor. But mostly I know it's been
me.
That day when I was 16, I left
that gas station wounded but not
defeated. I found the meeting loca-
tion and went on with my life. It
was the only thing I could do.
-Greg Woods is the program
coordinator for Michigan
Peaceworks in Ann Arbor.
ABOUT CAMPUS door. She opened the door and she
From Page 6B said 'I'm sorry, the deadline is over'
and he started screaming and curs-
ing. She shut the door,_ and he kept
her, the stress began to build. pounding on the door and she got
"I almost got in a fight with some- really mad. She opened the door and
one in the basement of the UGLi last said 'I'll take your manuscripts' and
night because (a group of people) she took them and threw them into
wouldn't shut up and I was stress- the wastebasket within his sight,
ing out because I couldn't finish and closed the door."
my ending," Bruce said. "I had to Luckily for all parties involved,
go take off for a while. They were the situation didn't escalate. But
talking about stripping naked and there have been instances that
having Superbowl parties, and I just prompted Beauchamp to up secu-
couldn't concentrate." rity. After a frustrated applicant
Andrea Beauchamp, assistant threw a metal hole puncher at a
director of the Hopwood Program, work-study worker in the Hopwood
said Bruce wasn't the only one with Room, Beauchamp asked Elwood
violence on her mind as the deadline Reid, a graduate student and former
draw near. Beauchamp, who stands football player, to work as a tempo-
sentry inside the small doorframe rary bodyguard at deadline time.
of the Hopwood Room each year to "Usually when the deadline
accept student's submissions, has comes, people yell and scream
seen plenty of ordinarily reasonable and cry," Beauchamp said. "But he
students turn feral after missing came and people were pounding on
the deadline - sometimes only by the door after the deadline and he
a minute. The first year Beauchamp opened it up and there was this big
oversaw the Hopwood submission guy who said, 'Deadline's over!' and
process, a nun who shared her posi- they said 'OK' and off they went."
tion ended up throwing away the Hopwood Chairman Nicholas
manuscript of a student who simply Delbanco said the deadline is strict
would not accept the reality of his because if an exception is made for
tardiness. one student, exceptions have to be
"I'm here to help people enter, made for all students.
but we have to draw the line some- "We have people that come in a
where, and it might as well be the time zone late, or three minutes too
deadline," Beauchamp said. "(The late, but I'm frankly of the oldschool
nun) was showing me what to do conviction that a deadline is a dead-
when the first deadline came up line, and you're dead if you cross
and the deadline passed and this (it)," Delbanco said.)
guy came up and pounded on the -MIKEDOLSEN
VISUAL STATEMENT
L1
For some devout supportersof presidential primary candidates, Super Tuesday wasthe equivalent of
Woodstock - atime to travel acrossthe nations, adorn yourself with fan gear and fight for the best place in
the crowd. Barack Obama, the Kennedy-esque darling of the Democratic primaries, particularly has a fol-
lowing. For a look at Obama fanatics at the Illinois primary is Chicago go to:
www.michigandaily.com/allvideo