Enabling the disabled is a top priority for one student organization.
FIGURE which stands for Finding Intelligent Greatness Uniquely Residing in Everyone, is a student organization focused on disability awareness on campus and in the surrounding community. The meaning behind the acronym, standing president Maggie Doremus said, is to place focus on the strengths of those with disabilities, rather than on their disabilities and the disadvantages they pose.
The organization was founded four years ago by Amber Ricker, now a senior, who brought the group into existence with three primary goals: to instruct, to inform, and to inspire. Ricker believes it is not that people are insensitive to the situations of disabled people, they are simply unaware or misinformed. Through this group, she set out to change this. She stepped down as president last May.
‘The mission of FIGURE is to service people with disabilities both on and off campus,’ she said, ‘as well as to bring awareness to the University about people with disabilities.’
Doremus said she wishes to place specific emphasis on what she calls ‘hidden disabilities.’ That is, disabilities existing beneath the surface, of which effects are not readily apparent. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), is an example of a hidden disability, and is a reality Doremus experiences firsthand.
Ricker shares this belief.
‘There are people everywhere on and off campus, with both visible and non-visible disabilities,’ she said.
To raise awareness for their cause, the organization has held many events that place focus on certain disabilities. Every semester, the group presents a movie highlighting one particular disability, and then holds a forum where people can ask questions and share opinions.
Currently, the group is developing an American Sign Language Social to promote deaf awareness. The event, said Doremus, will include various games that are applicable to the issue, such as charades, and will also give people the opportunity to practice sign language and speak with deaf individuals. The purpose for these events, said Doremus, is to show students that people with disabilities are just like everyone else.
The organization is based out of the Office of Disability Services, which acts as a resource and advisor. The office helps the group with any administrative details necessary in organizing events, as well as offering any other support they can provide.
‘The organization as a whole is very positive,’ said the office’s co-advisor to the group, Stephanie Volbrecht. ‘They do a really good job advocating for anyone who has a disability.’
Though the group has some loose support from the Office of Disability Services, they are very much an autonomous entity. The majority of their workings, funding and direction is managed only by the guiding hands of the student members. This strength to stand alone on an issue so large is the subject of praise from administrative officials like Trinka Messingheimer.
Messingheimer is the director of the School of Intervention Services, one of the five colleges comprising the College of Education and Human Development. The group’s independence and self-sustenance she said, is highly commendable.
‘FIGURE is a stand-alone organization,’ she said. ‘They have worked very hard to put a group together to bring different kinds of programming and awareness to the University for people with disabilities.’
For the future of the organization, President Doremus would like to see an increased group membership – the group has about 15 members presently and meets every other Monday at 6 p.m. in the Business Administration building room 106. In addition to growth, Doremus would like to hone the group’s focus, turning it inward towards the University.
‘We have focused a lot on the community and helping out people within the community who have disabilities,’ Doremus said. ‘But there are a lot of organizations who already do that. There are very few organizations that do advocacy here on campus to bring awareness to people here, and that is where I would like us to go.”
