On May 1, Matt Springer started his new job as Coordinator of the Offices of Disability Services at IU Southeast. He brings years of education, focus and passion to the position.
“At IUS I am afforded the opportunity to work closely with students. I also get to work with all types of students with disabilities. It is exciting for me to do so, and to bring the knowledge I have learned from other schools to IUS.”
Springer, a native of Henderson, Ky., received his undergraduate degree in English from the University of Kentucky, and his Master of Arts degree from Wright State University.
He has earned awards for his efforts working with learning disabled students, performed research and interned at Wright’s Office of Disability Services, and while there developed outdoor activity programs for all students as well as adapted sports such as wheelchair basketball and quad rugby for disabled students.
“One of the facts that gets me out of bed every morning, that makes me come into work, is that the unemployment rate for folks with disabilities is abysmal, it’s over 70 percent. So I hope to, in my actions every day, somehow change that statistic.”
To accomplish this, Springer said he wants to work with students not just in an academic capacity, but also in a vocational capacity, such as going over interview skills, how to bring up disability in an interview, if at all. He said the more students feel comfortable talking about and understanding their own disabilities, the easier it will be to go to their boss and discuss what they can or can’t do.
“A student that’s in a wheelchair is going to have address that at an interview, and one of the ways is to say to the employer, you’re looking for someone able to think outside the box, well my whole life in this wheelchair I have had to navigate things, situations, landscape, transportation issues, that no one else has had. So because of my disability I’m bringing this to the table. Those kinds of things, in an interview, can seal the deal and get that student employed, as opposed to avoiding the white elephant in the room that is the wheelchair. It’s all about the presentation in terms of interviews and job skills.”
Springer said at IU Southeast there are students with a broad spectrum of disabilities, such as dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, blindness, deafness, AIDS, cancer, depression, spinal cord injuries, brain injuries.
“It is important to understand that most disabilities are hidden or invisible. Just because a student doesn’t use a wheelchair, does not have a service dog or use a cane, does not mean they do not have a disability.
Springer said he would like to see increased use of assistive technology, that is, computer hardware or software that ameliorates some of the functional limitations for a student with a disability, because these same accommodations are, or can be, available in the workplace.
He said IU Southeast has some software and hardware programs in the library’s Assistive Technology Center, but he’d like to see these programs more readily available on campus, perhaps on every computer. For example, a program called Read and Write Gold, has an advanced spellchecker, a homonym checker, and can convert text to an MP3. These are tools that every student can use. And if these programs and accommodations were more readily accessible, students with disabilities would feel more a part of the mainstream student body.
Long term, Springer said he would like to implement the concept of Universal Design at IU Southeast. This is a process of incorporating accessibility on all levels when creating programs, buildings and environments. That way there would be no need to make changes to accommodate students with disabilities, because the accommodations would be there from the beginning.
Springer wants to knock out the stigma for students with disabilities and intends to raise awareness with programs, posters and ads around campus. He said,
“Folks with disabilities made the same ACT scores, they have the same GPA, and are just as qualified as anybody else. Hopefully, the end result, what’s really going to do it, is when the students start being vocal themselves. When they start sharing their stories with their peers, with their professors, and have a venue to do that, maybe even a column in the newspaper. That’s when we’re really going to see that stigma go away.”
Even when he’s not at work, Springer still works. He is a national chair for a special interest group working to represent student athletes with disabilities. He volunteers in the community and speaks to various groups about the needs of people with disabilities.
“I love talking about these issues,” Springer said. “It’s my passion.”
By DARIENNE ARCURI
Staff Writer
darcuri@ius.edu