CSI/CUNY News Release
	For Immediate Release - Monday, March 31, 2003

Event Announcement

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Awareness Day:
Creating Success through Independence

The dictionary defines a disability as “an inability to perform some or all of the tasks of daily life.” And it is those very tasks, which many people may take for granted on daily basis, which can be challenged at the College of Staten Island’s Disability Awareness Day this Thursday, April 3, 2003.

The day is filled with hands-on and interactive disability sensitivity workshops in the college’s Center for the Arts that allow everyone to learn that overcoming a dictionary-defined disability actually requires great ability, and a mastery of a challenging new skill set, such as reading Braille, conversing in sign language, or maneuvering a wheelchair. Exhibitors with have informative booths set up in the building’s Atrium.

The workshops will be presented from 10:15 - 2 p.m. in room 202 and will raise your awareness regarding deafness, disability parking, and the learning-disabled, as well as blindness and wheelchair sensitivity.

In addition to the exhibits and workshops, Alvin Law will present “Never Say I Can’t,” from 2 - 3:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall. Law, who was born without arms, is a noted motivational speaker who will discuss the power of a positive attitude. His talk is sponsored by the college’s Program Development Committee.

• WHAT:
  Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Awareness Day at CSI:Creating Success through Independence

• WHEN:
  Thursday, April 3, 2003; 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

• WHERE:
  College of Staten Island, Center for the Arts (1P)
  2800 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island NY 10314

Exhibitors include: the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities; VESID (Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities); C-Tech (technology for the visually impaired); Concepts of Independence; Multiple Sclerosis Society; Seymour Joseph Institute; New York Commission on Human Rights; and Freedom Box.

The day’s events are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. The event is sponsored by the College of Staten Island Office of Disability Services. For more information regarding the event contact Irene Mucciariello at 718-982-2176.

If you plan to attend or send a representative, contact Ken Bach at 718-982-2328.

The College of Staten Island recognizes the 504/ADA definition of a disability. Under this definition, a student is considered to have a disability if she or he:

• has an impairment that causes a significant limitation to a major life activity;

• has a record of such an impairment;

• is regarded as having such an impairment.

Such impairments include, but are in no way limited to, physical and medical conditions, emotional disorders, and learning disabilities.

Persons with HIV/AIDS and persons in recovery (those who have previously abused drugs and/or alcohol) are considered to meet this definition as well. Accommodations are also made for temporary disabilities.

Persons who care for people with disabilities are also protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The College of Staten Island (CSI) is a senior college of The City University of New York (CUNY), the nation’s leading urban university. CSI offers 35 academic programs, 15 graduate degree programs, and challenging doctoral programs to 12,000 students. The 204-acre landscaped campus of CSI, one of the largest in NYC, is fully accessible and contains an advanced, networked infrastructure to support technology-based teaching, learning, and research. For more information, visit www.csi.cuny.edu

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