Disability Awareness Day celebrates triumphs, breaking down barriers

Keynote speaker Chris Ruden stresses ‘disability does not mean broken’ at third annual event

Earlier this week, UND hosted its third annual Disability Awareness Day – an event bringing the campus community together to discuss on-campus resources and scholarship intended to help all succeed.

Lee Ann Rawlins Williams, clinical assistant professor and program director of UND’s Rehabilitation and Human Services Program, opened the event, which was held in the Memorial Union ballroom. The event plays a key role in raising awareness of a condition that often shows up unexpectedly, she said.

“Disability is the one group you can join at any time – it doesn’t discriminate,” she said.

“I think this opens a dialogue, both on and off our campus,” she added. “It allows us to talk freely about disability issues, whether it has to do with physical disabilities or invisible disabilities. It brings about awareness.”

Williams said community is an essential part of one’s well-being.

“There are too many times where we don’t get together,” she said. “We stay in our offices and eat lunch at our desks. Self-care is part of what we need to do – both for our mental health and to ensure we are successful every day. Enjoy the people who are around, because it makes such a difference.”

In addition, the event gives a chance for students of all levels of academic standing to advance their scholarship. For example, graduate students (among others) are working with faculty mentors to conduct research.

Dozens of students participated in the event’s poster presentation component, highlighting their research on subjects ranging from adaptive sports to educational and employment accommodations for those with disabilities, to the benefits of occupational therapy.

“Often, these students have never presented,” Williams said. “For our undergrads who have never done research, they have an opportunity to both present a topic and to grow in their interest of research.”

Appearing virtually due to bad weather, Chris Ruden – world-record holding powerlifter and reality tv participant – delivered the event’s keynote address. An amputee and Type 1 diabetic, Ruden chronicled his journey of overcoming obstacles – both physical and psychological.

“My entire life, I felt like I was wearing underwear on the outside of my pants,” he said. “And there was nothing I could do about it.”

After a particularly humiliating instance of bullying in middle school, Ruden said he came home in tears and asked his mother, “How could you do this to me?”

“She said something that no parent should ever have to say to their kid,” he said. “She broke down, cried and could barely utter the words, ‘I’m sorry.’”

That moment, Ruden said, instilled in him a resolve to make the best of his reality.

“I never wanted to see my mom like that again, and I never wanted to see myself in that situation again,” he said. “While I couldn’t change my disability, I knew I had a responsibility to change something. Not just a responsibility, but also a response ability: I knew I had an ability to respond differently, even though I didn’t know what that would look like at the time.”

A key part of this resolve, Ruden told attendees, is to avoid creating a self-fulfilling narrative of life, and instead “separating habit from identity.”

“A story repeated over time becomes fact, even though it may not be true,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what has happened in the past; it matters what you choose to do now. We must give ourselves the capacity to grow.”

Embracing what he called a “watch me mentality,” Ruden channeled his energy into powerlifting, which posed a unique challenge given his disability.

“I’m a one-handed guy, living in a two-handed world, so I couldn’t really lift weights,” he said. “I came up with this hook design that could wrap around the bar, and I was able to do 135 pounds.”

Despite this initial triumph, Ruden said he again faced nagging feelings of self-doubt.

Rather than give up, Ruden persevered – adjusting his technique and training regimen – and working his way to a world-record weight of 675 pounds. The road to success, he added, is often contingent on overcoming adversity without wallowing in life’s disappointments.

“Failing is a verb – it’s like stubbing your toe, it happens,” he said. “But failure is a noun – it’s an identity and a place we stay. It’s OK to make mistakes; if anything, the key to succeeding in almost any avenue of life is being willing to look dumb in public.

“The phrase, ‘I am,’ is the second-greatest you can ever say to yourself,” Ruden continued. “And the best is the word or words you chose to follow that with.”