It's May. That means that sports are wrapping up, school is almost out, and the weather is (supposed to be) getting warmer. It almost means that the Disabilities Project is nearing it's end. When my interviewing group started our preliminary research as subfreshmen nearly and year and a half ago, I never would have imagined that I would have been involved in it this far, or that I would have learned as much as I have. Sure, nowadays it seems that, in a VERY general sense, people try to not offend anyone and to try to respect others who are different then themselves, but when this movement to try to make things accessible started at the University, it was a new idea, and being able to hear that in the stories and voices of the people who were involved, and still are involved, with DRES is a lot more comprehensive and powerful than just reading it out of a textbook in class. That is probably one of the reasons I have enjoyed working on the project so much. I am a little sad to see it wrapping up, but I know that all the work that was put into it by everyone who was involved is making it great.

Adrienne Dahncke speaking:
I know [Tim] he was very persistent, and I know he never gave up. He had a dream, and he carried it through. And to this day, I do have to interject this, he probably remembers the name of every student he ever interviewed and helped get into this university.

Tim Nugent speaking:
The university itself had a very negative attitude. They said originally that these people would be demoralizing, distracting, an extra cost, an extra liability, what would they do with a college education? Well, I would like to do as well as many of my wheelchair graduates have done, ‘cause three or four of them have given us a million dollars each for the program.

Charles Elmer speaking:
Many times maybe mom or dad had done all of these things for them and now I wanted them not to have this type of help and to do it on their own... after a while I’d have individuals who’d come back after they’d graduated and been out of school for a number of years come back and say, “Hey, I’m sure glad you got on my case and stayed on my back because it’s paid big dividends later.”