June 15, 2001

Contact: Brenda Eddy, Kansas Youth Leadership Forum, (785) 862-2674.

KU hosts leadership forum for students with disabilities

Editors note: Names of students and their hometowns follows the release.

LAWRENCE -- The first Kansas Youth Leadership Forum for High School Students with Disabilities will take place Tuesday to Saturday, June 19 to 23, at the University of Kansas when 33 Kansas high school juniors and seniors with disabilities will explore leadership, career options, disability rights and new assistive technology.

Most of the forum's speakers, trainers and mentors are successful Kansans with disabilities. Brenda Eddy, coordinator of the forum, said one of the major goals was to provide role models for students with disabilities.

"Exposing kids to adults with disabilities is an opportunity to provide leadership by example," she said. "We want them to see that they can achieve great things and that the disability does not need to limit their dreams."

The forum will begin with a speech on positive and negative messages by Glen White, assistant director of the KU Institute for Life Span Studies' Research Training Center on Independent Living.

Wednesday, Pamela Cress, research assistant for the life span institute in Parsons, will coordinate a session on assistive technology and other resources.

On Thursday morning, the group will visit the state Capitol to meet legislators and participate in a mock debate of a bill in the Senate chambers. Eddy said the forum would highlight the history of the disability rights movement and would show students how they can influence the political process by working as a group.

"We want to instill in them a sense of pride that they are part of a larger group -- a very accomplished group," Eddy said.

During lunch Thursday, students will be paired with mentors. The lunch speaker will be Sarah Triano, a founder of the Disabled Students Union at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the National Disabled Students Union.

Thursday evening, there will be a talent show in KU's Burge Union.

Friday's activities will begin with a large group session on "Becoming a Leader in Your Community," given by state Rep. Jeff Peterson, R-Manhattan.

Also Friday, Ohio writer and artist Dan Wilkins will talk on "Nurturing the Power Within." Wilkins uses humor to dispel myths about people with disabilities. Friday evening, there will be a dance at the Burge Union.

The forum, based on a highly successful California model, will be an annual event in Kansas, provided that the organization can secure future funding. Under the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy, any state interested in replicating the forum model can apply for a $10,000 grant to be used for startup costs. Kansas received the grant this year along with in-kind donations from various state and local organizations.

An additional $80,000 was given by the Resource Center for Independent Living Inc. of Osage City, with the understanding that the forum would seek public and private funds to cover the event in the future.

High school students selected by their communities to participate are:

BUTLER COUNTY
Rose Hill
Kaley McCune

CRAWFORD COUNTY
Pittsburg
Tracy Stout

DOUGLAS COUNTY
Baldwin City
Cole Browne
Lawrence
Lisa Barcus
Joshua Kamerick

ELLIS COUNTY
Hays
Jerree Fross

FINNEY COUNTY
Garden City
Aaron Unruh

FORD COUNTY
Dodge City
Joshua Alexander
Amy Wilkerson

GEARY COUNTY
Junction City
Vanessa Kamphaus

HARVEY COUNTY
Newton
Deric Morrow

JOHNSON COUNTY
Leawood
David Mathews
Lenexa
Zachary Doering
Overland Park
Kellyn Johnson
Shawnee
Maribeth Dettmer

LYON COUNTY
Olpe
Jennifer Sparks

MARION COUNTY
Hillsboro
Adam Franzen

MCPHERSON COUNTY
Canton
Timothy Boese

NEMAHA COUNTY
Centralia
Raymond Staley

POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY
Wamego
Brandon Hull

RENO COUNTY
Hutchinson
Carmen Castaneda
Nickerson
Jennifer Hinton

SALINE COUNTY
Salina
Justin Cosco

SEDGWICK COUNTY
Wichita
Eric Allen
Charles Johnson

SHAWNEE COUNTY
Tecumseh
Jessie Walshire
Topeka
Elizabeth Dill
Carrie Greenwood
Kelly Roberts

SUMNER COUNTY
Wellington
Jeffery Hunter

THOMAS COUNTY
Colby
Karen Davis

WYANDOTTE COUNTY
Kansas City
Charity Deshazer
Aaron Michalsk