Disabilities Help Sharpen Awareness For Volunteers The Arc Of Spokane Asks 20 People To Assume A Disability For A Day

FOR THE RECORD (March 25, 1997): Name wrong: Gonzaga Prep student Amanda Spethman participated in last Friday’s “Assume a Disability for a Day” program. Her last name was incorrect in a story in Saturday’s paper about the event.

Amanda Speth looked at the steep incline and braced herself.

“I’ve got to build some momentum because this one’s tough,” Speth said.

The Gonzaga Prep junior wasn’t at the base of Doomsday Hill training for upcoming Bloomsday.

All Speth wanted to do was get her wheelchair up a sidewalk that she had walked hundreds of times.

Speth was one of 20 people in Spokane who participated in “Assume a Disability For a Day.” The event was sponsored by The Arc of Spokane to recognize National Mental Retardation Month.

Friday’s participants simulated blindness, deafness, loss of a limb, lack of speech and limited mobility. They drew their disabilities out of a bowl Thursday afternoon at the Association for Retarded Citizens office on West Boone.

At the end of Speth’s school day, she said she was more than glad to return her wheelchair.

“To get to upstairs classrooms, I’ve got to go outside and then up a steep ramp,” Speth said. “Fifteen minutes went by in my first class before I could finally catch my breath.”

After school president John Traynor saw how difficult it was for Speth to get around, he said improving handicap accessibility suddenly took on a higher priority for him.

“When you see this, the issue becomes so very real,” Traynor said. “This building was built in 1954 and it just isn’t equipped for those with disabilities.”

The school’s exterior also needs improvement. Gonzaga Prep’s campus is not wheelchair-friendly, Speth said. Tree roots have caused sidewalks to crack and buckle, making it hard to maneuver on many pathways.

“I’ll never complain about another pothole again,” she said. “This is such an exhausting process.”

Speth faced the same difficulties at home. She said it was hard moving around her narrow hallways and getting into the refrigerator to prepare breakfast.

“I have such a new respect for people who are confined to wheelchairs,” she said. “The entire day, all I wanted to do was stand up.”

She actually had to during band class. Speth had to get out of the wheelchair to stand with the other flute players on portable bleachers.

Jose Pena, the executive director of the United Way, lost the use of his right arm for the day by wrapping it in an ace bandage.

He discovered something peculiar about his disability after just a couple hours.

“The left side of my upper body perspired profusely because I was using everything on that side to compensate for not having a right arm,” Pena said. “I’ve got this big sweat stain on my shirt on just my left side.”

But Pena said more important than that, he realized that life with one arm is difficult.

“I caught the bus because I couldn’t drive to work,” he said. “It took forever to tie my shoes and brush my teeth. These are things that I’ve just been completely oblivious to.”

This is the first time The Arc has held such an event.

Glenda Travis, The Arc’s resource development and public relations director, said the organization wanted to bring the issue of disabilities and mental retardation closer to home.

Pemco office manager Brian McNaughton said The Arc accomplished its goal.

“When they asked me to do it, I thought, yeah, this would be a good opportunity to learn about something different,” McNaughton said.

McNaughton was blind for the day. A pair of dark wrap-around glasses with a black shield inside guaranteed blindness. He had to get around using a borrowed cane from the Lilac Blind Foundation.

The disability made McNaughton realize he must soon make an adjustment in his office for a fellow employee.

McNaughton has a co-worker with a congenital eye disease. The man’s doctors expect him to be completely blind in 10 years.

“He’s an outstanding sales rep who works on a computer,” McNaughton said. “When I first sat down in my office and realized I couldn’t use my computer, I said to myself, ‘I have to develop a system for him because he won’t be able to view the screen.”’

Speth said she sat in her wheelchair in church while her other classmates stood during a morning prayer before school started.

She said at that moment she realized just how blessed she has been.

“I just thanked God that I was only going to have to spend one day in that chair,” Speth said.

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