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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1999)
“34 years of Quality Service” Mercedes • BMW • Volkswagen • Audi German Auto Service 342-2912 • 2025 Franklin Blvd. Eugene, Oregon, 97402 MEC\ Center^ FREE POOL Shoot pool for at least 60 minutes today and you'll receive a gift certificate for 30 minutes FREE on your next visit. Rec Center is located on Ground Floor of the EMU *444444444 Vi- learn J? ■ Save AjsS “““Tis f-£3St— 4 HoUCre?^cateno( Instructs APril ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ * * * * * ¥ ¥ * * ¥ * * + + * ¥ * * * * * Tues Wed Mon Tues Wed Sat Wed 29 Thur May 3 Mon 4 Tues 8 Sat 10 H°n 13 14 19 20 2\ 24 28 500-9:00 500-9.00 5:00-9:00 5-00-9:00 5:00-9:00 . a aa T*n Adult First Aid First Aid Adult First Aid *$*&> S3*. IS3S S^"fant T0O9^^1tAid 5:00-9:00 Adult .« -r-Trid^*aioWMmpulet7 Oregon Da_ 346^343\__ U ».-.i *•* *'**' R* «-n--' *444444 OSU professor develops software for blind The blind scholar will speak during Disability Awareness Day at UO By Amy Jennaro Oregon Daily Emerald Oregon State University physics professor John Gardner wanted to do the simple task of typing numerical data into his computer. But it wasn’t so simple. Gardner lost his sight after a 1988 eye operation and found it difficult to use the complicated mathemati cal braille system to enter numeri cal data. Since 1990, Gardner has developed a simpler braille font system, DotsPlus, for numbers and the TIGER printer system, designed speciall y for the blind. On Tuesday, Gardner will share his experiences with students and faculty in the Knight Library Browsing Room at 4 p.m. Gardner is the keynote speaker for Disabili ty Awareness Day, which is being put on by the Disability Services. “He is an interesting individual because he has a disability, and he’s made great contributions to the science community,” said Hi lary Gerdes, the head counselor for students with disabilities. Since January, the department has been planning for the day. The event is put on annually to in crease public understanding about the disabled, Gerdes said. “We want people to become more sensitive to disability issues, and if we can get people to talk about this subject, we are making some headway,” she said. Molly Sirois, assistant coun selor for students with disabili ties, has been organizing the event. She first became interested in Gardner’s story after he re ceived national exposure in con nection with a paper he submit ted to a scientific committee that was rejected for being single spaced. “I wanted to bring in somebody with first-hand personal experi ence to talk to people about his disability in relation to his per sonal and professional experi ence,” she said. Gardner said he is excited to have the opportunity to present his story. He added that he hopes students will realize the impor tance of accessible technology. “What I want people to realize is that by creating good computer programs, you are going to make programs that are better for every one,” he said. Gardner said his technology has sparked a strong response in the technological community. At the annual International Confer ence for People with Disabilities in March, Gardner said there was strong interest in his technology. In the past two weeks, since the TIGER system was put on the market, he has received 50 orders for the printer at the headquarters of his startup company, ViewPlus Technologies, which specializes in creating accessible technology for the disabled. “The TIGER is a sensation,” he said. But Gardner’s speech isn’t the only part of Disability Awareness Day. Rachel Indigo Cerise, a ju nior women’s studies major, has organized an art show that show cases the artwork that is either re lated to disabilities or created by disabled artists. The show will be displayed in the EMU lobby from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Cerise said her interest in the project comes both from the fact that she has a disability and be cause she wanted to provide a fo rum for people to talk about dis abilities. “I wanted to promote exposure for artists who have a disability because it is something that I haven’t seen done before,” she said. Cerise said the art is by both students and artists in the Eugene community and features work that draws attention to all disabil ities, not just blindness. But Sirois said she hopes Dis ability Awareness Day will do more than just focus attention on disabilities. “Through discussion, we hope to educate people, raise aware ness and dispel misconceptions and miscomm unication regarding disabilities,” she said. PRIDE Continued from Page 1A Something similar to the clus ter exists already on campus. Nina Thompson, co-coordina tor of the PRIDE Hall committee, said there was an unofficial PRIDE Hall in existence this year on the fourth floor of Carson Hall. Hutto wanted to publicize the lo cation of where the LGBT clusters would be so incoming LGBT stu dents could know where they are. He was also worried that the pro grams of the cluster hall might not address the needs of the LGBT stu dents there because they might not make up the majority of the hall. Eyster said that although he had worked out the cluster idea with the PRIDE Hall committee, it was developed as merely one way to compromise. “I’m not particularly stuck on this cluster idea,” he said. Williams said the cluster idea seemed to address the concerns of safety brought up by the PRIDE Hall but without segregating stu dents from each other. Several audience members ex pressed concern over the cluster compromise. “The clusters seem to be follow ing an in-the-closet mentality,” said Rich Patitucci, a senior major ing in philosophy at the University. “I think a PRIDE Hall is an official recognition of the issues rather than subverting it with clusters. ” Glenn Matchett-Morris, a coun selor at the counseling center, said the cluster idea struck him as sec ond class citizenship for homo sexual students. “I think that the whole issue of sexual minorities is uncomfortable to talk about in our society,” he said. “So the cluster is a way of making [homosexual 1 issues unofficial.” Others worried about the chang ing composition of housing em ployees. David Bayless, residence director of the Walton Complex, said five employees will not be re turning next year, two of who identify themselves as queer and one identifies himself as gay. STEP INTO YO TTnrnTnn Today Prepare for the SUMMER JOB AND CAREER FAIR at these Pre-Fair Workshops First Step: Second Step: Third Step: Resume Workshop Tuesday, 4/13 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Rogue Room/EMU Interview Workshop Wednesday, 4/14 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Maple Room/EMU How to Work the Fair Tuesday, 4/20 4:30-5:30 p.m. Ben Linder Room/EMU The Big Step: Attend the Fair on April 21 and 22 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Ben Linder Room/EMU UNIVERSITY OF OREGON CAREER C E
