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11/19/02
Contact:
K.E. Schwab (724) 738-2199; e-mail:
karl.schwab@sru.edu
EDITOR’S
ADVISORY
An excellent feature story
is in the making with Friday’s [Nov. 22] planned graduation
of 13 western Pennsylvania disabled persons who have spent 10 weeks
(350 hours) in intensive study learning to be help desk technicians
as part of a special Pittsburgh Disability Employment Project for
Freedom program operated in conjunction with Slippery Rock
University’s Division of Lifelong Learning.
The noon graduation
ceremony will be held at SRU’s North Hills Site at Waterford
Corporate Park, Wexford. In addition to SRU representatives,
Project for Freedom board of directors members* are expected to
attend.
Disabilities range from
those who are wheelchair bound, to stroke victims, to those with
vision difficulties, those without limbs and those needing special
computer adaptations. Students in the program, all high school
graduates, were referred by the Office of Vocational
Rehabilitation, which pays for the training.
Among
those graduating and willing to talk with the media are Karen
Boyle, a 2000 Butler High School graduate disabled since childhood
with the loss of her left hand and several fingers on her right
after contacting spinal meningitis, and Ernie Gregorius, a
53-year-old Cranberry Township resident and former South Hills
carpet storeowner, disabled in 2000 by a paralyzing stroke. Also on
hand will be W. David Huddleston, executive director of Project for
Freedom, and A.J. Reed, a 19-year veteran computer science
instructor, who provided the help desk instruction in
Microsoft’s Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access computer
programs.
(Special
Note: Some program graduates may be less willing to discuss their
disability, and we request their privacy be respected.)
*Partners in the Project for Freedom program are the
Pittsburgh-based Bayer Corp., Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield,
Highmark Life and Casualty, Mellon Bank Corp., Bender Consulting
Services, Inc., Accessibility Development Associates, Inc.,
Edinboro University’s Office for Students with Disabilities,
the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, and SRU.
Those
planning to staff the ceremony are asked to call
724-738-2199.
## PN,
PgN, WPN, PR, PT, S
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