College Times

Media Credit: Ryan A. Ruiz

Jesse Ballew is a geography major at ASU. He's a student, just like you. He works. He plays. He rides his bike to campus and walks Mill Avenue on the weekends.

He just happens to have cerebral palsy - a condition that affects the region of the brain called the cerebellum, which controls the body's motor functions.

Consequently, the 27-year-old is partially deaf, has an unusable left arm and a largely dysfunctional right arm, walks with a slight limp and occasionally slurs his words.

Ballew has persevered through six years of college to earn his degree, and will return to ASU in the fall as a graduate student.

The road, he said, has been long and trying. Like many students with a physical challenge, he faces many barricades - though many of them are the result of people's misunderstanding of his condition.

Ballew sees himself as a fully capable individual, "physically challenged but not disabled."

"People need to understand - don't automatically think that [physically challenged people] need help," he said. "They're trying to be independent, just like everyone else. When I do need help, I'll ask for it."

Indeed, among the many challenges faced by students like Ballew, the most difficult is the attitude barrier, a product of negative stereotypes, said Wayne Westervelt, communications director at Cazenovia College. Change people's attitudes, he said, and that barrier will significantly diminish.

"Unfortunately, the word disability has a negative connotation in our society - just hearing the word creates a negative image," Westervelt said. "The reality is that most of us will become disabled at some point in our lives. Disability is a part of life and not something that just happens to other people."

Ballew faced stereotyping and segregation based on his condition at an early age. During his childhood, public school officials were opposed to integrating him into the standard education system. His mother wholeheartedly disagreed. So, she sued the school district - and won.

Although the transition was difficult, Ballew is proud to have overcome. Obtaining this level of early education, he said, helped him find the path to achieving his long-term goals.

"I wouldn't be where I am today," he said. "On my own, seeing the world, enjoying life."

Ballew has traveled extensively. He has journeyed to Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland and Scotland, just to name a few, and recommends it to everyone.

"Travel - see the world," he said. "To be engulfed in other cultures is such a rewarding experience."

Julie G. Kindred, director of the Academic Success Center at Maryville University, said that the biggest misconception about students with disabilities is that they are dependent on others and, therefore, unable to live, work and contribute to the community in which they reside.

"College students with disabilities share more similarities than differences with their fellow college students," she said. "Folks just want to be treated like everyone else. It's as simple as that."

Ballew is an active participant in both the mainstream and the physically challenged community: He's a member of the geography club at ASU and has competed in several Special Olympics events, including bowling, softball, soccer and track.

He also recently completed an internship with the Phoenix Fire Department inputting address changes into their system. He hopes to further use his geography training to get a government job updating maps on computer databases.

Ballew said that daily activities such as getting dressed, preparing meals and writing notes can be a challenge but, with some extra time and assistance, he feels "just as normal as anybody."

Although most people treat him "like a normal human being," others are rude, dismissive and condescending.

"Lots of times, women will talk to me like I am a kid," he said. "I am 27 years old, for crying out loud. I just wish people wouldn't judge"

Ballew simply does not want to be pitied or considered a weakling in need of saving. The mainstream media, Ballew said, could fight the disability stigma by exposing children early on to informative cartoons.

"I never see cartoons with people in wheelchairs, people that are blind or deaf," he said. "Younger kids need to understand why kids with disabilities are the way they are. It would help explain their differences, ease the bullying and teasing."

More than anything, Ballew hopes that others will take the time to become informed and treat disabled individuals with respect.

"I want people to know why I am the way I am without the laughs and ridicule," he said. "We all have our differences. I like who I am and I wouldn't change a thing.

"I would only change the way everybody thought of and acted around people with disabilities."

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