Well, Unity in Diversity Week is over. Did you miss it? Don’t feel bad. I didn’t know it was going on until Wednesday, and I work at a newspaper.

Some of you aren’t too heartbroken about missing all the bands, activities and discussion groups. Unfortunately, I am, or I was, until I looked over the schedule of events.

I do admit many of the programs focused upon worthwhile topics. However, I don’t feel enough attention was given to certain groups. One group in particular is the disabled, handicapped or challenged, as many prefer to say.

Last year an excellent speaker/performer, Joseph Baird, was brought to campus to deliver his message. Joseph is paralyzed from the waist down.

His performances, discussion group and personality will never leave my memory. He truly made the public think of the challenged in a whole new light. He also helped people become aware of the prejudices they never knew they had toward the disabled.

This year, however, very little was planned regarding the handicapped. A movie about a woman with Cerebral Palsy was shown, and a table was set up for half an hour for the services that deal with disabled. If anything else was set up, not many people heard about it.

Of course, the five days majorly focused upon the different sexes and different colors of skin.

We have been debating the differences in our colors and creeds since time began. If you ask me, all the debating is pushing the races farther apart, not bringing them closer together.

Skin color and ethnic heritage have nothing to do with who is smarter or “superior.”

I love that. We fight over who has the right to be superior. It sounds like a teasing game we played at recess in grade school. “I’m more superior than you are.” “No. I’m more superior.” “Well my dad can beat up your dad.” Give me a break.

If we all put on the color blind glasses we might be able to bond together to face factors within society as a whole instead of segregating ourselves.

Handicapped people aren’t allowed to choose which race or heritage they wish to belong to. They exist everywhere. Unfortunately, many are ignored and their cases are pushesd aside.

ow about an example? You are walking behind a person in a wheelchair when you both approach a door. What do you do?

Before you go into an explanation of your long moral decision, how about asking the person in the wheelchair if they’d like you to get the door for them?

OK. You’re standing in the hallway before class chatting with friends when a blind person comes toward you tapping his/her cane from side to side.

The visually impaired person accidentally hits your leg with the cane and becomes confused, not realizing you are a person. What do you do?

I saw two people in this very situation. They stood perfectly still and completely silent. This confused the visually impaired person further.

Gee guys. Do you think “excuse me” might have worked?

It’s ignorance like this that causes me to believe that handicapped awareness is a must. Thus, I was more than greatly disappointed to find it wasn’t a large part of the Unity in Diversity schedule.

If all the handicapped people on campus bonded together and created a massive newsworthy riot like all the other organizations do to get attention, maybe then they would get the recognition and respect they so rightly deserve.