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Michael Hudson >> The Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities is focused on helping students
become fully integrated into the MSU mission, functions and programs. We work to integrate students
into all aspects of campus life.
Brenda Flanagan >> RCPD everything I needed was from them. If I had any problems, anything I
needed to know, anything I didn't know, the first place I went was RCPD Really, honestly.
Michael Hudson >> Our slogan, Maximizing Ability and Opportunity, is one we are quite proud of. It really
talks directly to our core mission. And that is to keep people involved in the programs and to really help
them reach beyond maybe even where they think they can go to maximize their ability and all of the
opportunities that a higher educational institution brings.
Hal Wochholz >> You have just got to have an education. You have got to be able to separate yourself
from the other person walking down the street that wants the same job. You have got to have some kind of
marketable skill to allow you to do that. And that is what Michigan State gave me.
Matt Carbary >> My ADHD and minor cerebral palsy manifested itself into high test anxiety. During
class I would just blank out, and I couldn't finish it in time. It wasn’t until my second semester that
someone directed me towards the department, and it changed my life.
Josephine Parrish >> I experience the world on a slightly different emotional plane than I think most
people do. And sometimes it is harder to get help because of that because it is an invisible disability.
But I have had some wonderful instructors, and the ones who have been helpful have shown me all of the
things that I am capable of. I have done so much more than I ever thought I could do
since I have been at Michigan State.
[people playing wheelchair basketball]
Amanda Gretka >> RCPD does a lot of stuff for a lot of students. Last I heard there were, I think,
1200 students that are served through RCPD They help us with tests, they help us with getting books, with tons
of stuff. And if it wasn’t for RCPD, I am not sure I would make it too far in college.
Richard Carlson >> I would encourage them to seriously consider sending their child to
Michigan State University because this university has a reputation of being family oriented.
Michael Hudson >> I am happy to say we have built a family-like environment here at MSU And we are
prepared to really welcome people with disabilities, no matter what the disability, and to let them realize the
dream of higher education.
Richard Carlson >> It is a great opportunity for students to come here to reach their goals. That is what
the RCPD is all about trying to help students achieve their educational goals.
This is a great institution to do that.
Brenda Flanagan >> RCPD does not force you to jump through hoops, it doesn't make you feel different.
It doesn't make you feel like, oh, I need you, and they are going to help you with no pity at all. They are very
professional, very supportive, but not so much I am going to help you finish, and I am going to help you get
your degree. That is the difference. If you are feeling like they are going to feel sorry for you and you don't
want people to see you as a really different person, that just doesn't happen at RCPD
Michael Hudson >> By the time students graduate here, I think many of them have learned to reframe
disability into a new unique experience. They will call them challenges, they will call them life-changing
events. But most of the time students find their disabilities here have just enriched their perception of the world.
Matt Carbary >> To accept the help of the RCPD, it took a lot for me to accept my disability. I had to learn
to work with it and to actually see it as a strength. And I think in a lot of ways having it has given me a better
appreciation for what it takes to get through a class.
Gaining knowledge through the RCPD of my disability set me free. There are resources that can help
bring me to where everyone else is.
Amanda Gretka >> When I was in high school, I was told that I needed to go to a smaller university
because it would be better for me and whatever those reasons were. I don't believe that.
Sometimes the bigger universities are better because you have more students with that disability and
they know a lot better what’s going on, what you need. You don't have to walk in there into the disabilities office
and go, well, I need this, that, and something else. But here at MSU they have told me a couple of options that I
didn't know were available for accommodations.
Michael Hudson >> If you talk to our staff, I think one thing that you would note is that everybody here is
really set on helping students reach their full potential. And we know that doesn't happen by chance. We know
it doesn't happen if we get too involved. We know it is most effectively done if we can partner with them and
kind of push them. Set their goals high. Support them when things get tough and really help them realize their
full potential. Maximizing Ability and Opportunity really talks directly to that.
Lou Anna K. Simon >> As I have looked over the number and thought about the number of students who
have benefited from this program that are now very successful alumni, that number is pretty extraordinary.
And as we talk to the parents about why come to Michigan State; is it because there is a service?
It is because the service results in an MSU student who can be successful.
Matt Carbary >> Without the department, without the staff, without the specialists, without the
accommodations, I would not have graduated.
Hal Wochholz >> I could not have gotten a quality education engineering degree that I had received if it
had not been for Michigan State's accommodations of the physically challenged at that time.
Amanda Gretka >> Ten years ago I would have never have told you that I would be teaching anything
or anyone. But at MSU I have kind of learned that I can do just about anything.
Michael Hudson >> Over time one of the things I am most pleased with at MSU is the investment we’ve
made in assistive technology. I can think of few things that have greater potential to help people become more
independent and to overcome more aspects of disabilities. Information access, moving around the
environment, all of these things are impacted by technology. And I am happy to say MSU has made a
significant investment in this, and it is paying off.
Matt Carbary >> I think MSU and RCPD is on the cutting edge of a lot of the technology; in fact, some of
the office even helps design some of them.
Amanda Gretka >> This year, I had to go to a class where we had to take blood pressure, and I found out I
couldn't use a regular stethoscope because of the hearing loss.
I didn't even know it, but my professor started emailing RCPD, and I started getting emails -- we can
help you find funding for a stethoscope that works for you. So they have been very helpful, and it has been a great thing.
Richard Carlson >> We just want to try in any way that we can. We chose to do it monetarily to try to help
the folks at RCPD to find as much technology as they can out there to help a student achieve their goals.
And that is how we chose to do it by establishing the endowment.
Michael Hudson >> One of the greatest rewards I have had is watching a student come in a little bit
uncertain, or maybe a lot uncertain; watch them work hard for four or five years; watch them graduate; and
then eventually be able to come back and reinvest after they are employed and making money, and come back
and help something grow here that wasn't here before. Helping their peers kind of paving a trail to make things
even better for the next generation.
And I would say donor-supported programs are making a very significant difference for our program.
They have propelled us from good to great.
Kathleen Carlson >> The idea is to keep the organization going because it is such a lifeline for so many students.
Matt Carbary >> I would find it very difficult for me not to want to give back as much as possible to this
organization for as much they have done for me.
Hal Wochholz >> Michigan State was there for me in all aspects, from a living aspect and from an
accessible educational standpoint. And I am so happy to be with the RCPD now because that is exactly what we
want our money to go to. And we want Michael -- I keep pushing him to advertise that. Get the news out.
Get the news out to all of the counselors and all the schools, with an emphasis on Michigan, to tell them,
by golly, you can get a quality education regardless of your physical disability because Michigan State will help you.
(the end)