'Disability doesn't mean inability'
New DSS director brings personal experience
Lindsay Stuart
Issue date: 1/17/08 Section: News
After living with an eye disorder that causes blindness, Phillip Pownall understands how it feels to live with a disability.
This experience will help him in his job as SIUE's new director of Disability Support Services . He feels that his own experiences can help him understand what the students with disabilities on campus are dealing with.
"What I've had to learn is to self advocate throughout my lifetime and have become very efficient at it, while some students haven't learned that skill yet," Pownall said. "So when they can't do it, I can step in and usually I can get the point across very well because I know how they're feeling, and I have experienced the frustration of disability, as well as figured out how to accommodate disability."
Before SIUE, Pownall served as the director of Disability Services at Western Oregon University, and before that he worked for seven years at University of Nevada-Las Vegas where he was the coordinator of Disability Services.
Pownall, who grew up in Illinois, chose to come to SIUE because he wanted to be closer to his family in West Virginia.
"I wanted to be closer to them, but not close enough that they are going to drop in on me," he said.
Pownall said when he was invited for an interview, he was intrigued by the campus and the community.
"There's a good accessibility, it's a good setting, the (Disability Support) office was self-sustaining, and it was offering a good program and good service rendering," Pownall said. "The people were very nice so I thought, 'Why not?'"
Pownall said his favorite part of the job is seeing the growth of students with disabilities.
"Many of them start off not really knowing how their disability impacts them in higher education, then as they move forward they gain more confidence in their skills and their abilities to perform and compete with other students, and they leave that special title behind," Pownall said. "I think that's the best part of the job, when a student with a disability realizes that the disability doesn't mean 'inability,' it just means doing things in a different way."
This experience will help him in his job as SIUE's new director of Disability Support Services . He feels that his own experiences can help him understand what the students with disabilities on campus are dealing with.
"What I've had to learn is to self advocate throughout my lifetime and have become very efficient at it, while some students haven't learned that skill yet," Pownall said. "So when they can't do it, I can step in and usually I can get the point across very well because I know how they're feeling, and I have experienced the frustration of disability, as well as figured out how to accommodate disability."
Before SIUE, Pownall served as the director of Disability Services at Western Oregon University, and before that he worked for seven years at University of Nevada-Las Vegas where he was the coordinator of Disability Services.
Pownall, who grew up in Illinois, chose to come to SIUE because he wanted to be closer to his family in West Virginia.
"I wanted to be closer to them, but not close enough that they are going to drop in on me," he said.
Pownall said when he was invited for an interview, he was intrigued by the campus and the community.
"There's a good accessibility, it's a good setting, the (Disability Support) office was self-sustaining, and it was offering a good program and good service rendering," Pownall said. "The people were very nice so I thought, 'Why not?'"
Pownall said his favorite part of the job is seeing the growth of students with disabilities.
"Many of them start off not really knowing how their disability impacts them in higher education, then as they move forward they gain more confidence in their skills and their abilities to perform and compete with other students, and they leave that special title behind," Pownall said. "I think that's the best part of the job, when a student with a disability realizes that the disability doesn't mean 'inability,' it just means doing things in a different way."
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
tomfeinberg
Dissertation Methodology
posted 4/02/09 @ 11:22 AM CST
"I wanted to be closer to them, but not close enough that they are going to drop in on me," nice words!
Guastella Askin
posted 6/20/09 @ 5:35 AM CST
Good scene, interesting post, thanks.
Amanda Lusk
posted 6/20/09 @ 2:21 PM CST
Great .Now i can say thank you!
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