Hockenberry Visits Kent State

People are aware of disabilities, but not the real people behind them, said John Hockenberry, former Dateline NBC correspondent.

In a speech for Disability Awareness Week at Kent State University, Hockenberry discussed the way people relate to the disabled. In 1976, Hockenberry was involved in a car accident that made it impossible for him to walk again Since then, he has found that when people discuss disability, they link it specifically to the event that injured the person, not the person his or herself. People "miss the spectacular, gigantic point", he said.

The "physical dimensions" of the wheelchair cause people to see "all wheelchair" and nothing more, he said. However, disabled people have a culture beyond the chairs that confine them.

"Our experience of disability is bound up in the notion that this happened to you and you survived," Hockenberry said. But, the things people with disabilities do to survive on a daily basis is "part of a deeper human story", he said.

Hockenberry compared his own experience to the shootings at Kent State.

"It's interesting how one event can define you," he said. The shootings at Kent State "defined a generation", when there was actually a bigger picture, he said.

Despite this, people have become more aware of disabilities and change may come in the near future, Hockenberry said. For example, if a building is inaccessible to those with disabilities, people will frown upon that business, he said.

Hockenberry also stressed the importance of including the disabled in both the family and community life. Helping people with disabilities to adapt "will enrich and enhance the community for all", he said.