Disabilities in JMC Article

Independence

By: Courtney Liebl

It’s unfortunate that disabilities like Multiple Sclerosis exist. In a perfect world, a disability or a disease would be something completely unknown to people because no one would have to live with or cope with a disability such as these. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. Fortunately, however, people living with a disability have options available to them. William Adams is no exception to that rule.

Adams is a professor in the Journalism and Digital Media sequence at Kansas State University. He has been teaching at K-State for 30 years. Adams has been living with Multiple Sclerosis for 15 years.

Adams prides himself on being able to remain mostly independent despite his MS slowly getting worse.

Despite being completely independent, Adams does have to rely on some assistance from the Journalism and Mass Communication Department as well as the Disability Services/Student Access Center here at K-State.

Marlene Franke is the Administrative Officer for the Journalism and Mass Communication Department and has been the one who has helped in assisting Adams with getting the basic help that he needs.

Adams’ MS makes it extremely difficult for him to be able to stand warmer temperatures or to be in the sunlight for extended periods of time. Because of this, Adams' office in Kedzie Hall is one that doesn’t allow much sunlight into the room.

Franke has said that Adams hasn’t asked for any special help from the JMC Department. “He really does not want the help. He really just wants to do it on his own,” said Franke.

“I think because it’s a very private matter…I mean there’s always going to be some people who are going to take special advantages of some sort, but the couple ones that I’ve dealt somewhat with have not wanted any special preference. Other faculty members on campus that I know have dealt with it the same way. They just really don’t want to [the help] and they really don’t want to make that special request,” said Franke.

So what must a faculty member do if they have a disability and they work within the JMC Department?

“They have to first fill out paperwork at Human Resources and then they need to visit with the person in charge of benefits and declare that they do in fact have a disability. They have to show proof from their doctors and things like that. Then Human Resources will work with the department and if there’s anything that needs to be done as far as logistics for the faculty member to be able to do his or her job then that will have to be done,” said Franke.

The JMC Department at K-State provides all the necessary services and provides the necessary assistance that a faculty member would need if they would have a disability. Franke mentioned that in the 30 years that she’s been here that she’s never had to handle a case regarding a faculty member or student with a disability within the JMC department, including Professor Adams’. She told my group members and I that Adams has never asked for any other special treatment other than disclosing his disability with Human Resources.

Franke said that despite Adams’ disability, he hasn’t ever let that affect his teaching in the years that she’s known him and worked with him.

“Dr. Adams is the only person in the department who’s been here longer than I have. I’ve been here 30 years so he’s been here a couple more than that. He’s been teaching the digital photography class and he enjoys photography and working with the students. He’s really involved with the students and he likes to work with them. At the end of the semester he would bring, I’m not kidding, he would bring four tables full of food and it was everything exotic, to appetizers, to gingerbread cookies, to everything in between. He would make it like in the real world where students would present their programs and then they would have food and they would have their critiques after. So he’s just very involved with the students. It’s very important for him to have them learn,” said Franke.