C+V Community Talk in Partnership with Heritage Months: Disability Employment Awareness Month

October is National Disability Employment Awareness month and is honored each year to acknowledge the valuable impact that people with varied disabilities make in the workplace. Join us in conversation during the October 28 C+V Community Talk in Partnership with Heritage Months as we reflect on the varied contributions of disabled persons, learn about ensuring access to employment and education, and hear stories of living life without limiting beliefs.

Resources:

DU Learning Effectiveness Program:
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DU Disability Services Program
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National Center for College Students with Disabilities (NCCSD) 
Career Resources for ​College Students with Disabilities

DU Information Technology
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Organizations with which Lacey Henderson works:

• Love Your Melon (help fight childhood cancer)
• Amputee Coalition (national model for summer camp programs for children with limb loss and limb difference)
• Marathon Kids (putting children on path to healthier lives)

Featuring Panelists:

Paul Arithi, Facilitator
Associate Director, Disability Services Program, SAIE

Paul has a passion and firm belief that disability is not inability – with the right attitude, appropriate accommodations, and hard work all students/adults with disabilities are able to attain their full academic potential and create a solid pathway to succeed in their current and future careers.

Paul holds a postgraduate Certificate in Legal Studies from Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, NE, a Master of Arts in Teaching (Special Education) from Webster University, Saint Louis, MO, and a Bachelor of Education (Arts) from Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya. For several years prior to coming to University of Denver, he worked as the Director, Disability Resource Center at Bellevue College in Bellevue, WA, and a Disability Services Specialist at Bellevue University, in Bellevue, NE.

Paul is also multilingual and has valuable teaching experience at the university level and both high school general education and special education. At the university level, he has taught courses like One World: Many People, Many Cultures, Many Faiths.

Bill Casson
Digital Accessibility Specialist, Information Technology

Bill is the digital accessibility specialist at DU in the enterprise application services department of IT. He started here in December. He is blind and has been different levels of blind his entire life. Bill has his undergrad degree from Lewis & Clark College in physics and math/computer science. He has been doing digital accessibility for about 4 years.

Additionally, he is a world-class competitive para-climber. Bill especially enjoys getting into the outdoors; climbing, hiking, cycling, skiing and more. When not in the outdoors, he loves table-top and board games, spending time with friends, listening to podcasts, and reading. He identifies as male and uses he/him pronouns.

Lacey Henderson
Paralympian. Advocate. Speaker. Host. Storyteller. Comedian. Influencer. Model. Person. DU Alum.

From a promising young athlete to a girl battling the rarest form of cancer to an Olympic Games participant, Lacey Henderson's story is one of maddening hardship, inspiring perseverance and overcoming adversity. After being diagnosed with synovial sarcoma (so rare at the time of Lacey's diagnosis that there was literally no survival rate) at nine years old, Lacey had her right leg amputated above the knee and went through years of physical therapy and childhood ridicule. She received a cheerleading scholarship to the University of Denver before becoming a long jumper for Team USA. Lacey is a six-time USA National Champion in the long jump, the world record holder in the pole vault and the American record holder in the long jump. Lacey also participated in the 2016 Parlalympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. More recently, Lacey earned a silver medal at the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru. Lacey capped off 2021 by winning a seventh national championship and finishing fifth overall in the world in the long jump.

In addition to being a world-class athlete, Lacey is a passionate advocate for health, fitness, nutrition, child advocacy and living one's best life! She started working with children with limb difference in 2010 and continues to use her athletic and social platform to normalize disability in society. Lacey is an expert in hosting, comedy, camps/clinics, DEI initiatives and has powerfully spoken in many team and corporate settings, such as SDSU Athletics, Ted Talk, Career Learning, Angel City Sports and Qualcomm.

Lacey Henderson social media:

• Instagram: @laceyisyourfriend
• Twitter: @lacesyourfriend
• Facebook: @laceyjhenderson

Jes Stroope
Assistant Director, Learning Effectiveness Program

Dr. Stroope has worked with neurodiverse undergraduates in the Learning Effectiveness Program at the University of Denver since 2014. Additionally, she consults with the Special Education department at the Colorado Department of Education and has a private executive functioning coaching practice.