Media Contact: Marcia Finkle (858) 534-6744, or
                        Jan Jennings (858) 822-1684

UCSD TO OBSERVE DISABILITY AWARENESS MONTH 
WITH  A  CELEBRATION  OF  ABILITIES  OCT.  2,  3,  4,  19

Musical entertainment, free prizes, information tables, movies, and a lecture/panel discussion will mark festivities for Disability Awareness Month to be observed Oct. 2, 3, 4, and 19 at the University of California, San Diego. All events are free and open to the public.

A Celebration of Abilities will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 2 at the UCSD Price Center Plaza. Maggie Houlihan, past president of CADRE (Community Advocates for Disability Rights and Education), will serve as master of ceremonies, and entertainment will be provided by Patty Hutchings and Mark Goffeney, both vocalist/guitarists.

There will be a question and answer discussion with the entertainers about disabilities, refreshments, and drawings for free prizes. CADRE members will staff an information booth.

The movie, Simon Birch, will screen at 7 p.m. that evening in the Price Center Theatre. Not your average kid, Simon Birch is a little person, born with dwarfism and extraordinarily bright. He believes he is destined for something special.

A Celebration of Abilities will follow a similar schedule of events from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 3 in the grassy area between Torrey Pines Center North and Torrey Pines Center South on North Torrey Pines Road. Bonnie Matheny, employee rehabilitation counselor, will serve as master of ceremonies, and vocalist/guitarists Hutchings and Goffeney will perform. The format will include the discussion on disabilities, prize drawings, refreshments, and an information table.

An art exhibit of works by artists with disabilities will be on view from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, Oct. 2 and 3, in the Price Center Theatre Lobby

The Oct. 4 program will include a movie, King Gimp, and a speaker, Ted Pinnock, beginning at 5 p.m. at the UCSD Cross Cultural Center. King Gimp is a 1999 Academy Award-winning documentary about Dan Keplinger, a 27-year-old with cerebral palsy. Unable to communicate easily with words, Keplinger’s emotions explode on to the canvas when he discovers painting as a means of expression and art becomes his calling. Pinnock is an attorney with cerebral palsy who will describe his personal and professional challenges and successes.

A special feature of this year’s program will be the lecture/panel discussion, Stem-Cell Research: Where Science Meets Politics and Ethics, from 7 to 9 p.m., Oct. 19 in the Price Center Theatre. Panelists will include UCSD professors Fred H. Gage, neurosciences; Dr. Fred Levine, pediatrics; Lawrence S. B. Goldstein, cellular and molecular medicine, and Dr. Theodore Friedmann, biomedical ethics. Pamela L. Mellon, professor of reproductive medicine and neurosciences, will moderate. Introduction will be by Gordon N. Gill, Dean of Scientific Affairs, UCSD School of Medicine.

Disability Awareness Month events are sponsored by Business Affairs Vice Chancellor Steven Relyea, UCSD’s Employee Rehabilitation Program, the UCSD Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD), CADRE, the UCSD Women’s Center, the UCSD Cross Cultural Center, and Equal Opportunity/Staff Affirmative Action.

For information on the events call (858) 534-6744 or e-mail: cadre@ucsd.edu. For parking and shuttle information, call (858) 534-RIDE or visit parking.ucsd.edu on the UCSD website.