A.D.D.ing to the community, One Student at a Time

By Davi Kallman

My name is Davi Kallman and I have dyslexia. For those who have had me in classes know that due to my recent confidence in my disability has allowed me to voice it to my immediate community. Throughout my life I have battled my learning disability and I used to lets its negative energy hinder me from being confident in social settings or in the classroom, but now that is a thing of the past. What I have learned throughout my journey through life is to not my disability control me or determine who I am, and in fact when I used to see the word “disability”  I would focus on the prefix “Dis” rather than its root, “ability”. What many people fail to see most of the time whether you are disabled or ablebodied is that in every negative situation there can always be a positive outcome. Several individuals have made this statement true among them are Albert Einstein, Beethoven, Stevie Wonder, Helen Keller just to name a few. These individuals all had some type of impairment that would otherwise hinder them from doing daily activities, however instead of letting their disabilities hinder them, they made the best out of their situation and became prominent members in society that all contributed to a sense of worth and wellbeing. These people are prime examples of what it means to overcome ones disability. Due to my own struggles with my disability I saw the difficulties of transitioning into higher education. My sophomore year of college I decided it was time to stand up and make a voice for students with disabilities. I created A.D.D. (Appreciation of Diverse Dispositions) to educate the community on disability issues. This is the organization’s first year on campus and strives to promote acceptance of students with disabilities takes on a positive deviance approach that is based on the observation that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their peers, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or worse challenges. Through positive deviance we focus on the abilities of these students rather than their disabilities. Our organization consists of numerous individuals that are focused on the development of communication systems that will foster a positive attitude concerning the issues of disabilities at a University level. This organization was created due to the negative stereotypes that disabled students are given once they transition to higher education. Negative stereotypes and negative connotations have adverse effects for this minority population and we are focused on highlighting the positive aspects of these students. The most important thing I have learned from this class and from the students I work with is that we all need to focus on our abilities and what we can do rather than what we cannot do, because when it comes down to it, we all A.D.D. a little something to our community.