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A student athlete using a wheelchair races on a track

Rutgers Disability Awareness Month

A Campus-Wide Celebration

Rutgers University is one of the most diverse institutions in the Big 10 and disabilities play a vital role in making our community vibrant and inclusive. See how Rutgers came together to celebrate and learn during Disability Awareness Month in October and find ways to keep the conversation going with resources and actions throughout the year.

Resources and Action

Disability takes many forms, both apparent and non-apparent. Disability Awareness Month at Rutgers is an opportunity for our community to recognize, bring awareness to, and learn about disabilities and the disability community.

Two students sit in a lecture hall

Disability Studies Minor

The Disability Studies minor is an interdisciplinary Rutgers–New Brunswick collaboration designed to support an intrinsically interdisciplinary approach to studying the lived experience of disability and the theoretical frameworks that surround that experience.

A person doing yoga holds their hands together against a blue sky background

Cultivating Awareness

As an ally, you can take action and help cultivate an awareness of creating an inclusive environment for all individuals. 

The Aira app is free to use by anyone on the campus grounds of Rutgers–New Brunswick.

Advancing Access with Aira

We're proud to be an Aira Access Partner, providing free around-the-clock, person-to-person visual interpreting services to anyone throughout the Rutgers–New Brunswick campuses. Students, staff, faculty, or visitors can use Aira for free on a smartphone simply by downloading the Aira app and connecting with an agent.

Share in the Experience

Rutgers students took to social media to share highlights of some of the Disability Awareness Month events aimed at amplifying awareness and visibility of disabilities.

Telling Our Stories

Icons identifying some of the different kinds of disabilities

Redefining the Meaning of Disability

Members of the Rutgers community reflect on one thing they want people to know about their experience as a person with a disability or as a caretaker for someone with a disability and how they want to be seen by the world.

Looking Back at Disability Awareness Month

Disability Awareness Month is packed with in-person programs and virtual events. Each year, participants learn how to be allies, meet new furry friends, get active with adaptive sports, and more.

Three people share information as part of a program on guide dogs. Two guide dogs sleep on the floor next to them.
Three people sit on a stage after a screening of the film Crip Camp, while the directors are seen via video conference on a screen behind them.
A student pets a service dog at an event for Disability Awareness Month
Two men with beards sit at a table during a panel discussion on service dogs for veterans. One of them is talking and the other one is listening while looking on.
Three staff members and a service dog from Canine Companions pose for a photo during Disability Awareness Month at Rutgers
A group of people wearing eye covers kick a ball on an athletic field while playing goalball, an adaptive sport for blind and visually impaired people.
A group of people wearing eye covers kick a ball on an athletic field while playing goalball, an adaptive sport for blind and visually impaired people.
Students pet a black and white therapy dog during the Who Let the Dogs In event
Students in wheelchairs play an adaptive form of basketball
A student wearing an eye cover holds a bat while playing beep baseball, an adaptive sport for blind athletes
A student wearing an eye cover takes a pitch while playing beep baseball, an adaptive sport for blind athletes

The Seeing Eye of Morristown, NJ, and the Rutgers Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Club presented a program for Disability Awareness Month 2023 aimed at bringing awareness to the visually impaired community.

The Mason Gross Filmmaking Center hosted a screening of Crip Camp (2020), a documentary film narrating the story of the upstate New York summer Camp Jened created exclusively for disabled teen campers, and a virtual panelist discussion with the film's directors James Le Brecht and Nicole Newnham, during Disability Awareness Month 2023.

An attendee pets a service dog after a panel discussion about the profound relationship between military veterans and their four-legged companions, as part of Disability Awareness Month 2023.

Students and community members learned about the invaluable impact of service dogs on the lives of our military veterans during a panel discussion presented by the Office of Veteran and Military Programs and Services, Canine Companions, and VA NJ Suicide Peer Support Program.

Canine Companions, the largest provider of service dogs, visited for a panel discussion about the profound relationship between military veterans and their four-legged companions, as part of Disability Awareness Month 2023.

Students kick a soccer ball back and forth while wearing eye covers during Adaptive Sports and Wellness Day 2023. The game, goalball, is an adaptive sport for the blind or visually impaired.

Participants wore eye covers to experience playing goalball, an adaptive sport for the blind or visually impaired, during Adaptive Sports and Wellness Day 2023.

Emotional support animal Jack visited campus for a Disability Awareness Month 2022 event, titled “Who Let the Dogs In?"

Students got to experience a game of wheelchair basketball during Adaptive Sports and Wellness Day 2022.

Students played beep baseball during Adaptive Sports and Wellness Day, part of Disability Awareness Month 2022.

Students played beep baseball during Adaptive Sports and Wellness Day, part of Disability Awareness Month 2022.

Beyond the Field

Rutgers hosted its first Blind and Adaptive Sports Day in 2017 aimed at showcasing abilities, opportunities, and educating the community about sports for people with disabilities. Since then, the event has grown into a campus-wide effort to raise awareness about disability, access, and inclusion—on and off the field.

A blind student athlete runs on a track
A player dribbles the ball during a game of wheelchair basketball.

Get Into the Games

    Goalball is an adaptive sport for the blind or visually impaired, invented in 1946 to help veterans of WWII rehabilitate from losing sight. 

    Learn More About Goalball

    Wheelchair basketball is one of the oldest wheelchair sports, created by World War II veterans in 1946.

    In beep baseball, players who are blind or have vision loss use the sound of a beeping ball and beeping bases to play the game.

    Thank You

    A special thank you to our 2024 committee, sponsors, partners, and program participants for helping us commemorate the many contributions and experiences of people living with disabilities here at Rutgers.

    Active Planning Committee Members

    Bryan Adams • Krystel Allen • Lizzy Chan • Kate Chao • Jennifer Demby • Javier Robles • Barbara Cepeda • Caroline Coffield • Jennifer Demby • Susan Ellien • Annette Freytag • Jeff Friedman • Paul Goobic • Shanelle Harris • Josephine Kim • Nikhil Kishore • Karthik Hulisandra • Kathy Loder-Murphy • Christopher Manente • Bret McCandless • Nychey Michel • R. Malamug • Nadia Montgomery • Lisa Rossman-Murphy • Kevin Orcell • Julia Sass Rubin • Lauren Shallish • Jennifer Senick • Arielle Smith • Cynthia Simon • Gita Sharma • Natalie Schultz-Kahwaty • Karin Stromswold • Jakora Thomspon • Ayanna Towers • Brandon Truett • Sangya Varma • Nadine Venturin-Trinadade • Sherlock Washington • Laura Warne • Roni Worowitch • Laurie Zazenski

    Sponsors

    Administration on Disabilities • Aidekman Family Foundation • Assistant Director Natalie Schultz-Kahwaty, PhD • Association of Blind Athletes of New Jersey • Blind Athletes Inc. • Center for Disability, Sports, Health and Wellness • Center for Youth and Social Emotional Wellness • Children's Lightning Wheels • Department of Human Services • Department of Kinesiology and Health • Director Jeff Friedman, PhD • Division of Developmental Disabilities • GiGi's Playhouse • Human Development and New Jersey APSE • Integrated Dance Collaboratory - Mason Gross Dance Department • Mason Gross School of the Arts • Mellon Foundation • Middlesex Board of County Commissioners • New Jersey APSE • New Jersey Lightning Beep Baseball Team • Office of Disability Services • Olark Accessible Live Chat • Residence Life Student Support • Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services • Rutgers Medical School • Rutgers Neurodiversity Task Force • Rutgers Recreation • Rutgers School of Social Work • State of New Jersey • The Boggs Center on Disability and Human Development • US Association of Blind Athletes • US Department of Health and Human Services • Wheelchair Federation • Zimmerli Art Museum

    Program Partners

    Association of Blind Athletes of New Jersey • Blind Athletes Inc. • Center for Disability, Sports, Health and Wellness • Challenge Athletes Foundation • Children's Lightning Wheels • Counseling, Alcohol, and Other Drug Assistance Program • Department of Kinesiology and Health • Human Development and New Jersey APSE • Integrated Dance Collaboratory - Mason Gross Dance Department • Mason Gross School of Arts - Dance Department • Mason Gross School of the Arts • New Jersey Lightning Beep Baseball Team • Office of Disability Services • Office of Veteran and Military Programs and Services • Office of Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance • Olark Accessible Live Chat • Residence Life Student Support • Rutgers Access and Disability Resources • Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services • Rutgers School of Social Work • Rutgers School of Social Work • Rutgers Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Club • Rutgers University-New Brunswick Libraries • Rutgers Neurodiversity Task Force • The Boggs Center on Disability and Human Development • Urban Education • US Association of Blind Athletes • Wheelchair Federation • Zimmerli Art Museum