Amanda Turner ’19: Nick Gaynor’s recent appearance in Chapel gave students a snapshot of how disability is handled at Villanova, and reinforced the Episcopal discussion about disability awareness. Nick Gaynor and Frank Kineavy, two Villanova students, spread awareness of cerebral palsy through the short film they are featured in, Coming off the DL. Similarly, Episcopal strives to embrace awareness, especially with the disabled, both temporary and permanent, members of our community.
Cerebral palsy is a disorder caused by damage to a developing fetus’ brain or infant’s brain shortly after birth that causes permanent harm to the muscles and can affect hearing, speech, vision and balance, mostly common in children. Michael L. Nance M.D., Director and Chair of the Pediatric Trauma program at the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania and Professor of Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, describes children with cerebral palsy as ”looking and acting like any other child.”
Photo courtesy of Michael Leslie
Following this sentiment, Gaynor and Kineavy never allow cerebral palsy to slow them down. Both individuals acted as vital parts of the Villanova Basketball teams, as they managed the team and formed close relationships with the players. Greg Hannah, Assistant Director of Disability Services at Villanova and a close friend of Gaynor’s, said, “Basketball was part of the initial vehicle for his college experience because it was great exposure for Nick.” Similarly, Gaynor and Kineavy remained positive spirits throughout the Villanova campus. In his recent Chapel talk, Hannah explained, “One of the things we talk about at Villanova all the time is we always say it’s a great day to be alive, and the reason why is because we are at a great school, doing great things, and we like to share it with other people. … When someone looks at Nick, they don’t think sometimes that his life is great, but when you ask him how he’s doing, most of the time he is going to say great.”
Walidah Justice, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Episcopal, knew Nick personally and watched him grow up. She described the experience saying, “That connection gives you an awareness, and a level of empathy that others don’t have because you personally know someone, because you have a relationship, because you’ve seen someone grow and evolve. Knowing his story… for me this brought even more awareness to [cerebral palsy]. ” When the film, Coming off the DL premiered, Justice was in the audience. Years later when Diversity Awareness Club watched the video and wanted it to be seen by the school, Justice agreed. “I had a wonderful conversation with Reverend Squire, and we talked about the importance of disability and how it is a social identifier that is sometimes overlooked. We want to reinforce this and create awareness for it among our community.” Jim Squire himself, Reverend at EA, added, “I have strong feelings about diversity, and Ms. Justice and I worked closely together to bring the moral imperative of sharing what we saw in Chapel recently to the students of Episcopal.”
While Episcopal doesn’t have a designated group with a focus on bridging the gap between students, like Villanova’s LEVEL organization, it does have the Diversity Awareness Club. Justice explained, “doing something like LEVEL is something we could consider. It might be a good offshoot of what DAC is, especially because I do think we have members of our community who are very connected to ability issues. I’m hoping that this recent chapel discussion stirred that in students and inspired them to say we could do a little bit more.” Squire added, “I would think that every student who saw the movie and experienced Nick’s speech would never be able to look at issues of disability in the same way again. I am so moved and proud when I see how the children at Episcopal just naturally accept people with disability at this school.”
Photo courtesy of Michael Leslie
Episcopal already demonstrates its support for disabled students in the middle school. Grace Haupt ‘20, diagnosed with Friedreich’s Ataxia, “remains a very important part of our community, whose different needs we take into account,” described Steve Morris, Head of Middle School. He continued, “We’ve been very aware of Grace’s needs, with a lot of people thinking how we can best serve her. Especially with the proximity to her, the whole middle school community understands and treats her just as another part of our community. Sometimes they notice, sometimes they don’t.” Similarly, Delvin Dinkins, Head of Upper School noted, “There’s already a general awareness in our society about [disability]. We haven’t had many students with permanent disability, but even for the many students with temporary disability, we take into account what accommodations need to be made for them, including elevators, ramps, etc. The students agree, as Nikhil Kakarla ‘20 stressed, “Grace is an extraordinary example of someone who has overcome great disadvantages and who is inspiring to many.” Anna Lee ‘20 added, “Grace is a thoughtful, intellectual and kind student. She rallies our grade together. She always has a positive attitude and I can always count on her.”
Dinkins maintained that attitude saying, “There’s always ways to improve one’s attitude about a host of issues, but things like these can be improved especially with time and more intimate contact and understanding of the student.”