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Transfer Fellow Organizes First Disability Conference
In the wake of a tragic student death on campus, organizers of MTSU’s first conference in recognition of National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) decided to move forward with the event, with speakers emphasizing the critical importance of discussing mental health and disabilities.
The new conference last October was the brainchild of Buchanan Transfer Fellow Kia Dowen, a first-generation college student and a senior Media Management major. Dowen is also chapter president of the Omicron Delta Kappa and Gold Key International honor societies, two of the event sponsors along with the Honors College and Provost’s Office.
Classes had been canceled the day of the conference as the campus community tried to cope with the tragic death of student Serenity Birdsong by suicide in James E. Walker Library.
“All of our speakers are geared toward speaking specifically on their experiences with disabilities and their leadership. . . . We will also use this as a way to help the campus grieve,” Dowen said during opening remarks. “It’ll be part of our processing of this event, and so our speakers will put a somewhat heavier focus on the mental health aspect.”
MTSU student Jaden Keith, 21, a Music major from Missouri who originally planned to attend the event with his Communication class, decided to go on his own following the tragedy. Keith said it’s important to celebrate NDEAM because “it affects us in more ways than we know, and it’s definitely informative to know how it affects everyone involved.”
The conference featured six guest speakers who shared their professional and personal journeys coping with mental and/or physical disabilities, aiming to shape the audience’s perspectives on success, leadership, and ability in the workplace.
• Meaghan Thomas, event master of ceremony and a meteorologist at WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama, briefly spoke about her nonprofit, The Heart of Hearing, which raises funding for those who cannot afford hearing aids.
• Gerald Christian, associate director of MTSU’s Disability and Access Center, shared his story of becoming paralyzed after a car wreck as a teenager and how he overcame the difficulties that his disability brought.
• Shari Hinton, a Nashville native who works for the Office of Protection Services for the Smithsonian Institute, discussed how she overcame a number of personal challenges, including bipolar disorder, and now champions vulnerable populations.
• MTSU Psychology graduate student Joe Adams said he began transforming his life after struggling with drug addiction, but then began struggling with a new addiction—the addiction to success.
• J.P. Williams, a hit songwriter, performer, executive coach, and motivational speaker who lost his vision at age 10, is a now a life coach and founder of the publishing company Blonde Leading Blind Music.
• Eric Zink, one of social media’s largest mental health and addiction advocate educators, attempted to take his own life after losing both his wife and father to suicide and discussed the importance of talking about mental health.
One of the biggest takeaways for MTSU student Hunter Warren was bringing “awareness to different types of disabilities and, like they said, invisible disabilities.”
Added Keith: “Even though it may not look like someone has a disability, it definitely affects more people than you know and in more ways than you probably know.”
